Day 9 & 10: Eastern Idaho

 I decided to post days nine and ten together as one was a travel day and the other was...well a bit of a wash.  If you've been watching the news recently you will have probably seen that the western quarter of the United States is pretty much all on fire.  Oregon, Northern Idaho, California, Nevada...all of them. The prevailing winds are blowing soot, ash and smoke across the region as far as Yellowstone National Park and nearly to the Kansas border. The AQI (Air Quality Index) across the entire west is terrible and I can say from personal experience, breathing is difficult - enjoying outdoor activities nearly impossible.

Getting to Idaho

So on Day 9 we left our campground in Coram, Montana and headed roughly southwesterly. It's amazing how quickly the terrain changes as you move from one mountain valley to another.  After the leaving the Glacier vicinity, the trees began to disappear, replaced by rolling hills and the gorgeous area around Lake Flathead. That is a very big lake, and even with temperatures just barely breaking 80 degrees, the locals were out on sailboats and motorboats pulling innertubes enjoying the last vestiges of summer before the 8 months of "cold" set it. These are resilient folks!

From there we dropped down into Idaho where the terrain flattened out into wheat, barley and potato fields. Did you know that Idaho is the 5th largest wheat producing state in the US, and that their soft winter wheat is sought after by the Japanese and Koreans? They do have more than just potatoes here, although there are a lot of those as well.

We settled in after a long day's drive at our campground in Blackfoot, Idaho. It's a small city-run RV park (of sorts) that provides electricity and water hook ups for $20 per day, maximum 14 day stay. That is actually really good, and if you are only looking for an overnight or couple of day stay, that is ideal. Longer than that, and you will need to putter over to the local fire station where they have a free dump station to get rid of the black and grey water waste. 

The campground is adjacent to a small municipal airport (small planes only), a nice little lake with bike/walking paths, dog park, skate park and baseball fields.  The parking areas are pretty much level and smooth asphalt. The spaces are large and hooking up to the utilities very easy. Dinner was left over beef roast with carrots, potatoes and corn bread. Nothing fancy, but man leftovers can be great. We watched some tv and then turned in for a night's rest.

Fast forward to 1:00 am.  We were both dead to the world asleep, but an unusual noise woke me up first.  I honestly tried to ignore it at first. But it became more insistent and more disturbing, so I got up to investigate. Being half asleep, I was trying to make sense and categorize the noise. I thought it was one of the air conditioners at first, and paused to analyze the bedroom unit, before moving to the front of the coach.  It was not either air conditioner and the noise was becoming more alarming by the moment. About the time I turned and was making my way back to the bedroom, Papa Bear woke up and began to take charge of the situation. 

He took off toward the front of the coach, while I blindly tried to find my bathrobe. The noise cannot be described, other than a horrendous boiling sound. I heard the front door of the coach open, and was just belting up my robe when I heard Papa Bear's very insistent command to get out of the coach.  I did not hesitate. I was fully awake now. I was right on Papa Bear's heels and as we stepped out of the coach, we felt the squish of water under out feet. We were right back at totally confused until we stepped around to the driver's side of the coach.

We were instantly relieved when we found that, rather than the propane tank/line being ruptured and liquid propane boiling out, the extended living room slide wall was being pelted by water from the pop up sprinkler head. Whew! Totally aggravating to be rousted from bed in the middle of the night, but total relief that we weren't going to blow up and nothing was wrong with the coach. Papa Bear grumpily adjusted the sprinkler head away from the coach and we stumbled back to bed.

Roadside Attractions

After going back to bed and sleeping in due to the rude water fiasco, we got up. I took my time making breakfast and drinking coffee.  I made mini-kolaches with some Pillsbury croissant dough and cheddar Lil' Smokies.  Pretty good breakfast. Let me insert a sidebar comment here. I noticed an odd lack of donut shops in Montana and down through Idaho. There are tons of coffee shops. Just about every couple of miles there is some type of little drive through coffee joint or Starbucks. Unlike in the mid-west and Texas, there was not a donut shop to be seen. I only saw a Krispy Kreme coming south towards Kalispell. There were some "bakeries" but when looking at their websites, they were more pastry and cake oriented. What the heck? Have these people not discovered the delights of a donut yet?

Anyway, our plan was to head out to Craters of the Moon for the day's main excursion. We packed some snacks, drinks and bike gear and headed out on the 70 mile trek out to the park. Papa Bear wasn't exactly excited about a 3 hour round trip, but that's what we had planned and he set a course.  If you've not been to southeastern Idaho - let me save you a trip.  Just drive west on I-10 out past San Antonio. When you start to see the scrubby desert, you've seen what we saw in this area of Idaho.

I have to be honest and say this is not the prettiest part of Idaho. I had originally considered going to  Couer d'Alene after leaving Glacier, but with all of the fires in the area, did not feel that was a safe or smart thing to do. So, I turned our itinerary south. This is farming country, as mentioned above. Lots of fields with the staples that run our agricultural economy. But that doesn't always make for engaging scenery. We also noticed that the air was quite hazy. We assumed it was just from the harvesting and plowing that was going on in the crop areas. (Not sure if you can see it in the photo below, but there are actually mountains in the distance. The haze is smoke from all of the forest fires.)

Our route took us northwest from Blackfoot along Hwy. 26 toward the only real town in the area, Arco.  There were a couple of intrepid tourist sites along the way that, for me at least, ended up being more interesting than Craters.  The first was Atomic City. Now this ghost-town-to-be had a very interesting history, and what's more remarkable is that it's still around (sort of).

Atomic City was originally founded as Midway, Idaho.  When the Idaho National Laboratory (a US Department of Energy installation) moved in and began working on nuclear projects, the town enthusiastically embraced them and changed their name to Atomic City in 1950. The INL was home to an Experimental Breeder Reactor, the first in the nation to produce nuclear generated electricity. Unfortunately, the dangers of being first in anything were realized not once, but twice. In 1955 the EBR-1 had the dubious record to be the first recorded partial melt-down. The "killer blow" came in 1961 when a silo sized EBR exploded and killed three workers. The corpses were so radioactive that they had to be buried in lead coffins in concrete lined graves.

The population declined rapidly after that, and by the mid-1980s only 25 people were left in the town. As of the 2020 census, the population was reported as 29, but I seriously doubt that there will be any kind of revival. So what keeps it alive? The Atomic Raceway Park is a dirt track that still hosts summertime race car events. They are extremely popular and people come from Idaho Falls, Boise and Pocatello to enjoy the dirt-track racing. Supposedly the ground is still somewhat radioactive, and if you plan on visiting plan on bringing your own refreshments and fuel up at the nearby Arco afterward, because there are no services available.

I actually found the remaining buildings to be interesting, a time capsule of the heyday of the town, held in stasis by the dry climate. Very interesting little side trip on the way to Arco and Craters.

 

We completed our auto tour of Atomic City and returned the highway, continuing west until we reached Arco. This is one of the only towns in the area and if you blink you will miss it.  At one time, it appears that this was a bustling town, but now it's faded and tattered around the edges, showing it's age, but keeping a subdued charm that makes you feel obligated to stop and buy something to keep it going. We stopped for fuel and some sodas, and to take pictures of the historic conning tower of the SSN Hawkbill 666 aka the "Devil Ship". 

The Hawkbill was a Sturgeon Class nuclear powered fast-attack submarine that began her service in 1971 and was decommissioned in 2000. Having a son that was part of the US Navy Submariner division, we felt it was our duty to stop and pay homage to this vessel. She was 92 feet long, and had a 29 foot draft - was powered by one S5W nuclear reactor, two turbines and one screw.  She was operated by 95 enlisted men and 14 officers.  Most notable about her service was a polar expedition where she participated in ice surveys. (I've included some pictures below that are part of a part of a non-Navy archive record for purposes of illustration. The photo of the conning tower below is on site in Arco.)

Commissioning in 1971

Artic Ice Surveys

Final Cruise - Approaching Decommissioning Port

We say thank you to the crew of the Hawkbill, and to all of those that serve our great nation. Your service and sacrifice are appreciated beyond measure.

Craters of the Moon

After leaving Arco we continued west for about another 20 miles, with terrain that started to be more interesting. Craters of the Moon National Preserve is out in the middle of nowhere, so anyone going their really wants to be there. The temperatures will still in the low 70's so the day seemed to be ideal for getting out and about.

Craters of the Moon is actually a very large protected area, but only certain areas have been developed for exploration and entertainment. The main attractions are along the 7 mile loop trail. After paying our entrance fee, we drove to the first pull in area and walked a short ways up the hillside to get a view of the very alien looking valley, actually handle the pumice stones that made up the slope and get close up pictures of the hardy succulents that were putting down roots and re-vegetating the landscape.

I made the recommendation that we do the loop on our bicycles. I mean, it's only 7 miles roundtrip, and hadn't we just done a 5 mile hike a few days ago? Should be easy, right? Wrong. The terrain was deceiving, the altitude was 6000 feet above sea level, and the air was hazy with smoke. Now, I'm not in the best condition of my life, but I'm not in terrible condition either. This was kicking my butt. Papa Bear was patient with me, and when we got about a half-mile into it and I asked to turn around, he obliged me. He seemed impervious to the conditions, and other than some aggravation with the bike gears, I think he could have made the Loop. 

I ended up having to walk my bike up the hills, stop and rest, and then coast down the declines until we finally made it back to the parking area. We loaded the bikes and continued the tour of Craters in the Jeep. I had developed a cough that I could not kick, and anything other than a short walk to viewing platforms to take pictures was beyond me. I was having a hard time breathing and felt pretty rotten. I also felt really bad for Papa Bear that I wasn't at my best to enjoy more of the trails.

Craters of the Moon are made up of three dominant formations - lava fields, cinder cones and spatter cones - the later of which are the rarest type of volcanic formations. Craters is considered an extinct volcanic field, but my guess is any place that magma vented ate one time or another could become active with one shift of the tectonic plates.  The high temperature metamorphic creation process results in a very brittle rock that we usually call pumice. If you pick up a loose piece you can see different minerals sparkling along the face plane and in the crevices. They have gone to great lengths to protect the formations as they are actually quite delicate.  There are signs at each trailhead urging you to stay on the trail, and even documentary photos starting in the 1920s that demonstrate the damage that has been done by well-meaning tourists. 

There are only a few animals that call this place home - pica, some pigmy rabbits, chipmunks and various birds of prey that hunt the small mammals. We only saw a chipmunk and spider while we were there. Lichen, mosses and succulents, along with some conifers appear to be the dominant plant species - each building on the efforts of the previous as the highly fertile volcanic rock is weathered and broken down into usable soil.

We finished up our tour of Craters and headed out, turning east to retrace our route on Hwy. 26.  We did stop in Arco for lunch. The quaint little burger shack called Pickles got good reviews, so we decided to stop there.  It had a yester-year diner feel, and I'm pretty sure the ceiling tiles were still the original asbestos ones.  The interior was blessedly air conditioned, and surprisingly busy for 2:30 in the afternoon. The only real annoyance was a gang of flies that persisted in pestering Papa Bear.

Like many restaurants around the country, they were short staffed, with the front counter girl taking to go, telephone and table orders, then directing back of house staff in production. Papa Bear ordered the Atomic Burger (which weirdly wasn't spicy - just loaded with lots of grilled onions and mushrooms) and I go the junior burger with fries. We also shared some fried pickles. The burgers were good, made with freshly ground Montana beef and served alongside Idaho potato fries. I kind of wish I'd have gotten one of their milkshakes because they looked really good.

The graduating class of Butte County High School have a tradition that dates back to 1920. That inaugural year, select members scale the local cliffside and paint their graduating class year into the mountain face. Not sure I would want to be selected for that "honor".

After lunch we headed out, planning to stop by the Idaho Potato Museum. But sometimes when you are on vacation, the most mundane things can serve as a reset button and allow some normality in the itinerary.  We elected to continue on to Pocatello so Papa Bear could get a haircut. Just so happened that the Sports Clips was next to a Costco. Score! We had run low on the HEB trail mix, and Papa Bear really liked the Costco brand better, so after his haircut we popped in to Costco to replenish the road snacks that we knew we would need for the return journey.

This whole time, I'm coughing every couple of minutes, sneezing, blowing my nose, etc. As we talked to the locals we found that this was not normal for them and that even they were having serious issues with the air quality.  I was glad to know that it wasn't just me and that the breathing issue was something not normal. Didn't really solve anything but at least I could commiserate with everyone. We made our way back to the RV, where I fixed a late dinner of Sweet and Sour Pork with a makeshift fried rice.

We watched a very interesting documentary (River Runner) based on a book by a pioneer in the sport of extreme kayaking - Scott Lindgren, the first person to ever kayak all four sacred rivers that originate in Tibet's Mount Kailash. Having just done some river rafting ourselves, it was interesting to see and hear his story that took over 20 years to realize, and changed his life profoundly. I highly recommend the movie on Netflix.  We also watched Wind River - which is based on some true life events and highlights the serious issue of missing, exploited and murdered Native American Women that live on reservations around the United States.

During the movie marathon we talked about what our plans for Day 11 would be. Originally we had planned to stay one additional night at the Blackfoot campground, and head out to Shoshone Falls. But with a continued forecast of dangerous air quality that heavily recommended staying in doors, that caused us to rethink our plans. We pulled up maps and considered going back north to Idaho Falls and cutting east toward Jackson, Wyoming to perhaps overnight and spend the day re-exploring the Jackson Hole and Grand Tetons area.  Ultimately we decided to sleep on it and see what the next day brought us.

Thanks for hanging in there with us for a two day update! Stay tuned for our change of plans as we go off-script the next couple of days.