Cruising(Light Overlanding) to Southeast Idaho Part 1

"vicariousILive" (vicariousILive) 05/30/2014 at 00:22 • Filed to: Overlanding

2

2

Well if you may have remembered a couple weeks ago I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! all of your opinions on what I should do on my babysitting adventure with my 2 ¾ year old son. Well 2 people only provided any good kind of insight and advice. I didn't care really because I already had my mind made up before I even asked really. Well, due to some unforeseen personal events, my trip to southern Utah wasn't going to turn out. So decided to make my way north to my hometown of Mud Lake, ID.

I decided to take a very scenic route on my way to Idaho. I am going to be taking a group of Scouts to float the Snake River in between Hoback Jct and Alpine in Wyoming just downstream of Jackson Hole. I had some places I knew that we could camp for free because I grew up on a sheep ranch(cue sheep jokes) and this was the area that we brought them to for summer range. Prettiest damn country in the US of A if you ask me. Well that is what I used to say but now that I have traveled to Southern Utah and I am beginning to think differently. But that's an apples and oranges comparison, it cannot be compared nor should it.

Anyways with a heavy heart I finally made the decision to bag the Capitol Reef trip on Wednesday morning after hearing my Grandmother had a stroke and talking with my mom that she was not going to make it much longer. Since I had all of this time off I thought I better travel up north to provide my mom some comfort since this was her mother and they were very close. So with all of my camping gear and what little off roading gear I had decided to take off with my boy. My plan was to make this trip as much as an overlanding trip as possible I decided to avoid I-15 all together on the way up. Also I wanted to go on roads that I have never been to before. I have lived in this area for 30 years and there is still parts that I have never seen.

Here is the route I ended up taking so you have some context to my ramblings

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

So I left from my house and headed straight east towards Ogden Valley and took highway 39 which is Monte Cristo road over into Woodruff, UT. I always hear this is a beautiful drive, probably true, but on the last week of May it wasn't. At 9000ft everything is still in that transition stage from Winter to Summer. There was no leaves on the trees and most of the snow had melted so I didn't bother with pictures. Side note:I must apologize my desire to take pictures is much less that the rest of society and my ability to describe things is sub-par. Hopefully this isn't too boring but thanks to the interwebs I have found some pics.

From Woodruff we took the road north and decided to take the loop through next to Bear Lake (this is not my picture by the way) rather than going east and going to Montpelier Idaho. I figured it would be way more scenic anyway.

Once in Bear Lake we passed by towns I have never been on the Idaho side of the lake. I think my great-grandma grew up in this area so it pretty cool to see the pretty countryside. I would have stopped to take pictures here but my boy was getting hungry and getting pissed so I decided to press on to Montpelier where there are more options for food.

Once my boy was less tired we set off on Hwy 89 which takes your through Star Valley Wyoming. This valley's claim to fame is non other than our favorite Gold Medalist Greco-Roman Wrestler and Biggest Loser contestant, Rulon Gardner.

I always thought that this area was going to be look like a good 'ole west ranching valley and it was for the most part but North of Afton it looks like where all of millionaires moved after they were bought out by billionaires in Jackson Hole. After the scene of yuppie "vacation" and "retirement" homes. I arrived in Alpine, WY where I haven't seen in over 17 years. Drove up the Snake River canyon where the beautiful Snake River snakes(pun intended) through the canyon. I was surprised I didn't see any kayakers or rafting groups in the water. However, at closer look at the water it was very brown and had a lot of debris-logs and whatnot. I should have known because this winter the Bridger-Targhee area got something like 130% of average snowfall. As I was driving up the road I couldn't believe we used to herd sheep up this road, from Alpine to Wolf Creek. It was like 5 miles! I remember the tourist having no idea what to do when they saw a shitload(about 1000) sheep coming up the narrow highway.

I made it to the place where we used to truck our other herd into and that was Cabin Creek or Dog Creek, depending on the year I was very disappointed that my idea for free camping was foiled. For conservation purposes the FS has banned all dispersed camping in these area. Now I have to think of somewhere else to camp with all of these Boy Scouts.

Later I decided to avoid the yuppiness of Jackson Hole all together and drive up the Fall Creek road. This dirt road was very riddled with washboards and evidence of poor driving had made this road less comfortable than normal but the wild flowers made it quite enjoyable to look at. I read that dispersed camping is allowed in this canyon so my efforts to camp with the scouts for free may still be possible.

Later the Fall Creek dirt road turned to pavement and the multi-million dollar homes start to manifest themselves. I really wanted to take pictures but the road was narrow and I didn't feel comfortable parking on the no-shoulder of the winding road. When I got to a spot i took a picture of the Grand Tetons. Not the best quality I know but you get the jist of it. One rarely sees the Tetons from this angle, I like getting a different perspective on things.

After successfully avoiding Jackson Hole I headed onto the Teton Pass. I tried my best to keep my eyes on the road as I quickly kept trying to steal glances of the awesome backcountry ski lines that this area is famous for. There was a lot of snow left over and all of the corn snow was all tracked out.

After making it down the pass we made our way to Victor Idaho. Another place that has completely changed. Another case of rich people moving there after being bought out by even more rich people. This town, when I was a kid ,was a good ole rancher town. The Victor Steak Bank Cafe was a great place to grab a greasy bite is now this awful antiques store. And with all of this money coming in you would think this would be restored but all of the old buildings are left to rot while the newer buildings are built around it. At least tear the old stuff down. Anyways I quickly bolted East towards Swan Valley Idaho through Pine Creek Pass.

Pine Creek pass was where we used to separate the mutton lambs that were shipped to the meat market to Denver. I drove to the place where the coral coral used to be where we separated the lambs from the ewes and loaded the lambs on the truck.The coral was no longer there but this landscape has remained unchanged and pretty as ever.

I used to love stopping in Swan Valley as a kid because they have this place served square scoop ice cream cones at the Swan Valley Commissary. I knew the commissary was torn down but thankfully the gas station that was built in its place kept the legacy alive. I was promising my boy ice cream all afternoon so I had to stop in. Here is a pic I found on the internet.

I decided to call it a day then and went straight to Idaho falls to visit my parents and dying grandmother. I was planning on avoiding seeing her in the hospital because I have such a happy last memory of her celebrating her 90th birthday. I decided to drop in. Even though it was tough to see her unresponsive it was comforting for me to not see her suffering as I have been imagining her being. She was peaceful and comfortable After saying goodbye I left with my dad and went to Mud Lake which I took I-15 the rest of the way. It didn't matter to me at this point I didn't meet my goal of avoiding major roads.

Stay tuned for my real overlanding part which I did today. I will write about it tomorrow.

PowderHound > vicariousILive 05/30/2014 at 01:14

0

my brother and I ran the section of the snake just outside of alpine. Don't remember the put in and take out but we did that back in early November very amazing and basically no one there but so cold when I flipped and had to pull the skirt

vicariousILive > PowderHound 05/30/2014 at 02:11

0

I wouldn't even think of touching that water in November. I remember watching the Kayaker go over the rapids when I was younger and thinking it was so bad ass. The river is so full right now you couldn't even see the rapids.