hot springs

Disc Golf, Hot Springs, Board Games, & Animal Photos: The Nelsons Come to Missoula!

Guess who came to visit us in Montana last month:

Kona!

And she brought our good friends and long-time-ago neighbors, Lisa and Rhema!

We were super excited when we heard that they would be coming out to Montana around the same time we were dropping in from Canada, so we made plans to meet up for a week in my beloved old stomping grounds—Missoula.

Fall was in full swing when they arrived, and despite the fact that the forecast said we’d have mostly rainy and cold weather, it was crisp and sunny for almost the entire trip. Since we’d anticipated the October-in-Montana weather, though, Rhema and Lisa had planned on staying in the Jeep, and they made a super-cool bed platform and suction cup curtains so that they could sleep inside. They did an awesome job, and had lots of room for storage under the platform and so much overhead clearance that Andy and I commented numerous times about how luxurious it was! Lisa even strung up tiny lights across the inside making it incredibly cozy.

(I forgot to get a picture of that, probably because we’re all animal people and mostly took photos of the pets having fun. So brace yourself for copious animal photos!)

Since both parties were mobile, we’d planned on visiting a few camp sites around the Missoula and Lolo areas. It’s the winter season so we had only a few options for open campgrounds, but the ones available were some of my old favorites, so it worked out brilliantly.

The first site we visited was Chief Looking Glass, just south of Lolo. We like this spot because there is a great site on the edge of a huge field, so Gracie can roam and the dogs (and their people) can run around and play frisbee.

Both Rhema and Lisa are incredible disc golfers, so we told them before they came to bring their discs because Missoula is a big “folf” town and has two great courses nearby. (For Rhema’s sake, that’s the last time I’ll use the term, but for accuracy I have to acknowledge that it’s what Missoulians call the sport.)

On our first full day of the trip, we went up to the Blue Mountain course and Andy and I got a lesson in disc golf from the pros. They were so professional in fact that they didn’t once complain about having to walk slowly beside me as I threw 5 times before my disc reached where their first throw landed.

We all agreed that this was a great way to get a taste of the Montana scenery while catching up and playing a game. And aside from a few minutes of rain and later a few minutes of hail, the weather held up quite nicely.

Kona also tagged along and sniffed her way through the course, though Scout did not, for obvious reasons. For a frisbee-obsessed dog, it would have been pure torture watching us throw discs and making him leave them alone.

Toward the end of the course, Kona’s sniffing led her to a very wild and wonderful smell which she loved so much she couldn’t resist rubbing her face and body all over it. It turned out to be some wild animal scat, which was so potent and foul that she required a soapy shower when we got back to the parking lot!

She was pretty sheepish about it, but a good sport.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to walk down to the river to rinse her soap off, we wouldn’t have seen the tiny fuzzy bear cub that walked across our path on the way back! We waited a bit to make sure his mom wasn’t right behind, then quickly got back to the cars and drove back to Chief Looking Glass.

The next morning was another sunny one, and we had our coffee by the river near our site.

Then we took advantage of the sunshine and drove out to Pattee Canyon to try out the disc golf course there. It’s a very densely wooded course, so the soundtrack to this outing was the constant cracking of plastic against trees.

We kept score this time, and it will surprise no one that Rhema and Lisa did very very well, Andy did well, and everyone acknowledged that I participated.

Whether or not you’re a first-rate disc golfer, it’s a beautiful walk through the woods and we had a great time. Afterwards we took our sore arms (it truly is a work-out on the old triceps) to Tamarack Brewing to try lifting some beers, and also ordered their Keg Of Nachos that is as delicious as it is enormous. Between the four of us we couldn’t finish the thing!

We decided to switch things up and go to another site for the night, a favorite of mine when I lived in Missoula—Thibodeau Campground. It’s open all year, right on the Blackfoot River and far away from civilization, so you can hear the river while you watch the myriad stars at night. It’s a great spot.

Rhema and Lisa have a great camera and when paired with Rhema’s equally great camera skills, we got a bunch of gorgeous photos of the animals!

Just a few minutes from the campground is a local-favorite day-use spot called Red Rocks. It’s just a short walk from the parking area. . .

And then you’re right on the river with a stunning backdrop across the water!

It was another beautiful day, and Scout wasted no time getting in the water to swim, fetch sticks, and watch us skip stones. Rhema caught his tail in mid-swish as Andy skipped a stone.

We spent a few hours at Red Rocks, enjoying the weather and making some sweet cairns.

The water was so lovely and appealing that after some time considering it, Rhema finally couldn’t help himself and had to jump in!

As he dried off, he and Andy built a very charming stone man.

Scout just pretty much tried to get us to throw sticks the whole time.

And Kona practiced her camouflage skills.

On the way back into Missoula, Kona rode along with us in the Turtle. She loved it and sat up front the entire time like it was her usual spot!

Scout sat in the front-middle for the first part of the trip, and then in the back for the last bit.

When we got back to town, we stoped for a beer and a few games of shuffleboard at Kettle House Brewery.

Scout and Kona watched us from the Turtle when we came out to the patio to play a game of Rummikub.

The next day we drove into Lolo National Forest to stay a night at Lolo Hot Springs. We got a nice spot at their campground and paid entry to the hot springs so we could soak before dinner, after dinner, and then before bed. We got our money’s worth for sure!

The next morning we had coffee at the restaurant and discussed plans for the day. Should we drive farther into the forest and find a dispersed camping spot, stay another night, or camp somewhere else on the other side of Missoula? As we thought it over, we noticed that since we’d been at the restaurant the night before they’d added a bunch of balloons hanging over the bar. We asked what they were, and the bartender said they were full of coupons and cost $2 each to pop one and see what’s inside. Well of course we had to!

We each popped one, and the bartender bought us two additional balloons, so we ended up with six coupons, one for a free tent site and one for a free cabin site! Plus free soaks and free drinks. . . and the decision was made. We stayed another night!

The cabin was tiny and adorable, and made for a great spot to dry our swim suits in between soaks.

That night we spent a few hours in the restaurant eating dinner, playing Catan, having some drinks, and laughing about how we basically got a free day of fun at Lolo Hot Springs!

When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit.

But as we drove back toward Missoula, the snow eventually melted and we had beautiful views of the bright yellow larches covering the mountains.

When we got back to town, we stopped at Rockin’ Rudy’s to browse for souveniers, Andy got a fancy new pair of sunglasses, and then we took the dogs down to Bark Park, a great dog park right on the river near the university.

As the day neared its end, so did our visit with Rhema and Lisa. We went back to Chief Looking Glass for one last night of fun and games and animal friend snuggles. Gracie adopted Rhema early on in the trip, and every game session in the Turtle looked much like this:

Also this:

We realized after the sun had gone down that we hadn’t taken a group shot yet! So Rhema set up the camera and we gave it our best attempt.

Perfect.

We were very sad when it was time to say goodbye the next day, as we always are after a visit from Lisa, Rhema and Kona.

We miss you guys! But especially now that you have that sweet setup in the back of the Jeep, we know we’ll see you down the road. Thanks so much for coming our way and spending your week off with us! We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward Baja, so you can start driving that way too. . .

Yukon Gold

The first thing I said as we drove back into Yukon was, “Wow, the skies are just as big as when we left!” Yes, it’s the same sky as everywhere else, but somehow in Yukon I was constantly aware of the magnitude above me more than other places. It’s beautiful.

It was an exciting time to be my camera, because I had that thing working full time during our drive through Canada. The fall colors were really beginning to explode, and I filled up the camera to capacity every day. I’m sure if Andy asked you to quote me on the trip it would be a three-way tie for, “That YELLOW!” “That RED!” and “That ORANGE!” And that’s only if gasps don’t count.

After spending a few weeks high up in wintery weather, the temperate fall was a welcome change. Scout and Gracie also got to spend more time outdoors, so everyone was enjoying Yukon to the fullest.

On our original trip through Yukon, Andy had mentioned wanting to pan for gold, and as we drove farther through the province, we realized we still hadn’t tried our hand at fortune-hunting yet. We found a nice spot to pull out by the river, took our pot lids, food scoops and a very excited doggy down to the water, and got to work.

It was a lot of fun and pretty exciting, even though we didn’t see any sparkly signs that we were in a good spot for panning. We wished we’d started sooner in the trip, because I could have panned for hours and hours in any river around.

Scout had other plans for our time outdoors and tried all his best methods to convince us to throw all the sticks he found by the river.

So on the walk back to the Turtle, we threw sticks, played hide and seek behind the trees, and then on the last leg Scout just bounded up and down the path with general Border Collie joy.

Farther down the road Andy wanted to check something under the hood, so we pulled over for a riverside picnic. Though the Yukon is so wide it looks like a lake!

We panned for gold again after lunch, but no luck. We did see a fresh bear paw print in the mud near us, so we decided to make it a quicker stop and get back on the road.

We could see some storms ahead, which made the light moody and surreal.

When the most spectacular rainbow poured out of the sky, we followed it for a full 15 minutes before it evaporated back into the air.

The storm moved all around in the distance, and when we stopped outside Taro for the evening, we could actually see the sheets of rain traveling east along the riverbank.

It never hit us directly, so we basked in the after-storm light and played outside until the sun went down.

Everyone had a successful day, I think.

We had to try one last gold panning session before we left, so we played outside for a bit before packing up.

As I put the panning implements in the Turtle, I laughed at how instantly messy it gets in there, between the toys we keep out to use later, the mud we inevitably and consistently track in, the rocks I can’t stop collecting and have no room for, the boots laying on the floor that we removed to change into “gold-panning shoes”, the travel pamphlets shoved into the front console, among the other regular chaos specific to Turtle life.

I decided to take a picture for posterity, since in 20 years we’ll want to remember the reality of our lives and not just the pretty pictures immediately post-clean-up. Right as I took out my camera, Scout came running to the door to see what I was up to, and the smile on his face and mud on his paws inadvertently made the photo complete: the reason we live this lifestyle, messy as it may be. At the end of the day, we all have that goofy smile on our faces.

There weren’t many gas stations around, so we stopped in Taro for a fill-up and an ogle at this awesome orange beast.

Then back onto beautiful Highway 4 toward Watson Lake, which we’d be passing through one more time on our way into British Columbia and Alberta. But first we had to stop at what was to become our Favorite Campsite Ever, a free pullout on postcard-worthy Finlayson Lake.

Due to the burn ban, we hadn’t been able to have a fire for months, and it seemed like fate that the ban had been lifted right as we came upon this site, complete with cut firewood scattered around for the taking.

We were sitting just a little elevated from the water, overlooking the lake. There was no one around except the two people flying sea planes nearby. It was crisp, cool and clear, and we were on cloud nine that we got to live there for a whole day.

It was such a perfect spot that I took a quick video of the fire so that in future years we can relive the moment.

If we didn’t have the winter weather nipping at our heels, we would have stayed for days. But that chill wasn’t far behind, so we moved on toward Watson Lake.

We thought it would be fun to go visit our signs at the Signpost Village, especially because it’s not too often these days that we’re somewhere familiar. There they were!

Then on we drove into the endless green and gold mountains and valleys of British Columbia.

We had a garbage bag to toss, so we pulled over at a viewpoint to use the waste bins, and accidentally stumbled across this vista.

And this was the view from the other side of the parking lot! Beautiful British Columbia, indeed.

And then to add even more icing to the British Columbia cake, we stopped at Liard Hot Springs and accidentally had the time of our lives. We’d read about it over and over while researching the area, but didn’t think much more of it than “Sure, we could stop at a hot springs; that sounds nice.”

It was wonderful. It’s a provincial park and not privately-run, so for starters it’s really affordable. The day use fee is just $5 per person, but the hot springs fee is waived if you’re camping, which is $26 a night. That’s actually a little on the spendy side for boondockers, but it’s also really nice to have water and garbages at your disposal now and then, in addition to the free hot springs. So we paid for our site, got settled and then went straight to the hot springs.

It’s a beautiful walk down the boardwalk to the springs, over the warm marsh that is very popular with the wildlife, especially during winter.

For a developed hot springs site, this one is surprisingly untouched in all the best ways.

There are bathrooms, changing rooms, and a deck, but other than those few comforts it’s just a lovely pond that’s a piping hot 110-120 degrees at the source and then cools the farther away it travels from there. So the upper pool stays super toasty, and the lower pool is a perfectly warm and slightly deeper swimming pool.

We loved it so much we spent a few hours there on our first trip before going back for dinner and some travel planning.

The Anti-Project always has other plans, but luckily she has a short attention span and was soon on the prowl for buggies while we got a little work done.

As we planned we decided we weren’t ready to leave the hot springs already, so we decided to stay another day, then went back for our night soak. Liard doesn’t have closing hours since it’s a natural springs, so we got to soak until late when we were ready for bed.

The next day was another sunny fall day, perfect for multiple trips to the hot springs.

That night as we splashed around the warm lower pool and visited with some other travelers, the Northern Lights came out in enormous green flickering bands that twisted and arched from one side of the sky to the other over our heads. We laid on our backs and floated in the steaming water, watching the lights and laughing out loud at how perfect it all was.

When we got back to the Turtle, it was late and we were all warm, cozy and ready to snuggle up. While we got ready for bed, Gracie crashed out under her own personal quilt that my niece Ava made for her before we could even make it up to the loft!

With plans to return as soon as possible—especially in the snowy winter months—we got everyone ready to move on.

Gracie’s preferred and self-appointed travel spot is in a clothes bin in the closet, which is kept open for her as we drive. Usually when it’s time to go she hears the engine start and hops into her spot, but if she doesn’t sometimes we have a conversation about it to give her a chance to get in before we start moving. And it’s adorable.

And with the huge skies of the Yukon in our rear view mirror, we set our sights on the road ahead.

We Love NPS: Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, White Sands & Gila Cliff Dwellings

It’s no secret that we love the National Parks System. In fact, part of our five-year plan (or as close as full-time wanderers get to a plan) involves taking occasional breaks from the road to work at National Parks and Monuments as we travel around. Not only will it be soooo fun to live at a park, but we can also make a little extra travel money while giving back to the Parks System that has basically been our landlord for a good portion of the last year and a half. We’ve boondocked on NPS land at National Parks, campgrounds, and dispersed camping areas. And not only to we get access to astonishingly beautiful and unique gems around the United States, we’ve also been provided at many sites with potable water, RV dump stations, showers, bathrooms, and garbage services. Oh, and a surprise favorite—ranger talks around campfires under the stars! At Wind Cave the fireflies were flying around us as we walked to the amphitheater to hear a ranger tell us all about the history of bison in South Dakota, and another ranger sang us a song on her ukulele that she wrote about Native American folklore. Pretty fancy, right?

Immediately after hitting the road, we got our NPS annual Interagency Pass and it’s no surprise that we’ve gotten our $80 worth and feel pretty happy about it! The last few weeks have been especially National Parks-y.

We began the streak at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, hiking down to the Big Room from the Natural Entrance.

There were some beautiful intricate formations on the way down, but the real thrill was the 1.25 mile loop around the Big Room at the bottom. We’ve been in a bunch of caves, but never anything like this! The photos do it no justice, but the scale of these stalactites and stalagmites is staggering.

We were thankful for the railings along the path, which made it possible to just stare upward with our mouths hanging open, pinballing our way down the walkway. It’s Andy’s Favorite Cave To Date, and for me it’s Tied For First with all the other caves I’ve explored. (I just really like being in caves.)

We stayed the night somewhere outside the park, and then the following day—Easter Sunday!—we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a holiday hike.

Of course we had to investigate the potable water situation, and they had a nice spigot near the RV camping area, so we made a note of it and hiked on into the hills. This park is home to El Capitan, which is a celebrity rock, and Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest mountain in Texas. We didn’t hike either of them; it was 90 degrees with full sunshine, so neither of us felt bad about choosing a less strenuous trail.

After the hike and a water fill, we proceeded to El Paso for a Costco run and then on to Alamogordo and saw. . . well, look.

That’s right; it’s the World’s Largest Pistachio! It’s a sculpture at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch, which is a really fun stop if you’re in the area. There’s a lot to see and eat there. We sampled dozens of flavored pistachios and pistachio candy, bought some bags to take home, and got some pistachio ice cream to eat under a pistachio tree by the huge pistachio sculpture.

I’ve never written the word “pistachio” so many times in my life combined.

Then another stop in Alamogordo at the Alameda Park Zoo, recommended to me by my buddy Daren who used to live in the area. And I’m so glad he did; we wouldn’t have thought to stop by this tiny zoo in a park in the middle of town, but it was one of the coolest zoos either of us has ever visited! It’s only $2.50 to get in, the grounds are lovely and nicely manicured, and the animals are happy and well-cared for in their clean and green enclosures.

We left the zoo while we still had plenty of light so that we could make the big climb up to Cloudcroft, an adorable town 19 miles outside of and 4,000 feet higher than Alamogordo. And our little Turtle made it! We may have been going 2 mph, but we made it! We stopped at the scenic train trestle outside of Cloudcroft, and then found a cool dispersed campsite nearby to stay for the night.

We stayed two days, and drove back down.

. . .Don’t get me wrong, lots of fun things happened in Cloudcroft, but I promised you a National Parks post so I’m going to try to stay on topic here. 🙂

A lot of National Parks that we go to feel like being on another planet, which is a shared characteristic of all the parks I’ve liked best. So you can probably guess my approval rating for White Sands National Monument! This place was bizarre in the very best way.

It was magical. Hills and hills as far as the eye can see of gypsum sand.

It played tricks on our minds, as hills of white usually mean snow and winter, but it was 85 degrees and we were roasting! I made a sand angel anyway. Also strange was the sensation that we were walking on sand in that heat, but it wasn’t hot on our feet at all.

Before we began walking back to the Turtle, Andy joked that we should fill our bucket with water and make a white sand castle. We both got quiet and looked at each other, and then went to get the bucket.

The next day we went to Hatch, NM to get ourselves the epic green chile cheeseburger at Sparky’s that some hot springs friends had told us about a few months ago.

It was legitimately one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recommendation, guys! On our way out of Hatch, we got some green chiles from a roadside market, Andy hassled one of the locals, and then we hit the road for Spaceport America.

Spaceport America is incredible to see, even though it’s not open to the public right now. We’d read that there was a visitor’s center, but it’s in nearby Truth or Consequences (actual town name) so we just got a long-distance view of “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport” and some really neat info from the hospitable guard at the gate. The sci-fi nerd in me was already picturing the next time I drive out there, this time with my flight ticket in hand. To infinity and beyond!

That night and the next we stayed at Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences. We swam, read by the water, got some sun, and threw Scout’s frisbee into the water a thousand times before continuing onto the next leg of our journey.

Which was Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument! Another new favorite, and another great NPS spot to visit at the top of a very windy road that tops out at about 8,300 ft. The Turtle was wheezing, but we made it up this one too! And the reward was worth it.

There are free campsites all around the monument, as well as an oasis just right outside—a privately-owned hot springs with three pools and camping available. If they hadn’t been booked up, we would have gladly stayed the night too!

But we already had a site we’d found the night before that we loved, so we were happy to return to our little house by the river.

It was a great place to relax and catch our breath before moving on to the next National Park! It was also a great place for catching other things too.

After returning our new friend to his home by the river, we returned to the road—the Turtle’s natural habitat! And on to the next National Park—the Turtle’s second home.

Bandelier National Monument: Freakin’ Awesome

We LOVE Bandelier National Monument. And a day before we went there, we didn’t even know it existed! We happened to see it in our New Mexico Atlas while we planned our route to Los Alamos, and were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Even the Visitor’s Center is awesome.

Here you can see the abandoned cave dwellings of the Pueblo people, who lived here for hundreds of years in Frijoles Canyon.

You even get to climb into a number of the dwellings. It’s incredible.

The ring you see down below is the ruins of other dwellings, in what was basically the town square.

I’ve been known to surreptitiously piggyback on nearby tours, and here we were lucky enough to be right behind a small group with a very knowledgable tour guide. I’m pretty sure once we started asking her questions they were on to us, but the whole group was nice enough to let us follow them around and learn a bunch more than we would have from the brochure alone. I was especially amazed when she told us that the smallest indentations in the rock were carved to serve as ladders! These 3″ round holds would go straight up a vertical rock to reach other ledges. In the above photo, you can see the littlest dents running up the left side of the furthest-back rock wall, which gave access to the upper shelf, where a number of petroglyphs were carved into the rock. Crazy!

You can also continue past the main trail to the Alcove House, where you climb three ladders and some stone stairs up 140′ to a cave that houses a kiva and has a great view of the canyon.

We loved it.

Afterwards, we stayed a few nights in Los Alamos, where we went to museums and took tours, learning about the Manhattan Project and the old Ranch School in Los Alamos.

On our way to Albuquerque, we stopped at Spence Hot Springs for a soak, which is an easy hike to a not-hot-but-warm natural springs with a gorgeous view of the valley.

The weather began to get chilly, and the springs felt just all right enough to stay. The source of the springs is in the cave, so when the sun went behind the clouds, we crawled in and warmed up a bit in the cozy sauna.

Then right before sunset, we stopped at the Jemez Historic Site to check out the old mission ruins.

We drove through the red rocks of Jemez Valley into Albuquerque at sunset, right past the sign pointing us to the Ojito Wilderness, where we’d return to spend a week just a few days later.

Winter Camping in Yellowstone National Park

Have you ever heard of a Chesapeake Start?

Well I can’t find anything on the internet to support that this is a thing, but here’s what I can tell you. Somewhere along our travels, someone told us about a “Chesapeake Start.” He said that when Lewis and Clark would leave for a long journey, everyone who was going on the trip would pack everything up and travel a mile down the road, then stop and stay the night. Once they had set up camp, they would quickly discover what necessary items they’d left at home, so the next day they could easily return to their home base and get what they needed for the long trek ahead. We love this idea in the context of Turtle travels. . . especially since in the scenario we get to be Lewis and Clark. 🙂

On our exit from Bozeman into our first wild winter weather in the Turtle, we’re especially happy that we opted for the Chesapeake Start. During our stay in Bozeman, Andy did a whole bunch to prepare us to be a Turtle For All Seasons, but there’s so much you can’t know to prepare for until you’re into it. So knowing that all Andy’s tools were only an hour and a half away, we left Bozeman on Sunday and drove to Yellowstone National Park!

We arrived in Yellowstone mid-day, and it didn’t take long for the temperature to drop. Of course this time of year in Yellowstone is cold and icy, and this is the longest amount of time we’ve been completely off-grid in freezing temperatures! We’re still working out the finer points of living entirely from solar, so boondocking proved more challenging than ever before. Especially since we get so few hours of sun in these winter months and the sun we do get is weak, we had to really conserve our light and heat usage, as both are powered with the house batteries charged by the solar panels.

We were happy to have lots of blankets that evening. . .

And to see sunshine in the morning!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been thankful that Andy is an engineer, and a motivated one at that. At the campsite, out in the wind and snow, he wired up a second alternator that he’d been working on and hadn’t yet completed, and got us extra power using wizardry and magic, and I think a little power from the engine.

We knew it would be cold in the park in November, and also that we’d be a little more limited in how much of the park we’d have access to. I’d done some research before we visited Yellowstone about its off-season, and here’s what I found:

The majority of the park is considered “closed” from early November to mid-April. That means that all the roads are closed except for the road from Gardiner to Cooke City. (And during the winter season, all roads out of Cooke City are closed save that same road back to Gardiner.)
In mid-December the park opens up to “oversnow” travel, which means you can only access the park by snowmobile or snowcoach.
In November and the beginning of December, the northern portion of the park is still open to visitors, and since it’s the off-est of the off-season, you have the place pretty much to yourself!

We’ll definitely return to check out the rest of the park when it warms up, but in the meantime, we found November to be an awesome time to visit the park!

Here’s what you can do in the park in November:

Mammoth Campground is open year-round, and much easier to get a spot this time of year. We only had two neighbors the whole time we were there!

Mammoth Hot Springs and the Albright Visitor Center are right next door to one another and both are also open year round.

The animals are out in droves and grazing so close to the main road! We saw hundreds of bison, antelope, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, a few coyotes, and the sweetest little light-footed fox you can imagine. (My favorite, but don’t tell the other wildlife.)

The Boiling River is also open year-round, and in my opinion, it’s best in winter. . . since that’s when I went, and it was awesome. I can’t imagine a more surreal and magical time to be submerged in a river than a snowy November. The Boiling River is a swimming spot at the confluence of the Gardiner River—which is of course frigid this time of year—and the Boiling River, a hot springs which reaches up to 140 degrees. You wade down to where the two begin to mix comfortably, and you’re in an outdoor hot tub in the middle of the snow and mountains! The steam pours and curls off the water, and the Boiling River gushes over the rocks and iced plants in a bubbling hot waterfall tumbling into the cold river. You’re sitting in the middle of it all, in one of the man-made terraces, adjusting your position to accommodate the sometimes burning, sometimes freezing, mostly perfectly-cozy warm water flowing past your body. We splashed and floated, counted the dozens of elk grazing on the mountainside, avoided staring at the high school couple making out near us, watched the shadows the sun cut through the steam, and laughed at how crazy it was to be swimming in a river in the mountains of Wyoming in December. We stayed for hours and hours, the final hour a procrastination knowing how cold we were going to be once we stood up and waded up the river back to our clothes! (I’m not going to lie; the walk back out was brutal. But it was so so worth it!)
- If you’re planning to go, it’s not marked on the main road, so park at the lot just north of the 45th parallel, near the Montana/Wyoming border. It’s a straight, level hike along the Gardiner River, just 1/2 mile to the spot where the Boiling River converges. It’s all well-marked. My main recommendation is to bring water sandals. . . as you get in, you’re so cold and then so hot, trying to figure out where the separate currents are, that the slippery rocks are just another inconvenience that could be avoided with good footwear.

Lots of hiking. While we were there the snow wasn’t deep, so we were able to hike around without our snowshoes to lots of nice spots. If we’d spent more time in the park (a week when Andy wasn’t working so much), there were portions of the park we would have loved to have snowshoed through. Next time!

We spent so long in the Boiling River the day before we left that we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to see the east side of the park. We decided to drive the distance up to Cooke City, stay the night and then make the drive back the next day to see the landscape and animals from the east gate back to the north entrance. We got to Cooke City right at dusk, and at almost 8,000 ft. elevation, the snowy mountain town was a twinkling haven in the middle of the frozen wilderness. We parked on the street, and woke up the next morning to find the streets bustling with people, all preparing to ride their snow machines, or zipping down the street on them! It was so much fun! Apparently when they close all the other roads into town for the winter, the snow machines (I guess they call them”sleds” now) can go nearly anywhere they want, and they do.

Everyone was having such a great time! And super duper nice.

We had coffee and hot breakfast at a friendly bakery that was also half snowmobile shop, and drove back through the park in the snow. We saw almost every animal on our wish list, and even after we left the park we saw a bald eagle and a moose!

The week was packed full of adventure, and that was just on the North road! Lewis and Clark would have approved. And they would have been especially pleased that, since we utilized their Chesapeake Start, we were able to take our frozen tanks and campsite-rigged alternator the short trip back to Bozeman where we can make the necessary updates. And then we’ll be ready for whatever weather we feel like driving into! Woohoo!

Livin’ By A Lake: Why We Heartily Endorse Vandwelling

When we were moving out of our house in Portland and into the Turtle, our friends Rhema and Lisa gifted us a wonderful going-away gift: Lisa’s Sensational Pickled Carrots. She’d popped open a jar during a BBQ at their place a few months prior, and I forgot to eat most of my dinner because I was too busy going back for sevenths and eighths of those carrots! I agree with you that pickled carrots sound different, but I promise, they’re super-duper awesome. Lisa’s crazy in the kitchen.

Lisa and Andy whipped up some serious turkey and stuffing last Thanksgiving.
Rhema and I helped by making sure the video games were played.

The only bummer was that since she’d just canned them, we had to wait six whole months before we could eat them! So we put them in a box and labeled it “Do not open until April 21st, 2016.” Before sealing up the box, I thought it would be fun for us to write a letter to our future selves, predicting where we’d be when we opened the box. So we wrote our individual thoughts down, dropped them in, and taped that baby up.

As the date approached, we thought it would be fun to open the carrots when we were somewhere really neat. So as we approached Badlands, we decided that was it. That worked great for me, since I was too excited to wait any longer!

They were SO GOOD. What a fun going-away gift! It was a tasty treat that reminded us of Lisa and Rhema and the fun times in John’s Landing. We miss you guys!

After our snack, we opened up the paper with our predictions. Interestingly, without consulting one another, we both wrote that we’d probably be somewhere in Utah! I suppose because there are so many great parks around there, and we’re both so excited to spend time in that part of the U.S. But in order to have made it that far, we’d have to be covering ground at a much quicker rate than we are currently traveling.

This is more the speed we’re interested in.

It was a moment of revelation and reflection for us; one that made us really appreciate an aspect of this lifestyle that we worked so hard to achieve. We wanted to be able to slow down and really enjoy each day of our lives, spending less time paying bills for a house we’re never around because we’re busy at work to pay the bills! Now we get to live virtually anywhere we like, for as long as we like. Unlike vacation time, we don’t feel stressed out trying to fit in all the fun right now. We can take our time and explore a spot at our leisure, take an extra day to do nothing if we choose, and see more of any area that interests us.

This is why we currently live by a lake. (We got here meaning to stay a few days, and we now plan to stay another week, or until this crazy 80-90 degree weather leaves!)

And this is also why we emphatically hope that people who have the capability to try this lifestyle out will do it! One of the reasons we decided to blog about our adventures was to encourage and support fellow adventure-seekers to see that it’s possible, and more than that, it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. We’re living much more inexpensively, efficiently, thoughtfully, and healthfully. There’s a daily dose of adverbs for ya! Every day is a new experience and just a ton of fun (with a fair amount of work and effort involved, of course). We keep asking ourselves why it took us this long to figure this out! Andy always says he feels like we’re cheating somehow. 🙂

Let me also acknowledge that I totally get that it’s not a possibility for everyone, and my intention is not to alienate those who aren’t able to make such a drastic life change. And according to lots of people we’ve met along the way, not everyone even wants this life! We get that too. It was hard work getting here, and can still be hard from time to time.

Our hope is that the blog can be both an endorsement for people thinking about this lifestyle, and also just a way to stay in touch with our friends, family, and other tiny house and travel enthusiasts, sharing what we’re up to for all interested parties. I know that for people with kids, it’s a much more complicated undertaking (though not impossible; we’ve met families living on the road!). I also know that we’re fortunate that both of us are able to work remotely, and that’s not true for all professions.

A lunch break. Since I’m the only one in this photo, I’ll just go ahead and take credit for the lot.

But we have met a whole bunch of people who have always dreamed of becoming vandwellers or full-time RV’ers, and who could potentially take the plunge, but are still on the fence. When we started out, we had a hard time finding online resources of people who were doing something similar to what we had in mind. So if that’s the case for you, please follow along with us for tips on what’s working for us, or feel free to send us a message and we’ll do what we can to help you along the way! It’s a huge undertaking, but the end result is worth all the hard work. I mean, we get to live by a lake, for free!

For those just following along to see where we ended up and what we’re doing there, here’s a quick photo summary of what we’ve been up to for the last week.

And if you’re wishing for greater detail on how Scout and Gracie are doing, just take these photos of Scout swimming for sticks and Gracie pouncing on buggies, repeat them to infinity, and you’ll have an idea of how they’re spending their days by the lake. Happy days for our best little friends. Happy days for us.

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Lisa and Andy whipped up some serious turkey and stuffing last Thanksgiving. Rhema and I helped by making sure the video games were played.

This is more the speed we’re interested in.

A lunch break. Since I’m the only one in this photo, I’ll just go ahead and take credit for the lot.

Lisa and Andy whipped up some serious turkey and stuffing last Thanksgiving.
Rhema and I helped by making sure the video games were played.