Day 119 - Badlands National Park, ND

Today we drove through Montana and into the state of North Dakota. The drive was long and asides from farms and a lot of corn, there was very little to see on these long straight roads. We tried to stop off for gas and coffee at some of the small towns but most of these were so small there either wasn't a gas station or the gas station was just a couple of pumps by the side of the road with no shop.

Miles City was the largest town we went past, it was still in Montana but was large enough for us to get some food supplies from camping at a grocery store, top up our fuel and grab some lunch (we gave up on the coffee!).

Not far over the North Dakota state line near the city of Medora was our destination, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We arrived to find that the park campsites (all FCFS) were full, we'd forgotten it was a Saturday and still peak season. Our options were to either get a free back country pass, hike a few miles and camp in the wilderness or to find a campsite outside of the park. Lee wasn't so keen on back country camping, maybe he was remembering back to White Sands where he had to carry everything whilst we hiked to our campsite, so we headed out of the park and to a campsite next door called the Medora Campsground.

Unlike the National Park campground, this place had flushing toilets, hot water, showers, a camp shop and best of all, high speed wifi! The price was about the same as the park and being nearer the town of Medora, had we stayed a little longer, we would have had plenty to do in the evenings too.

After pitching our tent, we headed back into the park. We stopped off at the visitors center for our stamp and to learn why this park was named after one of America's presidents. In 1883, Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison. He fell in love with the landscape and lifestyle, so he set up a ranch here. After the deaths of his mother and his wife, in 1884 Theodore returned to North Dakota to heal and it was during this time he set up a second, larger ranch. Theodore became president in 1901 until 1909 and one of his greatest achievements during this time was the impact he had on conservation in America. He created 50 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments during his term as president but also enabled the 1906 American Antiquities Act so that more land could be protected during the last few years of his presidency and by future presidents. The museum in the park implies that Theodore's time in North Dakota gave him an appreciation for the land and the importance of protecting the natural beauty and the animals within it from people, this lead to him having so much drive to put laws in to protect it.

The best way to see this park when you only have half a day is to follow the south unit scenic drive. So this is what we did. The drive took us through prairie dog towns where we were able to get up close to these little creatures, we pulled out at vistas looking out at the Badlands, watched wild horses and bison grazing, enjoyed the colours from the foliage (it's not yet fall, yet there were a lot of yellows and reds on the trees), and took a couple of short hikes out to view points. It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon. We saw a lot of signs for horse riding trails; with a little more time, this would also be an excellent way to see the park.

At the end of the drive, we headed back out of the park and into Medora for a quick look around. Although this is a small town, there is a lot going on here with quite a few bars and restaurants for tourists, several museums and nightly musical show in the amphitheater. We had both assumed that this park was remote and there wouldn't be many visitors, I think we were wrong, it looks like a really popular park with a good little town next door to keep you entertained during an extended stay.

Back at our campsite, we shared huge slice of gammon which we nicknamed the Dinosaur Steak. Lee cooked it perfectly on the grill and with the fire still going, we sat in the dark listening to one of our neighbors who was singing and playing the guitar. Luckily he was really good and we had a enjoyable night chilling out after a long day before heading in the bed.

Day 118 - Beartooth Scenic Byway & Battle of Little Bighorn, MT

As we packed up camp this morning, we both agreed that we had really enjoyed camping at Yellowstone and that being in one place for 3 nights was a welcome break from the hard work that comes with putting the tent up and down when you're only camping for 1 night.

We left the campsite and headed along Dunraven Pass towards Tower-Roosevelt where we picked up the park road through the Lamar Valley on the Northeast. I was really looking forward to traveling through this valley as it is the best place to spot wolves. All the wolves in Yellowstone were wiped out by hunters and the park authorities themselves by 1926 but after decades of lobbying, wolves were finally reintroduced in 1995. Today there are just over 100 wolves but the reintroduction of wolves and even having wolves in the park today is a hugely controversial subject. There were quite a few books in the gift shop explaining what happened during the reintroduction including the story of 06, apparently the most famous wolf in the World who was shot by a trophy hunter just outside of Yellowstone. I only had time to quickly flick through these books (whilst Lee was distracted in the astronomy section) but when we get home, I would like to sit down and read some of them.

We didn't see any wolves in Lamar Valley but we were driving through and it was the morning. If we had the time, we'd probably come for the day, set up a couple of chairs and just watch the animals in the valley through some binoculars.

We did find all the female bison and their calves, huge herds of bison which given the scale of the landscape, looked like small speckled dots in the background. This part of the park reminded most of the BBC documentary Yellowstone, I need to re-watch it to see if this is the park of the park where they filmed.

We exited the park at he Northeast Entrance and then picked up the Beartooth Scenic Byway. We hadn't originally planned to go this route but on the map it looked like a scenic route and we prefer the scenic routes to the boring ones so we thought we would give it a go.

Beartooth Scenic Byway is amazing, the best road we have traveled on during on time in the US. It is 68 miles long and runs between Yellowstone in Wyoming and the town of Red Lodge in Montana. For a long time, it feels like you are climbing up a mountain range, each turn provides a view of a new vista containing lakes, mountains, forests, tundra, its just breathtaking. At the top of the mountain, you feel like you are on top of the world as you travel along the Beartooth Pass. There are huge piles of snow here, apparently it can even snow here in summer and it is common for the road to be closed due to poor road conditions or strong winds, we were lucky and had some good weather during our drive. At the end of the pass, we then had to head back down to the valley floor. We went from 8000ft to 5000ft in 12 miles using tight switchbacks on what felt like the face of a canyon. Once in the valley, its amazing to look up and see where we had come from. We've done a number of drives similar to this including the drive up the Rocky Mountains but this one was incredible.

We reached the town of Red Lodge, a busy tourist town with a ski resort close by. We decided not to stop as we had stopped so many times on the drive here and instead headed onto our next stop, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. I had studied this battle at school so I knew a little about the history but I was interested to see how the monument described the battle and whether it favoured one side over the other.

The Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the Native Americans last efforts to preserve their way of life. Thousands of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors joined forces to do battle with the US Army. It was a victory for the Native Americans with 263 US soldiers including Colonel Custer who died fighting. It was a short-lived victory as it then led to the Wounded Knee Massacre where large numbers of men, women and children Native Americans were killed and to the end of the resistance to the US government.

The battlefield used to be known as Custer Battlefield National Monument and was preserved to protect the graves of the US soldiers but in 1991 the name was changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield by George Bush and since then, a more rounded view of the battle has been preserved including headstones added for Native American soldiers (red to contrast the white US army ones) and an Indian Memorial added.

We took the driving tour around the battlefield. As you reached an information station you dialed a number, entered a code and then listened to people explaining what happened at this point. The quality of the audio wasn't great but the idea was fantastic, I wish we had this for other parks.

The landscape at the battlefield is dotted with headstones marking where soldiers and warriors fell, the biggest concentration and where Custer is located is near the visitors center and marks where he took his 'last stand'.

We didn't realise that the Battlefield is also the location of a national cemetery where military personnel who were lost in service are buried and remembered.

We left the battlefield and headed to our motel for the night in a small local town called Hardin. The motel was family run, our room looked like it had been recently renovated and the other guests (including a fellow English couple) where all friendly. There were only a couple of places in town for food so we took the advice of the motel owner and headed to Four Aces Bar and Lounge for fried chicken. We love staying in these small countryside towns, they are all so different, the residents are friendly and its great to experience a side of America that most people don't get the opportunity to see.

Day 117 - Yellowstone (Day 3), WY

We started our final day in Yellowstone with a hot shower. Our campsite in Canyon Village included two free shower tokens per day.

Once we were clean, we jumped into the car to explore the upper loop. First stop was the Museum of the National Park Ranger. This was a small museum located in an old soldier station but it was interesting to learn more about the profession and how it has changed over the years.

Then we headed up the road to Roaring Mountain where the steam vents on this side of the hill used to roar with noise. Today they are more of a hiss but still pretty cool to see. Next was Obsidian Cliff where lava has cooled without forming crystals, creating a black glass. It was difficult to see the Obsidian from a distance but the rock formations were interesting and we enjoyed the little river that ran through it.

Back in the car, we then reached Mammoth Hot Springs, the main attraction on this loop. Here there are over 50 hot springs located on a limestone hill, each rich in colour from different algae and with very unique formations. We initially did the scenic drive around the hot springs but actually found that you couldn't see much from the car so we parked up by the visitors center and hiked the two boardwalks, upper and lower.

Just below the hot springs is Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. In 1886, Yellowstone's first superintendents struggled with keeping law and order in the park so US Army soldiers were ordered to take charge. They marched into Yellowstone and built the Fort that still stands here today. It is more like a little village than a fort I would recognise. Today the buildings are hotels, restaurants, gift shops, visitor center and administration offices. We enjoyed walking around the white houses with red roofs, had a hot chocolate in one of the restaurants and went into the visitors center for a look around and to get a stamp for our National Parks Passport. This is another place in Yellowstone where you could easily spend a whole day exploring.

We left Mammoth and continued along the loop road until we were back at our campsite in Canyon Village. We had one last stop we wanted to make before we left Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was located right next to our campsite.

This Grand Canyon is not as large as The Grand Canyon but the colours on the walls of the canyon are really beautiful. There were two drives, a North and a South, around the rim of the Canyon and a couple of short hikes to get a closer look at the river and the waterfalls. There is a hike down to the bottom of the canyon called Uncle Tom's Trail which involves walking down 328 steps over 500 vertical feet, nice an easy on the way down but there is only one way back up! Unfortunately, the trail was closed for repairs and is not due to reopen until 2019 so maybe next time we'll tackle this challenge.

We spent our last night in Yellowstone having one of our favourite meals, sausages and cowboy beans, before heading to an evening ranger talk. We usually really enjoy the ranger talks and were looking forward to learning more about the Yellowstone Bears, the topic of tonight's talk. The ranger was a young girl who was working at Yellowstone during the summer season. She was a nervous speaker and her knowledge of bears was limited, it came across as if she knew as much as we did from reading the information stations around the park. We were disappointed but what left us both angry was the amount of time she spent lecturing everyone to carry bear spray. Bear spray is on sale everywhere in Yellowstone and whilst you may need bear spray if you are doing back country hiking, I can't see how you would need by the vast majority of people yet she seemed to be scaring people into buying this expensive item. When I asked her why in Yellowstone bear spray was recommended yet in Yosemite it was illegal even though there is a bigger issue with human and bear interactions in Yosemite, her response was "the bears in Yosemite must be more intelligent compared to Yellowstone". When the talk ended, we both left before I had the opportunity to say something more about being treated like a 10 year old and headed back to our campsite for a bear-free night's sleep.

NB: We didn't see any bears whilst in Yellowstone, we didn't do any back country hikes, we stuck to the main tourist areas and we didn't waste our money on bear spray. Bear spray is just a form of pepper spray and only will only work if you manage to get close enough to spray it into a bears eyes without it accidentally blowing into your own first.

Day 116 - Yellowstone (Day 2), WY

It was really cold last night but we managed to keep warm and had a good night's sleep. First stop for the day was the Canyon Visitors Center which was located just a 10 minute walk from our campsite. This is one of the best park visitor centers we had been to as the exhibits were modern, interactive and really informative. We learnt that we were sleeping in the Yellowstone Caldera and that on average, there are 1,500 earth quakes in Yellowstone per year although most are so small that you don't notice them but they can change the thermofeatures so what we see today, we might never see again.

When we got back into the car, we both felt like we had earned a qualification in volcanology.

We then headed on the road to the Norris Geyser Basin. We expected to have a quick look around and then get back on the road to our next stop but we were both blown away by the size, scale and beauty of this area, we ended up staying for a couple of hours doing the 2 mile hike around the 550 features. We had always thought that the geyser basin where Old Faithful is located would be the biggest one, but it is just the most popular. Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and most dynamic basic, sometimes having to be shut for days or weeks if there is a lot of geological activity. We weren't lucky enough to see the largest geyser in Yellowstone -  Steamboat Geyser - erupting but we did see a much smaller one called Vixen. 

The sun was shining and the skies were blue, perfect conditions for photographing one of the sites Lee was most looking forward to seeing, Grand Prismatic Spring. We headed back into the car and drove to Midway Geyser Basin where it is located. Parking was a nightmare here and we ended up leaving the car on the side of the road (with many other people). The boadwalks around the features were also full of people and whilst the park had tried to make it safer by asking people to travel around the springs in one direction, there were still idiots going in the wrong direction. But even with the parking and people challenges, the features here were out of this world. The colours were unbelievable, I actually thought that the pictures you see in books and on TV had the colours added in to improve the appearance of Grand Prismatic Spring but it is actually all those colours in real life. 

(NB: There are one or two pictures in the video where we have boosted the colours on the camera to try to match what we were experiencing in real life, but you will be able to spot these)

There are four features at Midway - Excelsior Geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring, Opal Pool and Turquoise Pool. We enjoyed walking around all of them and found they all offered something unique to look at or learn about. 

Whilst we were looking at Grand Prismatic Spring, we could see people higher up on the hills looking down at it. We decided to try to find the path that led to this viewpoint. The path is not well advertised and whilst it made it a little tricky to find, it did mean that the path and the lookout were both much quieter than the boardwalks. A mile down the road from Midway Geyser, there is a small car park called Fairy Falls Parking Lot. We parked here and hiked up the Fairy Falls Trail but then made a left turn up a side trail to an overlook of Grand Prismatic Spring and the Midway Geyser Basin. The trail was only 0.6 miles long but it climbed 105 feet, the view at the top made it worth it. The spring looked stunning. 

Back at the car, we continued onto Upper Geyser Basin which is where Old Faithful is located. This is the most popular area of Yellowstone. We enjoyed visiting but we couldn't stay her for any length of time, there were far too many tourists! There are quite a few different hotels and facilities here but compared to where we were staying, it felt like too many, they had taken over the landscape. They didn't look very appealing either. Inside the Old Faithful Inn you felt like you were stepping back in time with all the wooden features, but the charm was taken off slightly as we watched the staff in the bar being a little rude to their customers. We got lost looking for a hot chocolate and walked into another hotel called Old Faithful Lodge which had a really dated canteen that reminded me of school dinners, the food looked like school dinners too! I think we were really lucky in the area we were staying. 

We turned up just as Old Faithful was about to blow so we found a front row seat and watched the show. It seemed that each time Old Faithful was due to go off, a huge crowd took over the seats around him to watch. There are 5 other Geysers that the park advertises timings for but these do not go as often as Old Faithful and are sometimes not as reliable. We made it to a couple of these geysers but with an estimated time that was sometimes +/- 4 hours, it was down to luck if you managed to see them going off. We were not very lucky. The saddest park of the trip to Yellowstone for me was hearing about some of the damage humans have done to the park. One of the things that struck me the most was the number of geysers that used to be like Old Faithful which are now unreliable or destroyed due to people throwing coins into them. 

Asides from Old Faithful, there are other features at the Upper Geyser Basin. Although this is the business area for tourists, not many people seem to explore the other features so the boardwalks were really quiet, the quietest we had seen all day. There are so many active Geysers here, if you spent all day, you would manage to see quite a few different eruptions. Even whilst we were waiting for Old Faithful, we saw 2 eruptions in the background but we didn't want to leave Old Faithful to get a closer look at them just in case we missed him going off. 

We both had aching feet by now after a day full of walking so we decided to head back to the campsite. We managed to make a couple more stops along the way at Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin, two of the smaller geyser basins in Yellowstone. We also took the short one-way spur road called Firehole Lake Drive where we went past even more geysers and hot springs right next to the roadside, including White Fountain Geyser which erupts sometime between 10 minutes and 3 hours after the last eruption. We waited 15 minutes, probably not long enough but it was starting to get dark! 

There are two things I love about driving in Yellowstone. The first is the amount of geological features you can see from the car. You will be driving through a dense forest one minute and then all of a sudden, the trees are dead and next to the car is a hot spring, steam vent, geyser or mud pots. A few minutes later and you're back in forest or meadows. The second is the bison which plod along next to the cars, almost looking annoyed that you're using their road. 

We arrived back at the campsite and it was too dark to cook so we headed to the canteen and had a flatbread pizza and a beer. The walk to the canteen is only 5 minutes from the campsite and there is a little path that cuts through the trees to avoid having to walk on the road. We were going along this path, Lee in front, when he stops and says "Oh". I look past him and see just a few feet in front a huge male bison. The bison looks up and Lee, blinks his eyes and Lee turns around and says "let's find another route". We took the long way around long the road, it was safer! 

Day 115 - Yellowstone (Day 1), WY

In 2009, I remember watching the BBC documentary Yellowstone and being completely awestruck by the landscape, the animals and the people. I have wanted to visit Yellowstone ever since and for me, it was a highlight of the trip I just couldn't wait to do.

We stayed for 3 nights which I think is the minimal amount of time you would need to get around all the main sights. Had we stayed for longer, we would have had some contingency should the weather have been bad, we could have tried some back country hikes to explore the less touristy areas of the park and maybe reduce the pressure we had on ourselves to try to get as much into our days as we could.

There were just so many pictures, videos and things to talk about in Yellowstone that we decided to split the blog into three separate entries to make it easier for me to produce but also for people to read.

Here is day one:

Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone are next to each other, connected via the John D Rockefeller, Jr Memorial Parkway. As we followed this road, I think we both expected an instant change from the mountains and lakes of the Tetons to the volcanic landscape of Yellowstone but we didn't see any volcanic activity, just very pretty vistas of hills, mountains and the Yellowstone River.

We briefly stopped at the side of the road to check out Lewis Falls located just before before Lewis Lake, where we also stopped to stretch our legs and enjoy the view. There was no one else at this lake, it probably isn't a 'top Yellowstone attraction' so most tourists pass it by but it was incredibly beautiful, maybe more so due to the complete seclusion.

We continued onto Grant Village where there was a visitors center we wanted to use to learn more about the park and find the best place to see some hot springs.

We didn't need to go far, next to the Visitor Center was one of the largest geyser basins on the shores of the Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb Geyser Basin. It's difficult to explain just how amazing it is to go from what feels like a 'normal' landscape of trees with fields of grass and little streams to a geyser basin. It's extreme. You're going from an area filled with life to what feels like an area with no life but in fact there is a lot of life here with all the different algae and the creatures that thrive in these pools.

We joined one of the ranger presentations which run every 30 minutes and explain a little more about the pools, why they are here and what we were looking at. The ranger was an excellent presenter and we both felt we learnt a lot which we would later put in practice in other areas of the park when identifying the different geothermal features.

We spent a couple of hours walking around the boardwalks in West Thumb Geyser Basin, eventually deciding that we needed to get to our campsite otherwise we'd be pitching in the dark! The route to the campsite was along the shores of the Yellowstone Lake to Canyon Village where as well as being a campsite, there is a lodge, visitors center, gas station, several shops and a huge canteen style food area. We could not believe how many facilities there were here and the amount of choice there was for visitors. Canyon Village is just one of the concessions areas in Yellowstone, we were interested to see if the others were as impressive as this.

We pitched the tent and settled in for the night, as the temperature dropped, I had a little surprise for Lee. I had taken our two water flasks, filled them with boiling water and stuffed them into our sleeping bags. It could have easily gone wrong with the water flasks melting, them leaking all over our sleeping bags or Lee burning himself on them getting into bed but I was lucky and everything worked out OK plus we had lovely hot water bottles to keep us warm as the temperature dropped to below freezing.

Day 114 & 115 - Grand Tetons National Park, WY

We started our drive this morning through farming communities in Idaho where there were very few people but a lot of corn! We eventually headed over the state line into Wyoming and towards Jackson, the last town before Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks and our last opportunity to stock up on supplies before four nights of camping.

Jackson is a really cool town with a lot going on although it felt a little overrun with tourists and tourist shops. We stopped off at the less touristy Snake River Brewing company to fill up the growlers and grab a Bison Chili and Corn Bread, it was delicious and then headed to the grocery store and gas station.

As we were leaving Jackson and heading towards Grand Tetons, we saw a sign for an Elk Refuge along with a number of information stations explaining what this area was. Each winter, around 7,500 Elk come down to the valley from Yellowstone, this is the largest herd of Elk in the world and the Refuge ensures they have the grazing and the space needed to survive the winter. Although the refuge has some fencing around the road it to protect the Elk from the traffic, there are points along the fence where the elk can jump into the refuge helping to ensure that the herd stays 'free range'. There were no elk in the refuge today as it's not cold enough yet for them to come down here.

The drive into the Grand Tetons National Park is stunning. The Teton Mountains run alongside the road, providing breathtaking vistas and backdrops. We have a large number of photos and videos for this single bit of road, every turn was a slightly different view which warranted yet another photo. Hopefully I have chosen the best ones for the video.

At Moose Junction, we turned onto the Tetons Park Road, the main road that runs through the park. We had been debating for most of the day about which campsite to spend the night in, all the campsites in Grand Tetons are FCFS. We had initially planned to stay at Jenny Lake, a small tent-only site on the shore of Jenny Lake that is supposed to have some of the most stunning vistas in the whole park but during busy periods, this campsite is full by 8am. Even though we were visiting at the end of the season, this campsite was filled up by 10am, we were too late so we looked at the other campsites and decided to try Colter Bay.

We checked into Colter Bay and were allocated a really nice tent-only spot in the woods. As this campsite was bigger than Jenny Lake, it had far more facilities including showers, laundry, a gas station, shop and even a couple of restaurants just a few minutes walk away plus it was also on a lake although there was a 10 minute walk to get to the water's edge. If we were to stay in the Tetons again, we would choose this campsite to go to especially if we were staying for longer than a night and needed something more than a very primitive campground.

With the tent pitched, we headed back the way we had come to Jenny Lake to do some exploring. First we did the scenic road which gave us a little glimpse of the lake, we then headed to the Jenny Lake Visitors Center where we parked up and walked down to the water's edge. The lake is stunning and with the Tetons in the background, it is very beautiful and peaceful. There is a lot of construction going on at Jenny Lake, I think they are building a new visitors center and maybe this had put people off coming to the lake as it was much quieter than we had expected given the reviews we had read online about traffic jams and a lack of parking spaces, we had no issues at all.

We then headed back towards our campsite stopping off to take in the vistas and also to see the Jackson Lake Dam which Lee loved as they had opened some of the sluices since we initially went past and water was now gushing down the river.

We ate dinner early as we had wanted to see an evening ranger talk in the outdoor amphitheater, a 10 minute walk from our campsite. We cut it a little fine and after getting slightly lost, arrived 5 minutes late but we were the only ones standing in the middle of this amphitheater. Confused as to whether it was cancelled or if there were more than one amphitheater, we headed back, walking past the visitors center where we saw the event had been moved to as it was too cold! We had already missed 15 minutes by now and didn't want to cause any disruption so headed back to the campsite where we both wrapped up in 4 layers of clothes, 2 sleeping bags had a warming hot chocolate and then went to bed.

We didn't get a chance to explore the lake by our campsite, Jackson Lake, the day before so before hitting the road to Yellowstone, we packed up and went for a walk. Unlike Jenny Lake, this lake had a lot more boats but the stillness of the water and with the Tetons in the background, it was just as beautiful. The walk around the lake was a lovely way to wake up in the morning, helped by a coffee and cinnamon roll we picked up from the shop beforehand.

During our drive to Yellowstone, it felt like we were saying 'goodbye' to the Tetons as they disappeared behind us, slowly getting smaller and smaller in the background but we felt that the dead trees lining the road either side were maybe a sign of what we had to come in this volcanic landscape.

Day 113 - Shoshone Falls & Lava Hot Springs, ID

One positive about all the wind last night was that the tent had dried out by the morning, the worst thing about camping is putting away a wet tent!

The land around the Craters of the Moon National Monument is similar to other more western states with fields of crops and animals scattered between areas of rocks, and in this case, lava flow.

We were headed towards the city of Twin Falls to see the Niagara Falls of the West. As we came into this city, we saw the very impressive Snake River Canyon. We stopped off at the visitors center which is located right on the edge of the Canyon, to take some pictures.

As we were taking pictures, we noticed behind us a sign for the outdoor store Dicks. We hadn't visited a Dicks yet and we needed something to warm us up at night as we were about to head into what is currently the coldest place in the USA. Even colder then Sequoia and the Redwoods, Yellowstone. Lee was considering a new tent, something smaller with no airflow and good enough to pitch in the arctic, I was looking for some sort of heater. Instead, we came out with 2 mummy sleeping bags. The logic was that in very cold weather, we would double bag ourselves in our two sleeping bags. It was cheaper than a new tent and probably safer than a tent heater. Lee also came out with a axe. Apparently to make a proper fire, you first have to make some sweat through chopping wood because the pre-chopped wood is just not good enough.

We jumped back in the car, squeezing in the sleeping bags to whatever space we could find and headed for Shoshone Falls. The falls are located in a state park but the entry fee was only $3 per car. We paid our fee, parked up and where blown away at the size and the beauty of these falls. Normally we laugh at the names "X of the west / east" but these falls really are as impressive as Niagara. 

We had planned to stay in the Thunderbird Motel tonight in the town of Pocatello. There was nothing we had planned to see in Pocatello, we just wanted to get as many miles in today to make the journey tomorrow into the Grand Tetons as easy as possible. I booked most of the hotels but Lee did this one. He was so pleased with himself for finding a motel for only $30 per night but I had a feeling that there was a reason for this cheap rate and it wasn't going to be a good. A check on Tripadvisor showed this motel had 3 stars, it looked clean and comfortable but the area it was located in was a little 'sketchy'. One review from 2016 talked about how a SWAT team was used to arrest the man in the room next to him who was involved in a shooting, another talked about parole officers searching for people and drugs being sold in the car park and there were a few posts mentioning the creepy cemetery on the opposite side of the road. We both decided there were better places to stay so we cancelled the reservation and searched for surrounding towns.

The Town of Lava Hot Springs was not far from Pocatello and we found a KOA (one of two in the town) which was walking distance to the main street and the Hot Springs. It cost a little more than the Thunderbird but we decided it was worth it for a good nights sleep!

The KOA Lava Hot Springs is an awesome campsite. The bath house was the best we have seen out of all the campsites we have visited. Each room in the bathhouse is a spacious, clean and modern bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink. There was a large laundry room so we could get some washing done and our site was on well looked after grass next to the river with our own spigot and fire pit. 

For such a small town, there are only about 500 people who live here, there is a lot to do. We would have loved to tube down the river but it was unseasonably cold and windy so instead headed to the Hot Springs, a 10 minute walk from our campsite.

Access passes to the pools was cheap. It only cost us $6 each for a whole days entry pass and with the pools open from 8am until 11pm, you could keep come back to relax and unwind. A natural underground spring fill the 5 pools with temperatures ranging from 102˚ to 112˚ degrees. My favourite was the 105˚ but Lee enjoyed going right up to the entrance of the spring in the 112˚ pool which was too hot for me.

After spending about an hour in the different pools, we dried off and headed to town for some dinner. The lady who checked us into the campsite had recommended Chuck Wagon for dinner and then her favourite bar in town for drinks, Wagon Wheel. We followed her recommendation was not disappointed. We enjoyed sitting in the bar of the Wagon Wheel chatting with the friendly locals and meeting other tourists, all of which were also camping.

We eventually headed back to our tent and found the wind had died down so we could have a peaceful nights sleep.

Additional Notes

On our way to Lava Hot Springs, we went via the Thunderbird Motel partly we were curious as to how shady this area of town really was and partly we wanted to make sure we had made the right decision. 

The hotel looked OK from the outside, the cemetery didn't look as scary as we thought it would be (although we visited during the day) and we didn't see any dodgy goings on in the car park but it is not in a great part of town. We wouldn't have felt comfortable walking around at night and there was so little around the hotel, we would have ended up staying in our room and ordering take out.

We made the right decision