Tiny Trailer Travels Part Six
After sleeping soundly despite the risk of a big grizzly bear thinking our camper was a can of spam, we were up early once again and heading into the sunrise. Our goal was to reach the Black Hills and the parks and monuments within. We drove through Bighorn National Forest and were amazed by it’s beauty, truly one of the most beautiful things we saw throughout our trip. We were awed by it’s grandeur!
We decided that someday we’d like to go back and hike the Bench Trail through the park, we took a photo of the sign to remind ourselves.
We took the extra time to stop at Devil’s Tower. It’s such an interesting place.
Then we were off again toward the Black Hills. We actually drove south and reached Wind Cave National Park before sunset. Elk Mountain Campground was very nice, our favorite from the entire trip and quite a bargain at only $12 per night!
Once again we were up with the sun and the bugling bull elk in the morning. The sunrise was especially lovely that morning. We drove through the park and spotted all kinds of interesting wildlife, including some pronghorn which we hadn’t really seen yet until this point in the trip.
We then set off up the winding road with pigtail bridges and lots of tunnels that goes through Custer State Park toward Mt Rushmore. This trip offered tiny glimpses of Mr Rushmore between the trees and at one point it was framed at the end of a tunnel. A perfect way to head to the monument and highly recommended to anyone thinking of heading to Mt Rushmore.
We were quite disappointed with the commercialization of Mt Rushmore, so we didn’t stay very long, only about 15 minutes. Sadly all the stuff they’ve built up around it really detracts from the memorial. So we hit the road with Badlands National Park on our itinerary.
We camped that night somewhere in South Dakota and were up early for a long drive across South Dakota and Minnesota the next day. We stopped at Mitchell’s Corn Palace on our way and then drove until we reached the Maple Grove Campground in Iowa that evening.
We celebrated our last night camping with a hot dog roast (we purchased these dogs at a small butcher shop in Seattle) and we relaxed late into the evening by a fire.
The next morning we were up early for a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon and set off to visit Seed Saver’s Exchange (more on this part this visit later).
After staying at Seed Savers until after noon, we headed off and hit the highway in an effort to reach home that evening. It was a few hours after midnight when we finally arrived home.
All in all we traveled 7500 miles, used 29 tanks of gas, traveled through 12 states, visited 9 National parks and 5 National monuments. It’s the longest trip Mr Chiots and I have taken together and good practice for future trips which will be much longer! Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
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Tiny Trailer Travels Part Five
After leaving Grand Teton, we headed north to see the famous Yellowstone. I visited the park when I was in high school and wasn’t as impressed with it as it seems everyone else is. Mr Chiots had never been, so we decided to drive through.
It’s a huge park and you have to drive many miles to see everything. It’s also quite busy and it can be difficult to find parking at the pull-outs. Since I’m not a huge fan of crowds, Yellowstone is not my favorite park. It’s interesting nonetheless to see all the weird stuff that is found within it’s borders from geysers, hot springs, boiling mud and so many other things.
Luckily we arrived at the Old Faithful stop about a half hour before it went off, so we didn’t have to wait a long time to see it.
As we drove through the easter part of the park the sun was setting so all the wildlife was out and about. We spotted many bison and a few elk. Since we didn’t want to stay in the park, we drove out of the park to stay in Shoshone National Forest on the outskirts of Yellowstone.
As we were driving we spotted a sign that said “Camp at your own risk – grizzly bear area”. That didn’t stop us, we camped at Eagle Creek Campground. Unfortunately we didn’t see the camp at your risk sign again the next morning when it was bright enough to take a photo, just this bear sign.
Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
Have you ever visited Yellowstone National Park?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
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Tiny Trailer Travels Part Four
After leaving Crater Lake, we made our way across the the huge state of Oregon on our way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Since we left around 3:30 in the afternoon, we knew we wouldn’t make it that far before needing to stop for the evening, but each hour we drove would be an hour less the next day. It was actually nice to be driving with the sun setting behind us instead of in our windshield as it had been for the majority of the trip. We were heading east, toward home – that was a good feeling.
Now that we had the little camper instead of camping in a tent, we figured if needed we could just stop for the night at a rest area. We drove and drove and finally stopped for the night at a little rest area on route 20 in Buchanan, Oregon. Ironically all of the previous rest areas we passes were very nice, but this one ended up being a gravel parking lot with a pit toilet. No worries for us, we figured that would mean a peaceful night of sleep without worrying about people stopping in.
For some reason we both woke up around 2:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. So we got up, made coffee by the light of the moon and millions of stars and then headed off down the road. We stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument around noon. It was such an interesting place and really does look like the surface of the moon. After driving through, we hit the road again heading toward Grand Teton National Park hoping to arrive before dark so we could camp in the park.
We drove our little car and camper over Teton Pass, which made it clear that the next car we buy will be a little beefier, especially important for our eventual trip up to Alaska. Not that we had trouble, we just had to take it very slowly. At least it was a beautiful drive and we were rewarded with the breathtaking Grand Teton Mountain Range at the end.
We headed up to Colter Bay Campground at the top of the park to spend the night. We were disappointed with the campground, they put us in the RV section and we were surrounded by giant RV’s with their generators running, spewing out exhaust and creating quite a racket. We decided that from then on we’d stay at the lesser known campgrounds so we wouldn’t have this problem. It was quite amazing to us that so many people go “camping” and spend their time in their giant houses on wheels watching TV while deer walk right by their camper and they don’t even notice.
The next morning we were up with before the sun and off to drive south through Grand Teton. We have found that it’s best to drive through the parks early to see wildlife and to avoid the other tourists who are usually still sleeping cozily in their big RV’s. Not to mention you get to watch a fabulous sunrise each morning!
After driving through the park, we headed back to the campground, hitched up our camper and headed north to Yellowstone National Park.
On our way we met a few like minded folks who had built themselves a tiny travel trailer as well, it was very similar to ours. He stopped by just to see our camper and to chat with us. Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
Do you get up early when you travel, or do you sleep in?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
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Tiny Trailer Travels Part Three
After spending a week in Seattle, we made our way south, down the Oregon Coast for a day then we headed inland to visit Crater Lake National Park, one of my lifelong goals. We stopped at Mount St Helens on the day we left Seattle, since it was on our way south.
We decided to swing through Portland to see what it was like. While there we stopped at Coava Coffee Roasters to get some coffee and a stainless steel filter for our Chemex Coffee Carafe which we use while traveling. We parked downtown and walked around the weekend market for a while and then set off toward the coast.
That evening we planned on camping at a state park, but it was full. We hit the road again and ended up camping at a small marina on the coast of Oregon. It was quite wonderful to watch the sun set over the ocean while we enjoyed our dinner. Sometimes things that seem like inconveniences turn out to be wonderful blessings in the end. This seems especially true if you keep an open mind while traveling.
The next morning we were up with the sun and headed off down the coast stopping occasionally to take short hikes to an ocean overlook or something interesting.
After following the coast for many miles we headed inland and drove along picturesque country roads flanked by beautiful sheep farms. Our camper is actually insulated with wool from a sheep farm in Oregon, so we wondered if any of these sheep had provided our camper with warm VOC free all natural insulation. This is why we try those chose small roads instead of highways when we travel. The extra time it takes to travel back roads is rewarded with beauty the entire way. I’ll gladly trade a beautiful view for the drive for an extra hour or two in the car!
Originally we had planned on getting to Crater Lake that evening, but with the back roads drive we didn’t make it. Once again we were rewarded by not sticking to our plans too closely. Bogus Creek Campground in the Umpqua National Forest was really beautiful and serene. It was such a lovely place we might head back someday to spend some time hiking in the area.
The next morning we packed up and made our way through the National Forest stopping at many of the waterfalls along the way. We had no idea these were even here, until the campground host gave us some brochures and told us about them. If we hadn’t stopped at that campground we would have driven by all of them without even knowing. There are 24 different waterfalls in this area, we were able to stop and see about 8 of them.
In the afternoon, we continued on towards our goal of seeing Crater Lake, stopping at the Broken Arrow Campground at Diamond Lake to drop off the camper. We continued down the road to the northern entrance to Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake has always been on my “must do” list since I was young. I tried to talk my parents into making the trip when we were in California once, but it was too far. I was super excited to finally see it — I was not disappointed.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening driving around the rim road, stopping at all the lookouts. At one stop there was a friendly little ground squirrel, obviously other guests were not obeying the “Do Not Feed Wildlife” signs because it came right up to my hand as I was sitting on the wall. We hiked down to the boat landing at the lake and were surprised to see people swimming. Had we known, we would have worn our suits and taken a dip. But hiking the 1.5 miles back out in wet clothes was not appealing so we dipped our feet in and were content with that.
The next morning we got up early to a few ominous clouds and a few rain drops. We didn’t let that stop us from hiking the 2.5 miles to the top of Mt Scott, which is the highest point in Crater Lake Park. It was worth the trip, and by the time we got to the top the clouds were gone and it was a beautiful day!
Luckily we had packed ourselves some delicious sandwiches for lunch, which we enjoyed while taking in the fantastic view of Crater Lake. (more on our delicious sandwich fixing found at a little local butcher shop in Seattle later)
If you look closely you can see a tiny me hiking along the trail at the rim of Mt Scott in the image below. If you ever head to Crater Lake I’d highly recommend this hike, it’s well worth it for the view. The wildflowers were also quite lovely on the hike up, we wished we had taken a flower identification book with us. At least I have photos so I can find the names some day soon.
That afternoon we packed up the car and headed off through Oregon on our way to Grand Teton National Park. Check back tomorrow for that leg of our journey. Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
Do you have any places that you’ve always wanted to visit? Have you been able to check any off of your list?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
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Quote of the Day: John Steinbeck
It was late in the summer,
so of course there were no shoes to bother with.
John Steinbeck (The Red Pony)
One of the things I miss greatly in winter is the ability to go barefoot. I certainly have been enjoying feeling the grass and the earth under my feet. There is a name for this, it’s called “Earthing” – connecting to the earth through our skin. If you read about it, some people say it’s healing to the body because of the electrical energy of the earth. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it certainly makes me happy all summer long. You’ll find me going barefoot as much as possible until I have to put on shoes.
What about you – shoes or no shoes in summer?
