Labor Day Weekend-Plus Road Trip

Beartooth Butte in early morning

28 Aug - 8 Sep 2013

After C.J. wrote a magazine article about all the Labor Day Fly-ins across the U.S., we picked the Sand Turn 30th (at least) Anniversary Fly-in near Dayton, Wyoming. To get there we would drive through Yellowstone, take the Beartooth Scenic Highway and cross the Big Horn Mountains on the Medicine Wheel Passage. On the way back, after crossing the Big Horns via a different route, we would drive forty miles north from Pinedale to hike the headwaters of the Green River, camp above Jackson Hole with a view of the Tetons, and spend a couple more days in Yellowstone before dropping in on our friends in Boise. Nope, no problem with fires, and we were gone long before the big storm hit the Rockies.


28 Aug, Wed - We pulled the Aliner out of the driveway around 1000, got gas at Costco in Coeur d'Alene

Sloway USFS Campground

(3.579) and shared an ice cream bar. Then we headed up over Fourth of July and Lookout Passes and down to Sloway Campground (USFS) just off I-90 east of St. Regis at 1730 PDT (1830 local). [I was aiming for Quartz Flats a bit closer to Missoula but it wasn't in our campground guide.]  After setting up in the lodgpole pine-shaded CG, we took a short walk along the Clark Fork then returned to our site for a chef's salad which we ate outside. The bugs were mostly absent except for a few bees, and we stayed outside reading until dark, around 2100. There is a busy RR track just on the other side of the river and there was a lot of whistling during the night.

29 Aug, Thu - We were on our way by 0745 (early for us) after cold cereal and a muffin. We passed through Missoula, but in Butte we stopped at a Starbucks so C.J. could work on the USHPA magazine editing (alpha) she had downloaded at home. I went across Harrison St. to a K-Mart where I bought C.J. a 16 gb flashdrive, and some other stuff that was on sale and returned to Starbucks. C.J.was concerned that maybe she hadn't brought her computer charger with us and, when we checked the car, it wasn't there. I used my phone to check with a couple of local electronics places and decided to try Staples which was close by. There, Jeremy, a tech guy, helped C.J. find the right charger and a wireless mouse. C.J. stayed at the tech counter (with electricity) while I went to get gas at Exxon (3.699). We didn't get far down the street before C.J. noted that the new mouse was not working and we took it back. Jeremy determined that the dongle was not properly seated and the mouse had a laser rather than the usual visible red light. With everything working (except that I should have remembered to bring the inverter from home), we got back on I-90 and climbed over the summit east of Butte. In Livingston we stopped for gas in light rain which persisted until we

Evening at Beartooth Lake

were almost to Gardiner. There, C.J. went to a bookstore/cafe and used their internet to upload the completed editing. We shared a fruit smoothie before we hit the road again. We checked on road conditions as we entered Yellowstone but didn't stop again all the way across the northern width of the Park. We saw bison, a few bighorn sheep and some pronghorn, but no elk. After clearing the touristy Cooke City area, we started getting into really scenic country on the Beartooth highway. I had considered getting all the way to the other side of the mountains but we were running late and we'd miss some of the scenery if we pushed on. Fortunately we lucked into a site in the Beartooth Lake USFS CG. After setting up in a pull-thru site, we took a walk along the lake with the sun setting just south of Beartooth Butte (which we had climbed searching for fossils back in 1990 when we took a Yellowstone Natural History course). Back at camp, C.J. made a delicious stir fry with our garden veggies and some ham. There was cake and tea/cider for dessert. It was already getting chilly outside in the dark at 9000 ft.

30 Aug, Fri - We woke at 0705 and were on the road by 0830. There was great morning light on Beartooth Butte followed by more great (!) scenery as the road climbed to the the nearly 11,000 foot summit. Near Long Lake there was a thirty-min. construction delay. We stopped at a turnout on one ascending switchback for a scramble to a view to the west. [I was guessing that we were looking at Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana, but the map could not confirm it. Later, nope, it wasn't Granite which is much farther to the northwest.] Scattered clouds and a brisk west wind made forays from the car pretty chilly. On the way down we stopped at Vista Point and took the 800 ft walk to the view of Rock Creek Valley and the switchbacks below us. Across the valley a road seemed to climb high up the far side of Rock Cr Valley. Descending the rest of the way to the valley floor we passed a recently burned area with lots of fire fighter vehicles, some with signs such as "Navajo Hotshots" and "Flathead Hotshots". We continued on to the edge of Red Lodge where we turned S eventually reaching Lovell where we filled up with gas (3.719). C.J. talked with Nick who was on a vol biv from St. George UT to Jackson WY and wanted her to handle the final edits. That meant we would have to find wi-fi somewhere and spend a couple of hours making up captions and fixing other stuff. Meanwhile we drove past the Wild Horse Sanctuary HQ and across the Big Horn River. Once across the valley, the Medicine Wheel Passage (Rte 14A) climbs steeply to the crest of the Big Horns (passing what we later found out was a flying site at Five Springs). Coming down the east side, we stopped at the Sand Turn pullout, site of the launch. We talked to Jim Bowman and Jeremy, the Wallaby Ranch chef,

Aframes at Connor Battlefield CG

and watched Walt skyout in his hang glider. In the LZ we stopped to talk with Jared and Ron. Fly-in organizer Johann showed up and gave us some information and told C.J. she could use the wi-fi at his house in Dayton. We drove on down through Dayton to Ranchester (five miles farther) to the Connor Battlefield State Park campground, a grassy area with some shade along the Tongue River. We found a long pull-thru near Dan and Linda Gravage's pop-up tent trailer, set up, and then headed back to Johann's where his wife, Suzy, helped C.J. get online. As a gust front hit Dayton, I headed back to make sure our trailer was safe. The storm never made it to Ranchester. I went back, picked up C.J. and returned to camp where I hung up the solar shower for a warm hairwash and sponge bath. We had company in our pull-thru: Bill Snyder and Lucy Stillson's Chalet. Later we visited with Dan and Linda, Ron and Walt until time for dinner (2000). The temperature dropped to a comfortable level after the sun went down. [The refrigerator pilot light must have gotten blown out because I had to restart it - first time that has happened.]

31 Aug, Sat - After pancakes for breakfast we drove the short distance in to the (closed) visitor center in town and used their electricity and wi-fi (No electricity was available at the campground, but also no fee envelopes were available, either, so we couldn't complain). After hanging out with Dan and Linda for a while, we left Ranchester around noon and drove up to launch to check conditions. It didn't look like a good day

Steamboat Point - 700 ft to the top

for paragliding so we continued a mile or so up Rte 14 to an unsigned trailhead for Steamboat Point. I didn't believe the trail went straight up to the cliffs - it looked more like a rock climber's approach trail - so I convinced C.J. to contour the slope below the cliffs until we ran into where the trail ought to be. It never happened so we started straight up the slope and passed through a gap in the cliffs and still didn't find a trail. It wasn't until we had gone a ways toward the Point that we finally found the very obvious trail. We quickly reached the 7916 ft summit where a fire tower had once stood. The Steamboat prow was a great place to eat lunch as long as you didn't look down. The descent was much easier on the well-used switchbacks of the trail. According to the trail description, the round trip was only 1.5 mi and the ascent was 700 feet. We returned to Sand Turn launch where no one else was flying. We met Chad, a local PG pilot who told us about a better site for PG - Red Grade west of the town of Big Horn outside of Sheridan. [Info from Google Earth: Launch: 44.618658, -107.082580; LZ: 44.638335, -107.071179] The description was sketchy but we weren't planning to go there, at least not by ourselves. We walked a quarter mile down the road from the Sand Turn launch to a launch sometimes used by PG - it looked pretty good aside from the brush. Then we returned to Dayton, had an ice cream, and went back to camp for a solar shower. It was 1830 or later when we finally headed for the party at Dayton City Park but we were right on time for Jim and Sarah's ranch-grown burgers, beans, salads, chips, pickles and cookies. It was well after dark that we left (2030) and the party was breaking up. The forecast for Sun was SE 5-10 which was supposed to be good for the site.

C.J. launching at Red Grade

1 Sep, Sun - Up at 0800, we headed to Sand Turn early so we could fly before the part of the setup area used for a PG launch filled with hang gliders. We laid out our wings right away and I forward launched in a decent cycle. I went right and caught some lift at the edge of the canyon but not enough to climb out. I went back to the left and scratched lower and lower and farther out. The LZ was thermally but my landing was good (:18). C.J. had almost no wind but she had a good forward inflation and run. But she got distracted by a pilot talking to her on the lip and paused momentarily and then continued her takeoff. She had to swoop left to miss the trees and then right to miss the rocks. The rest of her flight was much better than mine - her scratching over the white ridge above the LZ earned her 21 minutes of soaring. I got a ride up with a local pilot, grabbed the car and picked

Tongue River Canyon

C.J.up at the LZ. We drove into Dayton then out to Tongue River Canyon - spectacular rock formations in a narrow canyon but the dispersed camping (free) looked pretty crude. On the way back through Dayton around 1400 C.J. got an ice cream. We made a brief stop at camp to pick up a cold drink for me then ate lunch on the way south to the Red Grade flying site. The GPS took us through south Sheridan and on to Big Horn. From there we used the gazetteer to find Red Grade Road which became gravel and somewhat rough as it climbed steeply (4WD was recommended on a sign). Directions had not been very exact from either person we talked to and we missed the parking spot and went two or three miles farther up into the National Forest before turning back and stopping at a place that turned out to be close to the correct parking spot. Following a trail along a ridge we came out to an opening and soon spotted a wind streamer or two. We found a shorter trail back to the road and I moved the car to the now-obvious place to park. C.J. was willing to fly in what looked like light, smooth conditions so we divided her gear up and and followed an easy trail a couple hundred yards to the smooth, grassy launch. C.J. took off around 1700 and climbed 500 ft above the 6700 ft launch. I drove down and parked in one of the three snowmobile/ATV parking lots (5100 ft) and noted several wind streamers in the adjacent, sloping pasture. After grabbing some streamer tape and a pole, I wriggled under the fence and waited for C.J. to finish her flight (which was prolonged by a climb back to launch level as she came out). She landed neatly in the thermally LZ missing the many large rocks. On the way back we got gas in Sheridan at a Holiday station (3.609). Then we hurried to make it back to Dayton for the free BBQ at the Mountain Inn bar. We were a bit late and got only a few slices of pot roast and a spicy-hot pickle. Still, the price was right and we got to talk with other pilots about Red Grade. Back at camp we used the still-warm solar shower to wash up then joined many of the other pilots at the Jackson/Cowboy Up (Bart and Tiki) campsite to visit. C.J. wanted to get more information on the Free Flight Foundation-assisted purchase of the Sand turn LZ so we planned to pack up early on the next day and spend some time on launch before heading for an RV Park with electricity and showers near Lander.


2 Aug, Mon - Labor Day - We got up a little earlier, ate oatmeal and continued packing up. C..J. walked over to the Visitor Center and used the wi-fi to fix some problems with the alpha (again!). I folded up the trailer and met her around 1030. We drove to launch and hung out while visiting and interviewing folks. Around noon we headed west over the the mountain on Rte 14. Shell canyon, on the west side, is still jaw-droppingly scenic. There were some slower RVs but for most of the way we were able to move right along. We ate lunch while descending the last of the Big Horns to Greybull. We didn't really stop again until we reached Riverton where we had to make a decision which way to go - up through Dubois and across Union Pass on a gravel road to Green River Lakes Road, or through Lander, over South Pass then up to the Green River Lakes through Pinedale. We took maps and gazetteer into a Dairy Queen (the advertised Yellowstone Ice Cream store was closed as was about everything else on Main Street) and pondered our choices over mini-blizzards. The Passport America RV Park in Washakie was out since when I called, the manager said that the bathrooms were not available...and we're not that self-contained. We decided to go

Snuff and Sleeping Bear, Lander, WY

for a Good Sam Park in Lander, Sleeping Bear RV Park and Campground, which would put us in a place where we could go either way. We had already filled up at Loaf N Jug (3.609 discounted), not guessing that gas would be ten cents cheaper in Lander. At least the RV park was reasonably priced and we got our Good Sam 10% discount. We got to plug in all of our rechargeable stuff, plus we had wi-fi, and a clean rest room with showers. I must have dropped the hitch pin for the jack wheel back in Ranchester so we went to Ace Hardware to get a replacement. The enthusiastic guy that helped us thought that we ought to go for the Union Pass route because it was so scenic. We had dinner late but planned to get up for the 3 hr 35 min drive to Green Lakes for a hike with great views. That was the route over South Pass, through Farson and Pinedale since our campground host thought that taking a trailer on the Union Pass Road was not a good idea.

3 Sep, Tue - Without waiting around for a slooow download of topo maps for Green River Lakes, we were

Green River Lake, Osborn, Squaretop and Battleship Mtns

out at 0830. We stopped in expensive Pinedale for milk ($2.14 half-gal) and gas (3.999). Then we took the long (50 miles from Pinedale) road, half of it gravel and dirt, some washboard, some damp, to the Green River Lakes campground (USFS). There were lots of sites available and we chose one that gave us a view to the north.We left the trailer closed and drove the short distance to the trailhead parking lot. That was where all the vehicles were - kind of surprising for after Labor Day, but the weather was beautiful. Another

Lakeside "trail"

hiker let us take a photo of his National Geographic trail map and we were off at 1330. We took the lakeside trail along the west side of the lake. We must have missed the start of the main trail because we found ourselves walking along the edge of the lake some of the time. Later we went higher and found a much better trail. Around 1515 we reached the end of the lake and found the junction with the Highline Trail (Continental Divide Trail, CDT). After crossing the bridge over the Green River we followed the CDT to Upper Green River Lake (7968) and found the very view of Squartetop across the lake from an empty campsite that was featured in backpacker.com:

Wind River Range, WY
Upper Green River Lake

The remote, rugged, and remarkable Winds have a rep as an experts-only destination. But this sweet campsite requires just a two-hour hike along a mostly level trail. Kick back lakeside and enjoy the views, or explore nearby alpine terrain like Squaretop Mountain. To get there: At Cora on US 191 north of Pinedale, turn right on WY 352. Go about 40 miles; the road dead-ends at the Green River Lakes Campground and trailhead. Permit None required Map Earthwalk Press Northern Wind River Range ($10, onmimap.com) Contact fs.usda.gov/btnf
 By 1600 we were heading back following the CDT to go around the east side of the lake. Because I was out of water we stopped at the Clear Creek bridge and I used the Steri-Pen to treat enough clear, cold water for each of us. A little ways farther, just below the junction of the CDT and the Clear Creek Canyon Trail, we spotted a moose feeding in a pond near the lake edge. We were excited to see a moose and get some photos in the wild. The rest of the hike was a slog (total 6.5 mi) but with great views of Squaretop, Osborn and Battleship Mountains behind us.We crossed the Green River again and finally reached the car at 1820. We were pretty beat and it felt good to wash up back at camp even though it was shaded  and starting to get chilly. [The solar shower was not warm even after 5 hours in the sun, but maybe it had cooled rapidly in the shade.] Around dark we had some thunder and lightning and some rain, but it didn't last very long.

A little mud

4 Sep, Wed - We got up after 0800 because it was socked in and I wanted to give the muddy parts of the road time to dry out. We left about 1000 as the sun came out - no rush since we were going only to Jackson, a relatively short drive. Most of the nineteen miles of unpaved road was fine but there were short stretches of mud that liberally coated the front of the trailer and the Sorento's wheel wells. We cut across to the highway on Forty Rod Road then continued northwest through some scenic canyons, past Bondurant and Hoback to Jackson. We drove straight through town to the elk preserve and up to Curtis Canyon campground (USFS) which was right behind the launch.We tried a couple of pull-thrus and then broke for lunch on launch. Then we went back and chose a more level back-in site that had a more open view. During lunch I called several local pilots and got one response from Josh Riggs who said to meet at 1700 at the SnoKing parking lot. We left at 1600 so we would have plenty of time to stop for an ice cream which we did at Hagen Dazs near the town square. After ice cream we went to a nifty-gifty shop and bought a moose cookie cutter. Unfortunately when I backed out of the angle-in parking space I struck the right rear fender/wheel well of a truck that I thought had pulled out of my way. Traffic was really heavy and the next guy behind the truck had given me a signal that he would wait until I could back out. Minor damage to both vehicles - the truck had a dent and the Sorento had a broken taillight lens and a scuff on the bumper. We exchanged phone numbers (and I need to remember if there is a next time that I needed to get more info). There was a farmers' market going on at SnoKing and it wasn't obvious which parking lot was the meeting point. No one was there at 1700 but a few minutes later people who looked like they might be pilots began to pull in. After some discussion the decision was made to try Curtis Canyon, good for us because several other choices were hike-and-fly sites. Brad was going there and the winds were supposed to clock around more to the west later. Up at the launch it seemed kind of strong at 12-15 mph and the two guys who launched looked like they were experts at flying right next to the hill, swooping and toe-dragging. Then Brad took off from the middle launch and flew left, over the trees disappearing around the corner to the south. Joe and Jim (a Rat Race pilot) hiked to the upper launch and a third pilot with his girlfriend Tatiana hiked their tandem gear past where I had set up on the middle launch. Everyone but me flew sledders (even Brad sank out around the corner and had to hike back up in the heat). I waited too long and the wind died off then turned catabatic. I packed up and walked down to hang out with the other pilots until 2000 when everyone took off for home and dinner. Several were planning to fly at the tram the next day, probably an everyday occurrence. I needed to sponge off after the tension of the day and the long wait on a hot launch.

5 Sep, Thu - A leisurely blueberry pancake breakfast capped C.J.'s early rising to see the morning sun on

Dawn light on the Tetons

the Tetons from the launch. We left around 0900 and drove into Jackson to get gas (3.799). At Loaf N Jug I couldn't find my wallet and C.J. called  the Jackson Mercantile where I had last paid for something and then checked with the police to see if anyone had turned it in as lost and found. After using C.J.'s AmEx card to pay for the gas, we drove to the library parking lot and took everything out of the car (well, moved everything, anyway) and even opened the trailer. Finally, C.J. discovered my black nylon wallet under the front floor mat. I called the police to report it found. Then we could breathe again and head north. In Grand Teton NP I used a scenic pullout to call USAA to report the accident; it took about twenty minutes and I still would have to speak with an adjuster. The sky looked threatening over the Tetons but better to the east. We continued on into Yellowstone and stopped for restrooms at Lewis Lake, and for a weather report at Grant Village VC. The weather now did not look so promising for flying near Livingston on Friday. C.J. called Dan Gravage and he confirmed that the weather looked monsoonal; also he could not fly on Friday due to a funeral. We decided to head up the east side of the Park and maybe camp at Canyon and go to Artist Point, then continue on to Missoula the next day. C.J. called Andy McCrae (who she thought lived in Missoula, but was actually living in Bozeman). He thought flying would be good Friday and Sunday. So the new plan was to camp early at Canyon and drive to Bozeman in time to fly Friday. Unfortunately when we got to Canyon around 1400 or so, all the campsites were full - all 250 of them. Surprised and slightly panicked, we drove to the next campground on our route, Norris, and found a small, back-in site on a hill. We could have taken a pullout site but they were signed for "RVs over 30 ft".

C.J. at Virginia Cascades

I set out the solar shower (At Canyon our (more expensive) camping fee would have included a hot shower) and we headed back toward Artist Point even though it was too late for the ranger-led hike at Uncle Tom's Point (view point for the Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone). Along the route we took the scenic drive to Virgina Cascades. At Artist Point we were aghast at how crowded it seemed and we decided on a spur-of-the-moment hike to Sublime Point. It was a mile each way and there were no crowds but plenty of good views down into the canyon. Back at Artist Point we enjoyed the view of Lower Falls and then went to Uncle Tom's for the Upper Falls and a chortling raven. We drove across the bridge and a short distance to a trail to a viewpoint at the brink of Upper Falls. Then we returned to Norris with a short stop at a 1988 fire exhibit. The solar shower was in the shade and not at all hot but we got cleaned up anyway. C.J. made a pasta dish with smoked salmon and pesto - very good. There was a Star

The chortling raven

Talk at 2030 but it was hard for C.J.to hear and see because the 20-30 people were all standing around the presenter.I stuck around and worked my way close to the speaker. Most of the talk was repetition of things I had already heard  like "arc to Arcturus", Big Dipper, Pointer Stars, and Polaris. But there were other good patterns like the Summer Triangle (Vega at the zenith, Deneb in Cygnus, and Altair with two dimmer stars above and below it in Aquila), Pegasus as a big diamond, Andromeda, Cassiopiea's daughter. Scorpio with bright Antares (named because it was thought to be an opponent of red Mars). I stayed until almost 2130 then headed back to upload photos from our cameras - in the restroom where I could partially charge my depleted laptop battery. Later when C.J. was getting stuff from the car, she fell and cut her hand (and cracked her iPad). I found our old first aid kit under the furnace and gave the cut a shot of antiseptic and put on a bandaid. By then it was bedtime. I checked the GPS and it is only two hours to Bozeman and there is an RV park called Bear Canyon nearby.

6 Sep, Fri - We left around 0930 and someone took our site as soon as we pulled out. There was an almost solid stream of traffic coming in to the Park as we drove west from Madison - obviously September is no longer the slow season. We drove directly to West Yellowstone where C.J. called Andy and found out that all the Bozeman sites involve a difficult walk-up. Then she called someone in Missoula and  got an unpromising weather forecast for Friday and not good until Sunday. We checked at the big Tourist Information Center for a weather forecast and fire report but ended up using our own computers to access inciweb.org for fires. C.J. called Belinda in Boise who said that the recent rains had put out most fires. We spent some time wandering around town looking at end-of-season sales but I couldn't find the little knife sharpener I had seen first at Sleeping Bear in Lander. I did buy a roll of shipping tape and we used that to put together the pieces of the broken taillight lens to make it almost as good as new - or at least protect it from any wet weather. And we bought a couple of mix-in ice cream cones. Storm clouds seemed to be building as we left West Yellowstone on US 20 around 1330. We followed the same route that we had last January through Island Park, but instead of turning east for Teton Pass we headed west through Rexsburg, out of the mountains and onto the Snake River Plain to Arco. We found gas there at a surprising 3.519 and filled up before heading back into the wilds, beyond Moore and Mackay. On Trail Creek Road (unpaved) we stopped to camp for the night at the nearly empty Phi Kappa campground (USFS) in a lodgepole pine grove next to a beaver pond for $2.50 per night (discounted). 

7 Sep, Sat - We pulled out at 0906 after a breakfast of cold cereal. We passed Park Creek CG in about three miles and it looked as nice as Phi Kappa. The climb to Trail Creek Pass got a little steeper after the CG and at the pass there was a sign recommending against trailers on the "one lane with turnouts" road. We weren't about to turn back and had no problems passing several vehicles in the opposing direction on the way down. A few miles outside of Sun Valley on paved road again we passed Boundary CG (USFS) which looked pretty full. Then we went by a skeet shooting range where a big contest was ongoing. At SR 75 in Sun Valley we turned north and drove up and over Galena Summit and on to Stanley. We stopped there at a TI where we checked to be sure SR 21, the Ponderosa Scenic Byway was open to Boise. The info guy suggested that we take FS 25 from Lowman west through Garden Valley to Banks and then go south on Rte 55 to Garden City, our destination. The whole route was very scenic with the only glitch a 20-min construction delay. After that, near Banks, we passed two areas where the road had been inundated by mudslides recently. [And Rte 55 was closed to the north toward McCall due to the same problem.] We had been descending steadily since about 8700 at Galena along the Salmon R and then, once past Stanley, along the South Fork of the Payette. The low point was below 3000 ft at Horseshoe Bend then we climbed over a 4200 ft pass before descending to Garden City. C.J. got directions to the Boise Riverside RV Park from Belinda and we registered there and parked pretty close to the OZ Report World Headquarters under a

Leanne and ? at the "house concert"

small shade tree. Davis and Belinda took us out to lunch at Bardenay (yacht-speak for "cocktail" according to the menu) and then we came back to shower and charge electronics. I downloaded a couple of books from the library to my Nook via Overdrive since I had finished the last one. It was reasonably comfortable in our site thanks to the shade. At 1800 we went with Davis and Belinda to a "house concert" in a friend of a friend's backyard (complete with a pergola for the performers, an outdoor cooking area, a yurt, and a wine and beer garden, plus a Boise "Po Bois" food truck serving gumbo, Cuban sandwiches and other southern food. Two performer couples played and sang acoustic folk. One was Leanne, the property owner, with another local guy, and the other was Alicia and Ian McFaron touring from Walla Walla. We left before the third set when Davis had to get back to work.

Hot air over the OZ Report World Headquarters

 8 Sep, Sun - We got up early enough to do some computer stuff and packing before we went over to Belinda's for breakfast. Their fifth-wheel trailer with two slideouts is so large that it seems like a house (but that very size makes camping in USFS campgrounds and many national parks almost impossible). After a delicious meal of gourmet fried potatoes and scrambled eggs with salsa, I finished closing up the trailer and we left around 1015. First we stopped at Boise Costco for gas (3.629) then stopped at Sierra Trading Post in Meridian where we picked up a silicone folding colander for the trailer, and C.J. got an ExOfficio short sleeve shirt for hiking (since the Frostbite performance-fabric shirt worked so well). Then it was just a long day of driving to get home around 1915. We made at least one rest stop and I tried to get gas at Flying J in Stanfield but they were too busy for the one gas attendant. Once we were in WA, I stopped for $10 worth of gas at Exxon in Kennewick (3.679) and continued on to Union Gap Costco (where gas was "only" 3.459, cheaper than anywhere else on our trip!) where we filled up and bought some groceries and an ice cream bar. There was light traffic on I-90 and no one was flying at Baldy when we went by (although there were cars still parked  in the camp area).