We now have a problem – have we peaked too early? Or seen the main acts before the warm up artists have even hit the stage? Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons have somewhat reset the “what’s impressive” scale. Yet, they have their own peak season foibles and blunders, with the large pack crowds buzzing around scenery like flies around a dumpster. We decide to ‘indie’ for a while, to check out the quieter, less frequented drawcards on our way northwest.
Craters of the Moon – Idaho
Weaving your way southwest through Jackson, you quickly leave the towering Tetons behind and find yourself on vast, open plains. The landscape is a blur of silver-green sagebrush being swept past, like a painters fluid brush strokes on canvas. Just as you are being lulled to sleepiness the landscape changes in an instant. Thousands of acres of black volcanic flow are frozen in perpetuity as they snake their way across the plains. The presence or absence of lichen, grasses or small undergrowth helps to codify the age of each flow, and paints subtle hues across the panoramic scene. It is quiet, and leaving the mobile phone mad mobs behind for a while is starting to look like it was a great idea.
John Day Fossil Beds – Idaho
After enjoying a couple of days of fantastic hospitality with long-lost cousins Bernie & Dale Verkaaik in Eagle, and falling in love with their charming chihuahua Olivia, and her very wary mate Sandy, we head west once more for an even quieter scene. Named somewhat bizarrely after an unfortunate trapper who got mugged of everything (including his underwear), the John Day Fossil Beds are effectively a library of every epoch of North American flora and fauna after the age of the dinosaurs. Continental America used to be split in two, with the ocean going from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up Canada. The emergence of the great divide pulled these lands up, drained the oceans and set in motion a cycle of evolution and destruction, as age after age of forests and creatures arose and thrived, only to be wiped out by pyroclastic flows from the volcanic villains that lurk nearby.
This is heaven in earth for palaeontologists, who can almost sit and wait for each rainfall to expose more of the underlying fossil records stacked neatly within each distinct layer of soil. For our aspiring Junior Rangers, the steep bluffs overlooking these entombed millennia’s are an adventure to explore and learn from. Having a classroom without walls is starting to have some appeal.
Mt Hood – Oregon
To break from the heat of the exposed ravines and hills, we continue west for the beacon that is Mt Hood. The conical shape of this mountain immediately brings to mind Mt Taranaki (Egmont) from our homeland in New Zealand. Surveying the scene from the hand hewn Timberline Lodge reveals a great playground, with unlimited opportunities for hiking, biking or even a spot of mid-summer skiing.
Disappearing under the forest canopy, you discover a rich biodiversity dripping in moss and carpeted with coniferous leaf fall. These trails are a dream to run on, with smooth, cushioned tracks that weave through clear stream valleys full of life. Waterfalls abound, with Multnamah being the main star of the show as it cascades down 620 ft like a veil in perpetual motion.
Refreshing ourselves with a beer flight at Full Sail Brewery at Hood River (‘nobody mention Mum’s parking ticket, ok boys?!”) we start to think that this whole life-on-the-road scenario has some real attraction. It’s days like these that justify the long miles and slightly cramped confines of our 18ft home on wheels.
Under star filled skies we fall asleep wondering what new discoveries and adventures await tomorrow.
Light Your Fire! 