Happy Centennial NPS!

The Natioanl Park Service officially turns 100 on August 25. As of today, there are 413 designated NPS units in the United States and territories. I am a huge fan of the parks. Each is unique. Each is special. Someday, I hope to visit each and every one. To date, I've only been to 77.

Road Trip 2016 - part 4 Hells Canyon

Leaving Missoula, we headed down Lolo Pass and cruised into Clarkston, Washington. A few years ago my dad was on a guided fishing trip in Hells Canyon, so we wanted to take a jet boat ride. We booked a half day trip with Snake River Adventures and had an awesome day.

We left the dock about 10 am. Our group had about 25 people in it. It was a beautiful day on the river. The boxed lunches were generous, we learned a lot about the history of the canyon and saw some wildife. It was just a great way to spend the day.

Snake River

Rafters

Mirror Image

Mama Bighorn with babies

Chillin in the shade

Gobbler

Petroglyphs

Leaving Clarkston, we headed home. 

Road Trip 2016 - Part 3 Montana

We only spent three days in Montana. It's where I went to college, so it was just a quick trip back. Our first night was spent in Hamilton. We stayed at the Black Rabbit RV Park.

A couple decades ago I visited the Daly Mansion with a college friend, so we went back to see what had changed. The answer is a lot. Back then many of the rooms had minimal furninishings and the third floor was closed to visitors. Now it's a beautiful house museum.

Daly Mansion

Mrs. Daly's room

Mosaic of Marcus Daly's favorite racehorse

It was good to see it again. I'll have to dig our my old (pre digital) photos and do some comparisons.

As we were leaving the Mansion to return to camp, we noticed  a great deal of smoke. Turns our a forest fire had started - the Roaring Lion Fire- and the highway had actually been closed. Initially, 500 houses were evacuated. When I checked the update a couple days ago, the fire was as 8700 acres and only 65% contained...two weeks after it started.

Roaring Lion Fire from the Highway

We headed into Missoula the next day. Wow! That town has grown! We made a trip to the University Bookstore, had lunch at the Staggering Ox, spent some time wandering downtown and visited the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. It was nice to relax for a couple days.

Elk on display at RMEF

Road Trip 2016 - Part 2 Idaho

From Oregon we headed into Idaho and spent about a week wandering through the state. We spent one night in Hagerman at the Hagerman RV Village. We also checked in at the Hagerman Fossil Beds Visitors Center, but didn't make it to the overlooks. It was incredibly hot that day, so we opted to lay low.

Another NPS site I wanted to visit was Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was really interesting. NASA actually trained astronauts here before the moon landing in 1969.  And Arco, Idaho was the first community in the world to be lit with electricity generated by a nuclear power.

Inferno Cone

Lava field

Vegetation in the lava field

Art installation - Lava Tube

After a couple days in Arco we headed north to Challis and camped along the Salmon River. We also enjoyed the pools at Challis Hot Springs. The hot springs were amazing. It was so nice to just float in the 99 degree water. The springs fill the pools through the ground and then needs to be cooled. 

Salmon River near Challis, ID

From Challis, we wandered just a bit further north to North Fork, Idaho and camped another night along the Salmon River. We stayed at the Wagonhammer RV Park, which was celebrating it's Lavender Festival. We took a little drive to do some wildlife viewing.

Salmon River near North Fork, ID

Elk grazing

Pronghorn

Leaving Idaho, we headed across the border into Montana.

Road Trip 2016 - Part 1 Oregon

This summer we had a conflict which prevented us from making a trip to North Carolina for our family reunion. But we couldn't just stay home, so we headed off on a two week road trip in the motorhome to see some new sights and some old favorites.

We wandered east on a Sunday and spent a couple days in Dayville, Oregon at the Fish House Inn and RV Park. We've stayed here before, and it's a good spot from which to see the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and to visit Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day.

I'm a big fan of the National Park System, and with this being the NPS Centennial, I wanted to visit a few.  We've been to the fossil beds before, but the improvements to the visitors center exhibits were worth the trip again. I do find it interesting that the man, John Day, was never within 100 miles of the site or the town of John Day, but since it's on the banks of the John Day River, which he named, the name transferred and stuck.

Sheep Rock at John Day Fossil Beds

Fossils in the Visitors Center

We drove into John Day to specifically visit Kam Wah Chung. Ten years ago, the museum wasn't open when were in town, and I'm really glad we stopped this time. During the 1870's, when gold was discovered in Oregon, thousands of Chinese miners poured into the John Day area. Kam Wah Chung served as a store, lodgings and medical office for the Chinese community. When "Doc" Hay  died in 1952, the building was boarded up and left virtually intact. It's a great museum.

Kam Wah Chung exterior

Kam Wah Chung interior

As we continued east we stopped at Unity Lake State Park for our lunch break. It's interesting how you can go for miles amid the dry grasslands and then pull up over a rise to see a lake.

Unity Lake