Hayden Valley

 

 

 

 

 

A good place for bison.

 

 

 

 

And ravens.

 

 

Catching bugs.

 

 

And Trumpeter Swans.

 

 

The road to Yellowstone

 

 

Smoke almost all the way here, but it suddenly got better the last hour of the day.  A short layover at a lush city park in Ennis.  Green grass for Jesse to run in, roll on, and shake off the road dust.

 

And on into town at West Yellowstone.

 

2026 Summer Trip map

 

The weather is cool.  The air is clear.  Perfect.

 

We’ve always stayed at Grizzly RV park right in town for easy access to Yellowstone’s west gate.  It’s by far the nicest park in the neighborhood.  I looked online for reservations and they’re now $200 a night for a van.  We booked at the KOA five miles outside of town instead.  We’re very happy with this KOA campsite.

 

First things first, after setting up camp, a drive back into town for an early dinner of chicken fried steak at our favorite eatery, the Old Town Café.

 

So familiar.

 

 

Then a late afternoon drive into the park.  Yellowstone is so crowded in the summer, but going in in the evening avoided any lines, a lot of the traffic, and many times we felt like we had individual spots to ourselves.

 

Didn’t go very far in today; Madison Junction and then off to the south for some mud, steam, and geysers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And encrusted pinecones.

 

Jesse crashes out before we even finish getting set up for the night.

 

 

Butte, Montana

 

 

Hot.  Gravel parking lot.  Right next to the freeway.  Just an overnight stop.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

Still smoky.

 

Saw a 70 mph grizzly bear today.  We were going 70, and the bear was walking up and over the roadside railroad tracks.  At that speed, it wasn’t a long look, but it was clear.  That was not a brown black bear, that was a for-sure flat-faced, spiky-coated grizzly.  Our first bear sighting of any kind this trip.

 

 

Where to next?

 

 

What?  It’s only a hundred miles to Flathead Lake?  We love Flathead Lake.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

Got one of the last remaining sites at the state park.  When we arrived at the park though, we found out I had inadvertently reserved a walk-in tent site, with an off-level parking spot.  Like way off-level.  The park host was so nice, she moved us to an administrative site that they hold back for emergencies.  Lucky us, we got a nice level site for the night.

 

 

A short walk to the lake.

 

A bit of a slope, to get down and back.  I’ve been careful not to test my healing hamstring but it’s so much better it’s comfortable walking on level ground now, and it turns out a few hills don’t hurt either.  We won’t try any running or jumping before August.  Judy’s knee is good for level ground and uphills.  It doesn’t like downhills much though.

 

We forgot about the smoke.  South again tomorrow.

 

We were going to follow U.S. Hwy 2 across the rest of the northern tier

 

 

But the wildfire smoke turned us south.  We drove through Idaho into Montana and stopped for the night at Thompson Falls State Park.  It’s just a little park with no hookups, but it was wonderful!

 

Super quiet.  Friendly neighbors.  Shady.  A trail from our campsite a hundred yards right to the Clark Fork river.

 

 

 

 

We’d have stayed longer but we could only get that site for one night, and it was the best site.

 

 

A little pond with bullfrogs in it.

 

It was fun to hear them, but they’re not supposed to be there.  The sign said it was okay to eat them, but we didn’t.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

Northeastern Washington

 

 

Roadside rest.  Hwy 20.

 

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

Stopped at a KOA for the night.  It was nice enough, a forested hillside, but it was a busy holiday place for young families.  It felt like we camped for the night in the middle of a middle school playground.  Hey you kids, get off my lawn!

 

We were very close to the next-door neighbors, but they were wonderful.

 

We accomplished two goals with this leg of the trip.

 

We visited every county in the state of Washington.

 

 

And we drove Hwy 20 from the beginning at Fort Casey to the end in Newport, where it meets up with U.S. Hwy 2.

 

Curlew Lake State Park

 

 

Still state-parking it as we can.  Hard to find state park spots on weekends, but we got this one.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

 

 

 

We were going to continue east along U.S. Highway 2, but the wildfire smoke has rolled in.  It makes for great sunsets, but we’re going to make up a new plan pretty soon.