Leg 6 – Salt Lake City to Yellowstone.

First things, we have a reader. Yay! There are very few comments left on the blog, so we often wander if anyone is reading the darn thing. But yesterday we actually got a comment, so thanks.

On the road again, yes we are. After a two week stop in Salt Lake City so that Mr. CurbCrusher could go home and earn some gas money, we headed from SLC up to West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone is located right outside Yellowstone National Park, and is our stop over before venturing the last 60 miles or so to Fishing Bridge campground located inside the park.

The trip was about a 330 mile trip, and was fairly easy driving for most of the day. We started by stopping by a Walmart in Layton, UT to fill up on groceries and try and get the oil changed in the motorhome. We got the groceries, but they did not have the right oil filter, so we’re still running old oil.

We headed up I-15, exited Utah and entered Idaho. As we approached Pocatello, it got a bit snowy. The outside temperature dropped to about 34 and we were driving in the white stuff. This continued for about thirty or forty miles. Little CurbCrusher was fascinated looking at the snow building up on either side of the wipers, and sat in the front seat watching the ice build up and then fall off the windshield. At Idaho Falls, we broke off the interstate, and took US-20 north to West Yellowstone. The last pass before West Yellowstone, Targhee Pass at 7072 feet, was full of snow also. The west side of the pass, there was no snow sticking, and the road was just wet, but on the east side of the pass, the snow was sticking to the road. Cars and trucks were making tracks through the snow. As we came off the pass, there was an upside down Explorer on the westbound side of the road, with a number of people stopped. As we headed further east, we were passed by rescue vehicles responding to the accident.

The driving was surprisingly easy, even with the weather. We just took it easy on the climbs, and the there weren’t really any downhills. I think we are continually climbing up, as Fishing Bridge I believe is another 1000 feet above where we are now. I don’t think we get the challenging downhills until we exit Yellowstone to the east towards Cody. For now, with the current weather forecast, I think just driving to Fishing Bridge is going to be challenging enough, as will trying to drive around and visit stuff in the park if the silly snow keeps on coming down.

We are now camped at the Grizzly RV Park. It is a very nice park with good sized pull-thrus and full hookups. However, we have to disconnect the water at night because of the cold temperatures. A lot of people camp here, and the drive into Yellowstone each day. We’ve decided that we want to be at Fishing Bridge, which is smack in the middle of Yellowstone. That will reduce the driving, but I can see how staying at the Grizzly is attractive. In addition to full hook up, there is cable, and the town of West Yellowstone provides you with a nice place to walk around and visit shop, eat and pass the time. Given my druthers, I think I might would stay here and trek in to the park each day.


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