Olympic Peninsula, Washington

After we left North Cascades National Park, which is located northeast of Seattle on Hwy 20 off of I-5, we drove south on I-5 to Rockport, then to Elma. It was a long drive, mostly because of the traffic on I-5 through Tacoma into Olympia. It was mostly stop and go for about 20 miles and not much fun. Elma is a small town with not much in it, and the park we stayed at was small, with small spaces and no good places to walk and let the dogs loose. Our final destination was Sequim, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula.

North Cascades National Park, Washington

North Cascades National Park contains some of America's most beautiful mountain scenery - high jagged peaks, ridges, slopes, and many waterfalls. Glaciers can be seen on the highest mountain peaks. We took a trail behind the Visitor Center, which turned out to be longer than we had intended and Jim was quite tired and his back started hurting before we finished.  It took us down to the Skagit River, but there were no good views of the river.  I got a better shot of the river from the River Trail that is across the street from our campground.

Wild Horses Monument, Vantage, Washington

The road sign calls it Wild Horses Monument, but the real name of this artwork is Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. Despite being begun in 1989, supposedly it's still not complete.

Trail to the horses

Kootenai Falls & Ross Creek Cedars, Libby, Montanta

The Kootenai River flows down from the mountains into a canyon and over Kootenai Falls, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the Northwest. Kootenai Falls was the setting for the movie "The River Wild" filmed in 1993. The falls do not look very big but they drop 90 feet in less than a mile. The main falls are 30 feet high.

Glacier National Park, Montana

We finally made it to Glacier National Park. We arrived in Coram, Montana on Tuesday, June 27, after spending Monday night at Lake Placid State Park in Seeley Lake amidst a slew of mosquitoes. Glacier National Park is an International Peace Park World Heritage Site along with Waterton Lakes National Park, which is in Alberta, Canada.  Going-to-the-Sun Road connects St. Mary Visitor Center on the east side with Apgar Visitor Center on the west side.  It was closed due to snow and it finally opened Wednesday. There was still quite a bit of snow at Logan Pass Visitor Center, which is about the half way point. The Continental Divide comes through Logan Pass with an elevation of 6646 feet.  

Gates of the Mountains, Helena, Montana

The Gates of the Mountains boat tour starts out in Holter Lake and goes up the Missouri River. For over 125 years tours have taken place showing guests the route taken by Lewis & Clark in 1805. The first boat was a steamboat and could only take guests downstream, where they had to get off the boat and were driven back in a horse & wagon.

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, West Yellowstone, Montana

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center has eight grizzlies that, for one reason or another, were not able to be left in the wild, and were brought to the Center to live. It is a not-for-profit center, using donations and admissions to run the center as well as build additions to house more animals. Their biggest grizzly, Sam, is let out into the bear habitat by himself. Sam wandered into a fishing village with his sister in 1996 after his mother disappeared. Because he is from coastal Alaska, he is much larger than Yellowstone grizzlies - weighing in at 1,000 lbs.

Yes, I'm real