Tag: Montana
Winter Travel from Alberta to Arizona with an RV
March 14, 2022
Travelling south to Arizona from Alberta in the winter with an RV
The Canada/USA land border was open. Christmas was over. We had booked our Mexican campground. All that was left was to decide the best day to leave from Alberta. What would winter travel with an RV be like as we travelled from Alberta to Arizona? We had done many road trips in the summer but we knew this would be different.
Packing the 5th Wheel
January 2022 began with very cold temperatures in the -20’s C which made it very difficult to pack the trailer for 3 months away from home. The trailer leg blocks were frozen to the ground. The closed slide blocked our pantry cupboard. Fresh food would freeze. It was just too cold to be outside long enough to take clothing and other necessities to their places.
January 10 predicted a change with temperatures forecast to be above zero. We started up the furnace the day before to warm the trailer. Friends were travelling with us as far as their home in Arizona. They drove a 32-foot motorhome and towed a covered trailer for their desert toys.
Day 1 Travelling in a Winter Chinook- Rocky Mountain House, Alberta to Conrad, Montana. AB 2-I-15 642 km
It was above freezing as we threw in the last of the items, filled the propane tanks and topped off the gas in the truck. The sun began to rise as we turned south and faced into the Chinook Winds. These winds begin in the Pacific and head east over the Rocky Mountains. Moisture is dropped as snow at the continental divide then the air gains energy as it drops down into Alberta. These winds are warm and very strong as they are forced through the mountain passes. They form an arch of clouds over the mountains in the west and really affect gas mileage when a truck towing a 5th wheel is driving straight into them. We were barely 2 hours from home and had to stop for gas.
Although the mountain views were spectacular, the snow blowing straight across the road created traction and visibility issues. We had to use 4 wheel drive to get back on the road after a coffee stop in Claresholm. We saw a trailer in the ditch and semis blown off the road. Winter travel from Alberta to Arizona was looking like a bad idea.
Montana
The border crossing was uneventful. Covid tests were not required at land crossings, and apparently, vaccine records were not necessary as we weren’t asked. The wind continued to buffet us from the SW, although the amount of snow blowing across the road diminished as we travelled further into Montana.
After filling with gas every 2 hours, we arrived in Conrad, Montana. It is a town just north of Great Falls off of the I-15. The Pondera RV Park was open. When we arrived, there was no one to be found. After calling them the owner said, “Are you a trailer and a motorhome? We saw you on the bridge and figured that was where you were headed.” January small town service! Although there was 10 cm of snow on the ground, the power, water and washrooms were available. We paid $42.30 each for the night.
Day 2- Conrad, Montana to Idaho Falls. I-15 to Boulder, MT 69 to Whitehall, MT55/41 to Dillon 658 km
Before leaving, we decided to empty the antifreeze from the lines and add some water to the tank. This allowed us to be self-contained if we had to stop somewhere along the way.
The wind was less and the blowing snow was mostly gone. To avoid the climb over the pass at Butte, we took an alternate route from Boulder to Dillon. We passed a Historical Old Spa at Boulder where we started on route 69. The road was only 2-lane, but passed through some beautiful ranching and fly fishing country. It was quiet and had a gentle elevation change. Monida Pass at the Montana/Idaho border was still a big climb to 6800 ft. but the views were impressive. Lots of snow at the top but the wind was less and the roads were clear.
Snake River RV Park in Idaho Falls is open year-round. It was -9 at night, but our furnace and a tap with a slow drip kept the water lines open. It was $35 with a Good Sam discount and included a spectacular sunrise the next morning.
Day 3 Idaho Falls, ID to Mesquite NV I-15 885 km
We finally were able to stop for some groceries that wouldn’t freeze and more gas then began to actually enjoy our journey. The skies were blue and the temperature ranged from -7 to +7, depending on the passes. Idaho had snow, but it wasn’t blowing. We experienced big elevation changes up and down into valleys and over the Malad pass into Utah.
Utah-Legacy Parkway (ring road Salt Lake City)
As we entered Utah on the I-15 it was a treat to see green fields in the lower areas. The mountains weren’t as clear due to the pollution and all the trucks on the road. We took the Legacy Parkway (215) which was a great option to get away from the traffic of the I-15 and miss half of the Salt Lake City crowds. Big trucks weren’t allowed.
We travelled uneventfully through Utah to St. George at the southern border. We gassed up at Costco. Although it is cheaper, as a Canadian, there are challenges. Costco in Canada only takes Mastercard. In the USA the pumps only take Visa. We have to buy a gift card inside with our Mastercard, then use it at the pumps outside.
We also discovered that just because a car wash says 11 ft clearance, and you can drive inside, it doesn’t mean that the sprayer hose will clear your air conditioner. After trying to remove some of the mud and slush from our first couple of days, the cover of our air conditioner caught on the sprayer. I was able to climb up on top and remove the broken pieces as well as extricate the sprayer. Backing up was the only way we could get out and I had to crawl back down after ensuring everything was clear. Lesson learned…Know exactly how tall everything is on your unit.
Mesquite, NV
The first place you come to in Nevada is Mesquite. As you leave Utah, you travel through the beautiful Virgin River Canyon. If we had arrived earlier in the day, it would have been a great place to camp. As we were delayed due to our trailer washing debacle, we continued to Mesquite and camped in the gravel lot behind the Virgin River Casino. It was free to stay and reminded us of the importance of having water on board. Our trailer also has a good solar system so we had lots of power as well. Twenty units parked there on that night.
The buffet was a good option after 885 km of driving.
Mesquite, NV to Parker, Arizona 418 km I-15, 167/169 95S
We travelled from Nevada to Arizona to California to Arizona. Each state had a time change.
The morning through the desert was spectacular with the early light glowing off the brilliant red and golden rocks. We took the cutoff on 167/169 to Lake Mead Recreation Area through the Valley of Fire. The road was very quiet and we didn’t have to travel through Las Vegas. And did I mention the views!
We stopped in Henderson for a new AC cover. It took some time but we got exactly what we needed. We headed back out on the 95S to Needles. It was a good 2 lane road and avoided most of the truck traffic heading to and from Los Angeles on I-40.
Lake Havasu, Arizona
Lake Havasu City is beside one of the reservoirs on the Colorado River. London Bridge is located there. It was located in London until 1971 when the masonry from the 1830 bridge was used to clad a concrete structure over a canal. Since we were hauling a trailer through the city, we decided to skip the view of the bridge.
We drove around Lake Havasu and enjoyed the beautiful peaks, following a large body of water and a surprising wetland area at the end of the lake. BLM camping was popular on both sides of the road.
Buckskin Mountain State Park was just before the town of Parker on the 95. We got the last 2 sites. The price was $35 for power and water. Our friends had suggested earlier in the day to get a spot at the state park. It turned out that there is more than one state park and this one didn’t have cel service. When you are accustomed to being connected, I wasn’t sure how to let her know which campground was our home for the night. I was receiving messages, but couldn’t send them. I finally found the wifi spot in the campground and we were able to connect.
The temperature was around 20 degrees C and we finally felt like we were camping. We ate supper around the propane fire ring outside with just a light jacket. We didn’t need the furnace.
Parker, Arizona to Maricopa, Arizona 333 km
Our final day was easy. After a walk along the Colorado River in the campground to stretch our legs, we took quiet backroads to Maricopa, where our friends have a home. We tried the Don’s Famous Cactus Bar in Salome for lunch. Plenty of patrons were in the bar at 1 pm but the restaurant was closed that day. We’ll have to try it another time.
We finished our winter travel from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta to Arizona in the early afternoon a distance of 2936 km (1824 miles) It was 20 degrees with blue skies and sunshine.
Advisability of winter RV Travel from Alberta to Arizona
My conclusion on the advisability of winter RV travel in January from Alberta to Arizona is that it would have been better to travel in the cold than in the wind. It was a dangerous situation for the first day and part of the second day as trucks were being blown off the road and slush and icy roads grabbed at our tires. We should have waited another 3 days, according to the forecast, until the winds died down. A couple from Edmonton, Alberta that we met in Buckskin Mountain State Park travelled in the cold and stayed in hotels for the first couple of nights until it warmed up. Although it was cold, the roads were clear. Luckily we arrived at our destination without incident.
Road trip on the scenic back roads of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado-update
August 22, 2017
This blog post has turned out to be the most visited of all my travel writing. I have updated some of the pictures and verified that the links are all still relevant.
Planning a road trip
As our home commitments finished and summer was drawing to a close, it was time to head out on a road trip for another adventure. Â Our ultimate destination was the White Rim road in Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA. We booked our campsites there ahead since there are not many available. Â That gave us 5 days of travel time to explore.
We opened Google Maps and discussed the route we should take to get there. We wanted to visit some new places and were okay with a little backtracking if necessary. I hadn’t been to Aspen and Vail in Colorado so we chose to travel through Montana, via Helena, then through Wyoming to Denver. From there we would travel west to Vail and end up at Moab and Canyonlands in Utah. It sort of worked out that way.
Montana road trip
We left home Monday, August 14 and drove to the very southern part of the province. It was quite smoky from the forest fires to the west. We couldn’t see the Sweetgrass Hills that usually signal that Montana is coming up soon.
Montana is a very large state. We have been to many parts of it, but not all. The geography is so varied. With Glacier National Park in the far NW, the high plains of Little Bighorn in the NE, reservoirs and fly fishing rivers as well as cliffs and bluffs in the SE and Beartooth Mountains in the SW, you don’t have to look at the same view for very long. Another good thing about travelling through this state is that the backroads are excellent and have 70 mph limits. The freeway is 80 mph!
We followed the Missouri River for much of the way. Water really brings life to the valley. There were many big farms with outbuildings and fields with an abundance of baled hay. Along the water were fishing lodges and summer homes. The section of the road where the glaciers had cut through the volcanic rock was quite spectacular. It was first described by Lewis and Clark in 1805.
Montana Landscapes
Holter Lake State Park
We chose the road through Helena because it has lots of variety, such as rugged cliffs, shimmering water and the golden grasses of late summer. Holter Lake State Park is just before it at exit 266. We’ve stayed there before and it was our stop for the night. The lake is actually a reservoir and there were many boats filled with fisherfolk. The campground had grassy sites, pit toilets (that are now called vault toilets), drinkable water, and only cost $15/night. We got a spot in the second row from the lake. I got some nice sunset pictures that had extra colour because of the smoke slipping into the state.
Once the sun went down, the stars appeared. The Milky Way was brilliant and filled the sky overhead from south to north. The crickets, yipping coyotes and video game shooting sounds from a nearby trailer were all that could be heard.
I met a couple from Oregon who are travelling full-time in their C Class motor home. They have done it for almost 4 years and are looking for different options like house sitting or long stay somewhere. They liked hearing about our time in Thailand and I had a tour of their unit to see what I would have to leave behind. It is a great research opportunity when you travel and find others at a similar point in their lives. They also recommended we travel through Beartooth Pass.
Campground views
Canyon Campground-Gallatin National Forest
We drove from Helena towards Gardiner on roads that were mostly new to us. About 5 pm we passed a campground that looked to have empty spots. We drove along a little further then decided the closer we got to the park, the fewer sites were likely to be available. We turned around and claimed a site at Canyon campground in the National forest There was no water supply but we had brought our own water jugs and the pit toilet was fine. This site had the Yellowstone River just across the highway, and huge boulders scattered everywhere. It cost $7.
At Canyon Campground, as we were finishing supper, we noticed lots of vehicles driving in and looking for sites. We decided to offer to share our site with another tenter as there was lots of room. We know that feeling of being in a new place and waiting too late to find a spot. Nick and Katie were travelling from Ohio to Portland, Oregon for an internship. They had a ripped tent that we tried to repair with duct tape. We had a lovely evening sitting by the fire ring sharing stories of travel adventures. They were very appreciative of a place to sleep. Travel is about the places you see, but also about the people you get to meet.
Canyon Campground Our travelling home Yellowstone River
Yellowstone to Beartooth
To get to this road, we had to change our plans and head south to Yellowstone, where we have visited a couple of times before, then drive across the loop at the top to get to Cooke City where the Beartooth road begins. We purchased the $80 yearly park pass at Yellowstone, as we can use it in Utah as well.
The road from Mammoth Falls to Cooke City, inside the park, was pretty quiet. The landscape was high plains to begin, then more forested mountains on the east side. We saw many bison in herds, mostly in the valley bottoms. A couple crossed the road in front of us. Several cars just stopped in the middle of the road to look at them in the distance. That gets to be dangerous.
We travelled along the Lamar Valley where many of the wolves from Alberta were released. It was mostly open land with water in the valleys and trees on the hilltops. We looked, but couldn’t see any wolves today.
North Entrance Views to the north Bison crossing! Flyfishermen and bison share the valley.
Beartooth Pass
It is an “All-American Road” and passes from the NE exit of Yellowstone up over the Beartooth Pass at 10972 ft., then winds its way back down the other side. It is about 69 km but with all the hairpin corners it took some time. The views were so spectacular though, I wouldn’t have wanted to go any faster.
We were well above treeline for some time and there was quite a bit of snow still at the top. At one point I commented, “There can only be marmots and pikas live up this high,” just as a marmot scampered across to the other side. The road was first used by some soldiers in the 1880s on the advice of a hunter in the area. The road itself was built in 1936. What engineering! My pictures barely do it justice.
Beartooth Pass
Wyoming road trip
Our trip through Wyoming was different because of our detour to travel the Wind River scenic byway.  We discovered there were roads that travelled mostly north and south from Cody, WY to Vail, CO.  We didn’t have to go all the way to Denver and then backtrack to the west.  It was good that we hadn’t booked all of our accommodations.  It is not as busy later in the summer as many Americans are back in school already so it gave us the opportunity to take advantage of visiting places we didn’t know about.
The roads in Wyoming are also very good. We spent almost no time on the interstates. Wind River travels many km through a beautiful canyon. It was such an unexpected feature in western Wyoming. The cliffs are tall and steep. The water was clear and the shade was nice. We had another drive up to 2250 m where the horizon on the other side stretched forever.
Lots of the state is empty of people and although it is all fenced we saw many more antelope than cattle. Sage and scrubby grass cover the land. The southern part has lots of oil and gas activity. We stopped at a Wal-Mart to use the washroom and I saw a mom and her 3 young boys walking out. Those kids looked like they never took off their hats. They were genuine cowboys.
Wyoming Views
Rawlins Super 8
It was early evening by the time we finished our epic drive over the pass, then drove through much of Wyoming. We knew there were some campgrounds in Rawlins, but when we arrived, they were the parking lot kind that cost $30 and you listen to your neighbours snore, or they have to listen to mine. Those in big RV’s don’t mind, but we are tent campers. There was a Super 8 across the street for $64 with wi-fi, our own bathroom, shower and included breakfast. We had salad and sandwiches from our cooler and made sure everything was chilled in the fridge overnight. After our cheap, but rustic camping on our previous nights of our road trip, it was worth it for one night.
Colorado road trip
We had been climbing in elevation all day yesterday and continued today. Rawlins was over 6000 ft., twice as high as Rocky Mountain House. Colorado took us over another 10 000 foot pass and our campsite SE of Aspen is over 8000.  The 14 000 ft mountains don’t look as big as I expected as the trees grow so much higher up the sides.
Welcome to Colorado More fishermen
Northern Colorado was more green than Wyoming. Â Water must be more plentiful. Â We stayed on the scenic byways and passed through little towns that seemed like towns you only see in movies. Â There were a couple of huge power plants with mountains of coal that had been stripped from the hills where cattle now enjoy the grasses of the reclaimed land. Â We wondered why these roads to nowhere were so good until we saw all the workers at the plant.
When we travelled down the valley south of Vail, the views were so impressive. Even though the mountains are huge, the valley is wide and green. There were hay fields and horses in the pastures. Rivers and wetlands were common. We saw more homes in the country in an hour than we did in all of Wyoming. Our GPS sent us around the wrong side of Leadville which is a “don’t miss” old mining town but maybe another time. We did drive past the old mining town of Granite, which looks like a museum along the road.
Colorado Landscape
White Star Campground
When we stopped for lunch I looked ahead for camping on the way to Aspen. White Star near Twin Lakes seemed the right distance away. It is a state park along a reservoir just before the road to Independence Pass. When we arrived it looked like every site was booked, but as we looked more carefully, there were different dates on the cards listing when they were reserved. As it was Thursday, most were booked for the weekend, or next week during the eclipse. Tonight was not in high demand. This place has lots of space between the sites, pit toilets and drinking water. It was $20 for the night and an extra $6 for a bundle of firewood, which we enjoyed very much.
The skies cleared here after supper and it was a chilly evening. Â The sun went behind the mountain at 7:15 and by 8:30 it was pitch black. Â I enjoyed learning to take Milky Way photos, although I needed my parka and toque to stay outside. Â It was down to 6 degrees Celcius for the night and I slept with almost all my clothes on inside my sleeping bag. Â The elevation is 9200 ft which explains some of the cold in August.
Independence Pass
We managed to find one more scenic byway up over a pass. Â It surprised me to find this road in Trip Advisor. Â It was steep with switchbacks and few shoulders, but it was paved and rose quickly to 12 095 ft. Â We walked a little trail to view the continental divide where the land is tundra here. Â This area of the mountains was popular for mining in the 1880s. Â It was a toll road at that time. Â The views were fantastic. Â The warning signs for vehicles over 35 ft were quite entertaining. Â They started with 35 ft vehicles not allowed. Â The last signs stated
- turn around here
- you will get stuck
- you will be fined
- your trailer will block traffic and make everyone else furious
I may have ad-libbed the last one, but it gives you an idea of what they meant.
The road down to Aspen took longer and had some very narrow sections. We were still at 8900 feet. We passed lots of campgrounds, creeks, areas of rock slides and many cyclists on their way up. Wow!
Aspen, Colorado is a busy place, like a bigger Banff. There were lots of huge homes, old brick and homes, condos and vacation rentals. It has an airport and 3 golf courses but it was too busy to stop there. Gas in Colorado was about $2.50 a gallon. It was $3.59 in Aspen. We can say we’ve been there and the road to get to it was so worth it.
We arrived in Canyonlands, Utah about 5:30 where our next adventure begins.
Canyonlands Camping What a sight!
