Yellowstone, Glacier & Grand Tetons
1-month with a 3-year old...
Grand Tetons, Yellowstone & Glacier National Parks
Thursday July 19, 2018
On Thursday July 19 we set-out on our first month-long trip in the van, setting our sights on the National Parks in Wyoming, Montana and eastern Idaho. Those that are geographically-aware will know those as the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. Some time was also spent in the Bitterroot and Sawtooth Mountain ranges, with a short foray into southern Alberta, Canada. Wednesday evening before our departure Ken rotated the main battery disconnect to the “on” position, bringing the 200 amp-hour lithium battery and its Battery Management System (BMS) alive, flipped on the main DC breaker, as well as the breaker activating the van’s rooftop 300 watt solar system. The van’s Isotherm refrigerator would now cool overnight in preparation for loading later in the evening.
While at work on Thursday, the van’s solar panel brought the battery up to 100% while keeping our food cool, and we left the Sacramento, California area around 5:30 pm that evening. With a short stop for dinner at a Mexican restaurant near Sparks, Nevada, we continued on to our first evening’s destination of Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Pyramid Lake is owned by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Tribe, who requires you to obtain a permit for lakeside camping, which you can acquire on their Permitting Website. Pyramid Lake is the terminus of the Truckee River, which flows north and east out of Lake Tahoe and into the Nevada Desert. The lake is a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan and because it has no natural outlet, it is saltier than most freshwater lakes (1/6 as salty as the ocean).
We found a dirt road that led us down to the beach where we camped about 100-feet from the water’s edge. It was a warm evening, but the combination of our sliding door bug screen and use of our 10-speed Maxxair fan kept us comfortable for the evening. It was this first night where we learned how important it is to deploy the bugscreen before turning on any interior lighting, as the bugs were quickly drawn to the lighting. It’s worth noting that smashing a mosquito against the headliner is not a good idea, as you are left with a blood stain on your ceiling. Woops. Now you can entertain yourselves figuring out who was bitten by the mosquito.
We spent an hour or so enjoying the evening on the shore of the lake before retiring to the van for a night of sleep. The next day would require a 7 hour drive, with the last half-hour being on dirt roads.
Friday July 20, 2018
Each morning of the trip starts much the same–wake up, come to the realization that you don’t have to go to work today, or the next day, or the next, and absorb the sights around you through the expansive windows in the van. The little one, also known as Kara, needs a few minutes to wake up before trying to do much of anything (truth-be-told, so does Dad); once that happens we get her dressed, and roll up her sleeping bag that resides sideways across the rear of the van. At her age, a sleeping bag works best, as she can’t seem to keep bedsheets on her at night. With her dressed and her accomodations stored, we fold our sheets and comforter back onto the third panel of our folding seat/bed, then operate the three levers to fold the entire bed back into a second-row seat. The entire operation takes less than one minute. We leave the sheets on the third panel of the bed so it’s quick and easy at bedtime to go back to bed-mode.
This is our first trip where we have overhead cabinets for storage, and it feels like a total luxury. The overheads house our battery and inverter monitors/controls, some kitchen cookware, some food and our clothes. We were advised by Ken’s mother to get some packing cubes before we left. Not wanting to upset mom, we each ordered a set of Gomex packing cubes. The set of three medium size and one small size worked great. These saved a lot of space in the overhead cabinets and just generally made organization considerably easier.
After getting ourselves dressed, then the first order of business is coffee. We used a new kitchen toy on this trip that we adore. It’s a 0.6 liter folding electric tea kettle that produces boiling water in about 1-½ minutes. It is advertised at 850 watts, which is about right because our Magnum inverter is showing 71 amps being drawn from the batteries when the tea kettle is switched on. That is a lot of amps, but at under 2 minutes of run-time it only uses about 1% of our battery to make coffee. The fact that it flattens-down and fits in a regular-sized drawer makes it a total vanlife winner in our book.
After coffee and eating we made our way east to the Wilderness area south of Twin Falls, Idaho, approximately 7 hours away. Most of this leg of the journey was on Interstate-80 across the Nevada desert. 80 MPH speedlimits? Yes please.
Just south of Twin Falls, Idaho we diverted east and drove about 20 minutes on dirt roads to a dispersed (boondocking) camping site near Pike Mountain. Camping was free, it offered pit toilets and camp tables, but no running water. The location was beautiful, and reinforced that our decision to travel without reservations (except for Yellowstone) on this trip was a good idea. More on that later.
We spent the evening relaxing, walking around the area, having dinner and catching up the log book we started for the van. Think of it like a captain’s log for a boat, with less chatter about anchor scope, water depth, and tidal range.
Saturday July 21, 2018
After a great night of rest, our morning routine continues. Get up, make the bed, guzzle coffee, consume breakfast, get on the road. We departed our camp heading north, on a different dirt road than we came in on. The dirt led to Forest Road 515, aka Rock Creek Road, which ended up being a beautiful road through a rocky canyon with a river to one side. This eventually led us to Highway 84 through Pocotello, Idaho Falls and onto our first destination location, Jackson, Wyoming.
If you haven’t been to Jackson, just go. It’s a neat town at the gateway to the Grand Tetons, with most people identifying it by its nearby ski resorts and the town’s elk antler arches. We drove straight to a boondocking site on the outskirts of town and relaxed after a day behind the steering wheel. The official campground in this area was full, so we ended up in “overflow” with a number of other people in truck campers and vans of all types. At first we were a bit disappointed, (especially being new to “vanlife), but we quickly learned to take advantage of the situation and spoke to a number of different travelers about their plans and experiences. It’s difficult to be upset by much of anything when on vacation, in a beautiful place, surrounded by considerate and like-minded people.
Sunday July 22, 2018
Today was our day to explore the town of Jackson. We met up with some other Sprinter owners, Cade and Becca, that we have been following on Instagram for the past two-plus years (well before we even got our Sprinter), and had a great lunch at Snake River Brewing Company. The mini-golf and cornhole were an instant attraction for the 3-year old, although it was the burgers and brew that were more interesting to those of us over the age of 3.
Two van tours later we headed over to Snow King Mountain and rode the Cowboy Coaster and the alpine slide. The Cowboy Coaster could best be described as a personal rollercoaster that drags you up the ski mountain and lets you control the speed via a lever on the way down. Kara was in Ken’s lap, with Laurel in her coaster up ahead. For the first few turns Ken took it easy, not sure how Kara would like it. It become clear almost immediately that she wasn’t the least-bit scared, so wheels-down they went. Several times they caught up to Laurel and slowed down to let her get ahead so they could go wheels-down for the remainder of the ride. It was great, no matter how old you are. We also rode the alpine slide, which was a similar experience although a little rougher and slower.
Three ice cream cones later we were finding our way north to a new site for the night. Based on the recommendation of our friends we met in Jackson, we drove out a dirt road to the top of a mountain overlooking the Grand Tetons. We were not in the National Park, but were on National Forest land where dispersed camping is allowed. With an amazing view of the valley and the Tetons, we got to witness an excellent sunset as well as sunrise.
Monday July 23, 2018
Our morning routine is repeated. We reluctantly leave our perch on the mountain and head down and officially enter the Grand Teton National Park. Having purchased a National Parks Annual Pass from REI before our trip, and we would get our money’s worth between our entry here, in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
It’s no surprise that the National Parks are busy this time of year. As long as you go into it knowing this, it’s easier to find the patience for crowded pull-outs, populated hiking trails and sometimes a short wait for a parking place to see main park features. The Tetons did not feel overcrowded but Yellowstone is one of the most visited parks in the National Park system.
The entire morning and previous evening were spent staring at the Tetons from our perch on the mountain, so we did not find it necessary to battle the crowds at the base of the mountain. We drove through the park and spent most of the day relaxing on the beach at String Lake. We took turns playing with Kara and relaxing in our hammock strung between the trees 3-feet from the water and using the inflatable paddle board on the lake. Ken managed to run the paddle board’s fin aground, the paddle board stopped and he kept going, slicing his foot open. He reportedly had to stop and wash the blood off the top of the paddle board before Kara and Laurel were led to believe that he was going to bleed-out on the first week of our trip.
We treasure days like this. We were in the middle of a busy national park, but had our own little cove on the beach where we were able to relax and take in the sights and sounds around us. Plenty of time was allotted on this trip to do exactly this, so we didn’t feel guilty or rushed to be a full-time tourist. This will be the new norm for us. Vanlife has a way of slowing things down, if you allow it to happen.
We drove up to Culter Bay, then turned south to try a new location for the night. Ken pointed the van up a 4WD trail (the van is 2WD but did fine) to a location somewhat high on the mountain east of the Tetons. We are beginning to get a handle on how to get the Sprinter further up a steep and rutted trail. The van is lacking several features of our Toyota 4Runner, which has all-terrain tires, a locking center differential as well as a factory electric-locking rear differential. The van has none of that, but it does have a traction control system. It helps to understand how this system works in order to get the most from the system. The van uses the wheel speed sensors on each wheel (part of the existing anti-lock brake system) to track the speed of each wheel. When you hit a deep depression, one tire will loose contact with the ground and the power will want to take the path of least resistance, and that wheel will spin.
Ordinarily with open differentials, when you lose traction you want to lift off the throttle and stop, because you’re done. Stay on the throttle and you’ll just dig a hole. This is where the van is different. The van needs an extra half or full second to sense that one wheel is spinning faster, then the computer progressively starts clamping the brake on the spinning wheel to try and transfer a portion of that torque the wheel that has traction. It’s no locker, but if you give it that extra second or so, you can feel the torque transfer and the van will continue forward. If you find you cannot make forward progress, try turning off the ASR button (automatic slip regulation), as this feature limits throttle input, which, on a steep hill may not allow enough engine torque to proceed.
With ASR off and the system using the brakes to transfer torque, we made it to the top of the hill and camped all alone, tucked back into the trees. Mosquitoes were out and the bug screen was really helpful in keeping them outside the van.
Tuesday July 24, 2018
We unanimously voted on breakfast out this morning, and promptly after waking up we headed down the hill to Colter Bay for breakfast before heading north to Yellowstone. After entering the park gates we did a short walk to Moose Falls, the lower Lewis River overlook, did the quick walk to Thumb Geyser, then proceeded to a pull-out along Yellowstone Lake where we made lunch and gazed out the sliding door opening to the pristine lake.
Yellowstone is the only place where we made reservations in advance for camping in the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Calgary, Canada. We had three nights at the Canyon Campground, which we selected due to its central location within the park.
With a lot of daylight left, we headed north to do the short hike to Tower Falls and then proceeded down into the canyon to see the Lamar River. Kara, who is 3-½ years old at the time of this writing, is just getting to the point that she not only tolerates, but actually enjoys hiking. Anyone with young kids knows, hiking can often be hit-or-miss. Loading up her little pink REI backpack with snacks and water seems to raise her enthusiasm, but sometimes it requires extra motivation to keep her going. Sometimes it’s searching for the perfect walking stick, sometimes it’s asking her endless questions about cats or other things of interest, and in extreme circumstances it may involve bribes, usually consisting of some kind of snack.
We completed our hike just as the rains came. In California we rarely get summer rains, so this felt like a real treat to us. There’s something very comforting about being in the van when it really starts coming down. We would enjoy rain and thunderstorms each night while in Yellowstone. We had two nights of hail as well.
Following our hike we headed east into Lamar Valley. This place is exceptionally beautiful. Picture a beautiful green valley with contrasting purple fireweed, red indian paintbrush and yellow balsamroot, with a crystal clear meandering river cutting down the middle, rolling hills on either side, all complemented by a perfect cloud-filled sky turned orange by a setting sun. We sat at a roadway pull-out during a downpour and watched an elk in the distance, watched a rainbow form as the sun came back out, and uniquely, we could visually see both ends of the rainbow. One end passed in front of the hill and was casting its colors on the ground 150 yards from our location, and the other end was ½ mile down the road, seemingly ending right on top of a pickup truck in the distance. We experienced this overwhelmingly happy feeling as we sat there, warm and dry in the van, watching the weather do its thing outside. Unlike our pickup truck camper we had previously, this van is exceeding our expectations in every measurable way.
We continued all the way to the Parks’ north-eastern entrance, where we turned around and headed back to our camp, spotting multiple heards of bison as well as a lone coyote. What an excellent first day in Yellowstone!
Wednesday July 25, 2018
Yellowstone is a very large park. Yesterday we tackled the southern and northeastern portons of the park, today we wanted to concentrate on features on the northwest side. Our target was Mammoth Hot Springs area, but first we decided to stop and do a short hike to Wraith Falls. This hike is only 0.8 miles through a valley and ending at a good-sized waterfall. We didn’t want to do a long hike at the beginning of the day and subsequently wear the child out. Some of the boardwalk tours in and around the hot spring features can be quite long, at 1-2 miles or more.
Following a visit to Mammoth Hot Springs we continued south through Norris and east back to Canyon Village, stopping first to see the overlook of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The road down to the overlook was closed, so we didn’t get to experience the classic view at Inspiration Point. The child was pretty worn-out from several miles of walking that day, so we decided not to push our luck.
Let’s talk briefly about fuel economy. The van is killin’ it in that department. The van is about as aerodynamic as an apartment complex, so it’s highest fuel consumption is pushing the 80 MPH speedlimits we experienced in Nevada and Wyoming. It will “only” get 21.5 MPG at those speeds, however at lower speeds, it does amazing. The past week running around the National Parks (and idling in N.P. traffic) it has been averaging 29 miles per gallon (sometimes higher). That’s incredible for a big van! 776 miles of range per tank…yes please! Keep in mind we have the twin turbo 4 cylinder diesel with the 7-speed automatic, not the V6 diesel with the 5-speed auto.
The “mls” line below is how many miles were driven in that cycle, “h” is the number of driving hours, “mph” is the average speed for that cycle (which includes time spent idling), and “mpg” is the miles per gallon for that cycle. So impressed with the mileage of this van.
Thursday July 26, 2018
The plan for the day was to see Old Faithful. It’s just a feature you have to see when you’re in Yellowstone, but it comes at a bit of a cost. That cost is an early-start, which is easier said than done when you’ve got a 3-½ year old to get going in the morning. We arrived early enough to not have any issue with parking, and arrived right as she erupted. We have seen many pictures and amateur video of Old Faithful, but it was quite a sight to see in person.
We hiked the roughly 1 mile boardwalk through the Upper Geyser Basin and were there long enough to experience a second eruption, although this time we experienced it from a different vantage that lacked hundreds of people. While Old Faithful has predictable timing, hence the name, future eruptions are dependent on the duration of the previous eruption. Eruptions are generally every 60-110 minutes, lasting between 1-½ and 5 minutes.
Next we drove to Midway Geyser Basin to see the Grand Prismatic Spring, which ended up being our favorite feature in the park. Picture a pristine blue pool, just visible through a cloud of white steam, with red, orange and yellow colors surrounding it, or better yet, just look at the photos below. As the water spreads across the ground it cools and bacteria occupy specific heat ranges of the water. Each of these bacteria have a different color, and it is these bacteria that give the spring its colors.
We drove back to Canyon Village and had dinner at the Canyon Lodge Cafe. As we walked in, the sky turned dark and angry and mid-way through dinner there was a thunderstorm with accompanying hail. The hail storm was pretty significant but probably only lasted about 10 minutes.
Friday July 27, 2018
We took our time getting ready this morning and eventually sauntered off to the Norris Geyser Basin. As it sounds, it’s a low point in the surrounding hills and the entire valley was filled with geysers bubbling, steaming and hissing. There are lots of them and each are different, expelling stinky sulfur smells in their own unique way.
We were all feeling a bit tired and by this point and we drove to a day use area along the Gibbon River. There was a dirt pull-out right next to the water, which we occupied for a good 3-4 hours. We love having everything with us, which enables us to prepare a nice lunch while enjoying the view, and our swimsuits are always within an arm’s reach away (pretty much everything is in a van), allowing us to swim or do what we want without having to plan our day-out ahead of time. Aside from enjoying our surrounds, we really didn’t do much of anything else the remainder of the day. A perfect last day in Yellowstone, if you ask me!
Overall take on Yellowstone: it’s amazing. We were expecting the sheer number of visitors to this park during the summer season to detract from the experience. If it did, we already forgot about it. We have been to places of geologic interest before, Lassen comes to mind, a certain week-long geology field trip in college in the Mammoth Mountain area, but none were as vast, beautiful and dynamic as Yellowstone. The features were all different from one another, with a steaming, sparkly blue pond immediately adjacent to a deep mud pot boiling and spurting mud, and a pool rapidly boiling next to that with a geyser shooting off in the distance. It’s crazy cool.
Saturday July 28, 2018
Yellowstone was fantastic but we were anxious to see Glacier National Park. This park has been on our list for some time now. We loaded up and headed north on Highway 89, stopping at Gardiner for groceries. The Isotherm 130L refrigerator seemed too large for our needs when we first got it, but it’s a great size for week-plus trips. Back in our icechest days there was no room to bring the “extras” that made a meal that much better. Not any longer!
Following our grocery stop we headed west on Highway 90 through Bozeman, Montana, north on 287 through the beautiful Missouri River Valley and up Highway 89 to the East Glacier National Park entrance. We drove into Two Medicine to check out the campground, but arrived too late in the day to secure a site. The staff there informed us of the Red Eagle Campground just outside of the Park, owned by the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. We had a nice site in a meadow under some trees next to a small stream.
There were some other Sprinter van owners camped next to us, and, probably as no surprise to you guys, a good deal of time was spent talking about vans and our travels. Every Sprinter van owner we talked to on this trip had interesting stories. One thing they all had in common, they love their vans and everyone seems to be looking for a way to work less and play more. One of our favorite slogans in life is “no one looks back on their life and wishes they worked more.” We had dinner, walked around camp before dark, then went to bed.
Sunday July 29, 2018
This morning we awoke early and headed into Two Medicine to get a campsite. Many of the parks in Glacier and the National Park system in general offer a number of first-come sites. Arriving on a Sunday sure helps. While waiting for a site to clear-out, we worked through an application packet to enter Kara in the National Parks Service Junior Ranger Program. For anyone with young kids, it’s a great way to introduce your child to the concept of “explore, learn and protect.”
During your park visit you and your child complete a series of activities and share your completed packet with a park ranger. A park ranger will sit down and explain some interesting details about conservation and the parks program and then honor your child with an official Junior Ranger patch and certificate. Junior Rangers are typically between the ages of 5 to 13, although people of all ages can participate. Kara was 3-½ years old and loved it. Months later she still talks about it.
With our campsite now available, our camp chairs came out and we off-loaded the inflatable paddle board and other bulky items. Dry food made its way to the bearbox (mostly to make room in the van), and we set out on our first adventure in Glacier National Park. About a mile from the Two Medicine Campground is a short hike called the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail. This fall is also called “Trick Falls” because there are actually two separate waterfalls in the same location. During the spring run-off water rushes over the top ledge for a 40-foot drop, while obscuring the lower falls. As the volume of water decreases by late summer, and the upper falls dry and water continues to rush through a sink hole and flows out of an opening in the cliff face, thus creating the lower 20-foot falls. This was a good teaser for all of the beauty we would experience here in Glacier.
Following our first hike we went to the Two Medicine General store for a round of bison chili. By this point in the trip we found that Kara really likes the tourist-trap refrigerator magnets. We had already picked one up in Yellowstone and found a nice one in the general store to represent Glacier National Park. For the rest of the trip we would gather magnets in the major tourist areas in which we went and started a “thing” of photographing Kara holding up her magnet in front of whatever was on the magnet. We think it made for some really cute photos.
With bear spray now attached to our packs, we hiked to Paradise Point on Two Medicine Lake. From this vantage we saw an old wooden tour boat named the Sinopah heading across the lake. It occurred to us that Kara had never been on a boat. Time to change that.
The Glacier Park Boat Company operates 80-year old wooden boats on the larger waterbodies in Glacier National Park. Two of the boats were added to the National Historic Register in 2017 and 2018, with two more boats qualifying for the designation in 2019. It’s cool to think of the number of people these boats have serviced over the past 80 years. Kara absolutely loved the boat ride.
The Sinopah had a little diesel engine and probably topped-out at 10 knots, at best. At one point the tour guide asked all the passengers if they wanted to go really fast, to which Kara yelled “YES!” The captain, a probably 20-year old girl, pushed the throttle all the way forward, which resulted in a lot of noise but not much action. Kara’s eyes got pretty big and she yells in my ear, “daddy, we are going so fast!” We were probably doing 10.5 knots at best at that point. Cute.
Back at camp we had dinner and attended a live talk about the moose population in Glacier National Park. It was here that we learned that moose and most deer have hollow hair. The hollow shafts provide additional dead air space to keep a pocket of air warmed (or cooled) to their body temperature.
Monday July 30, 2018
Another early start, who does this on vacation?!? We wanted to make it to Many Glacier and see about scoring a campsite. We learned that cars start lining up as early as 5:00 a.m., and when the rangers come on-duty at 8:00 they begin letting people in as campsites become available. We got there around 8:30 and were already a dozen vehicles deep, so we knew our chances of getting a site were slim. We abandoned our place in line and focused on more rewarding opportunities.
At the end of the road at Many Glacier is the popular Swiftcurrent trail. It traverses Swiftcurrent Pass and would clock 14 miles on your shoes if you did the entire trail. Roughly half mile from the start of the trail you pass Fishercap Lake, which is rumored to be a great spot to see moose. Do you think we saw any? Nope. Continuing on we hit Redrock Lake at about the 1.8 mile mark. We know a beautiful place when we see one, and this place reminded us of Switzerland.
Across the lake is Mount Grinnell, which is one of Glacier’s 25 remaining active glaciers. During the middle of the 20th century there were more than 150 glaciers in Glacier National Park. The National Park Service warns that if the current warming trend continues, the park’s remaining glaciers will be gone by 2030. We were interested in learning that snow and ice must be at least 25 acres in size and has to be moving in order to be considered an active glacier. It’s generally thought that ice masses smaller than 25 acres do not have enough weight to cause movement.
Tuesday July 31, 2018
Today we left Glacier National Park and went north on Hwy 89, then northwest on Hwy 17/6 and crossed the U.S./Canadian border. We learn many things when we travel, such as the fact that Ken’s passport was apparently expired. The customs officer on the Canadian side grilled him a bit and determined we were likely not a threat, but she did warn us that we may experience hardship and delay when returning to the U.S. After a few jokes about our new U.S. president and that we might make our stay in Canada permanent for the new few years, she let us pass. We stayed at a beautiful established campground just past the border, called Belly River Campground. We had a view through a flower-filled valley and a distant mountain range.
After securing our site for the night we packed up and headed to Waterton Lakes National Park. We visited the Prince of Wales Hotel followed by sitting on the shore of Waterton Lake for a good part of the afternoon. We were told by locals to eat at Weiners of Waterton, which did not disappoint. If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll be disappointed in the copious amounts of meat they provide you. We stopped briefly at Cameron Falls and headed back to our camp at Belly River.
Wednesday August 1, 2018
We drove from Belly River campground back to Waterton for showers at the RV Park (included as part of our stay at Belly River) and ate at a local pizzeria while our clothes went for a tumble at the laundromat. After getting the van picked up and clothes stowed we drove through Pincher Creek, Alberta and on to Castle Falls Provincial Park, staying at Castle Falls campground. We spent most of the day hanging out at the waterfall and river that flowed directly through the campground. Not sure there is anything more fun for a 3.5 year old than playing in the sand and water.
Thursday August 2, 2018
Today we did something we had never done before, which is meet-up with complete strangers we met on the internet. Ken had inquired online about things to see in southern Canada and received a detailed reply from a Canadian couple that lived in Pincher Creek. Adam and Amanda had actually seen the Sprinter conversion videos we post on YouTube and invited us to join their family (they had twin 3.5 year old girls) on a hike. We drove to Pincher Creek, loaded up both Sprinter vans with the kiddos and did a hike to a waterfall somewhere between Pincher Creek and Calgary, we have no idea where. We visited Frank’s Slide on our way back to Pincher Creek and had a really excellent visit with our new friends.
At some point during our visit the power went out in town, which created a bit of a problem. Our fuel light was already on and no one in town had power (or even backup power) to pump fuel. Fires caused the power outage and it was thought the power could be out for multiple days. Long story short, we slowed it way down and drove from Pincher Creek, over the mountain and back into the U.S. and got diesel in the town of St, Mary, Montana, 84 miles away. In other words, we drove 84 miles on less than 1/8 tank of fuel. The dash computer showed 30.8 MPG, thanks to keeping our speed at 55 MPH in fear of running out. What an amazing van. Driving an hour and a half with the fuel light on reminds us of a certain episode of Seinfeld where Kramer liked to push the tank to near-empty for pure fun. Fun isn’t what we would call it exactly.
We had planned to stay another night at Belly River, but the fuel situation made us move on earlier than planned. We ended up staying on Indian Reservation land located near the intersection of Cut Bank Creek Road and Highway 89. It was basically a cow pasture, with a single pit toilet and the ground was extremely uneven, all for $18 a night. I’m not sure we ever stepped out of the van, it was late and we went straight to bed after paying our fee.
Friday August 3, 2018
The goal for the day today was to make it over the Road to the Rising Sun so we could explore western Glacier National Park. This road is definitely one of the highlights of the park, and everyone knows it, (i.e. it gets busy). Vehicles are limited to 10-feet in height and 20 feet in length. Our 144″ wheelbase Sprinter is 9.4′ tall and 19.5′ long, whew, just made it. Coincidentally the park service uses the larger 170″ wheelbase Sprinters as half of their shuttle fleet, which are 24-feet long. The road is definitely tight and requires a lot of attention. It’s drop-dead gorgeous, and we consider it a must-see when in Glacier. Just know it will be busy in peak-season.
Once over the pass we ate lunch in the van and hiked the Trail of Cedars. This is a nice boardwalk-style trail that leads 0.8 mile through the forest and ends at a waterfall. We proceeded another 2 miles up the Avalanche Trail to Avalanche Lake. (4.8 miles and somewhat steep–Kara the 3.5 year old crushed it!) This is literally one of the best hikes we have ever done. Most of the time you are following a glacier-fed stream through the forest, with intermittent waterfalls/cascades and a gorgeous lake at the end that have three or four waterfalls coming off the mountain and terminating in the lake.
One evening in Glacier the rangers gave a campfire talk about grizzly bears. We learned to identify them by their rounded teddy bear ears and the hump on their back. While hiking the Avalanche Trail Ken saw the brush moving ahead and saw a bear-head pop up. Teddy bear ears? Check. Hump on back? Check. And he was coming up the trail toward us. Ken took a brief pause and grabbed his bear spray. This gave him the false sense of security he needed at that moment. Safety third, he also took a quick photo. There were enough other people on the trail approaching the bear from both directions that he was spooked and ran away. Thank goodness, we really did not want to have to spray this guy.
We headed to Blankenship Bridge, a well-known dispersed camping location on the Middle Fork Flathead River. There were other people there, but most were fifth wheels and trailers that did not stray far from the main rock/beach area. We ventured further downstream where we had the river next to us and trees between us and our closest neighbors. This location worked well for us for two nights.
Saturday August 4, 2018
Leaving our patio mat, camp chairs and table behind we headed into Whitefish, Montana for the day. The town is very quaint and scenic and we spent much of the day walking around and having lunch at the Craggy River Bar and Grill. We returned to Blankenship for another night and ran into a couple and their two children that were also traveling by Sprinter van. Both were engineers working in the city and quit their jobs to travel for 9 months. We love taking to people that have made such life-choices.
Sunday August 5, 2018
Today we set aside for a float trip down the Middle Fork Flathead River. Coincidentally the take-out was Blankenship Bridge, across the river from where we had stayed the previous two nights. We used Montana-Glacier Raft Guides. The float was beautiful and totally appropriate for young children. Kara enjoyed the bus ride on the bouncy dirt road as much as the rafting itself.
After a very satisfying burrito from a local taco stand we headed south on Hwy 35 along Flathead Lake and to a free BLM campground south of Missoula, MT. This was another hidden gem of a campsite, with a stream flowing through it and hiking trails that were accessible directly from the campground. We did a short hike into the canyon but with evening approaching we turned back toward the van for dinner and a night of rest.
Monday August 6, 2018
Now heading south on Hwy 93, we really enjoyed the scenery from the massive windshield in the Sprinter van. The Salmon River was adjacent to the road for a good duration of the drive and the backdrop included the backsides of the mountain range that runs through Yellowstone National Park. We refilled our water in the town of Stanley and drove out to see Redfish Lake. It reminds us a lot of Lake Tahoe, with similar clarity and sandy beaches with lots of large boulders. We spent a couple of hours hanging out at the lake before getting on the road for Ketchum/Sun Valley area. The drive between Stanley and Ketchum is beautiful.
We found a primitive campsite in the Sawtooth National Forest, adjacent to a small creek, where we ended up staying the next two nights.
Tuesday August 7, 2018
Today was spent looking around the town of Ketchum. Ken had pre-arranged a tour of Sync Van’s facility in Hailey, Idaho. A lot of inspiration for our van was drawn from their’s. The general concept is open layout and enough pretty woodworking on the inside to feel classy, but not so much as to feel like a log cabin. They offer a nice balance, with wood on the galley, overheads and some of the trim, but the rest of the build trimmed in durable and less expensive materials like coin cell flooring and laminate. That’s exactly how our van is trimmed today. It was great to meet the owners and see their excellent craftsmanship.
Wednesday August 8, 2018
Continuing south on Hwy 93 and stopping in Twin Falls, ID to see the Snake River overlook and have lunch, we pressed-on for our next destination in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. At Battle Mountain, NV we turned south on Hwy 305, through Austin, NV on Highway 50, turning on to Road 722/21. Much of this road was dirt, with more washboard than we would have liked. We arrived at the primitive Columbine Campground only to find it full, so we camped off the main trail just down the road from the campground. From here we had a great view of the high plains and the valley down below us. There were wild horses in the distance and we joked about being in the plains of Africa. You may recognize the photo as we have used it as the header for our website and Online Store for quite some time now.
Thursday August 9, 2018
Late last year Ken had made reservations for a group of fifteen friends to all meet at June Lakes, California. In planning this Idaho/Wyoming/Montana trip it made more sense to tack June Lakes onto the end, so today’s goal was to make it across Nevada and down to California. We took a series of secondary roads across Nevada and came out in California at the intersections of Highway 395 and 167 adjacent to Mono Lake. From here it was only a few short miles to Oh Ridge Campground at June Lakes. We spent the next few days hanging out at the lake, hiking and eating in Mammoth Lakes, and enjoying time with friends. Sunday afternoon we packed up and headed home to the Sacramento area.
We will probably say this about every trip we take, but this was the best road trip to-date. We got to see a number of national parks, we hiked, ate, drove, slept, swam, paddle boarded, and rafted our way through five states and two countries. We got a true taste of not only vanlife but it was our second trip where most of our accommodations (other than Yellowstone) were not pre-planned. We had some amazing stays, and even further increased our appreciation for publicly-held and managed lands. We got the van into some really cool places, which proves you don’t need 4-wheel drive to get way off the beaten path.
We hope you enjoyed following along on our first-ever month-long trip. We appreciate your visit to our site and hope we can keep you coming back. Cheers!
Great photos, I love your descriptions of camping with a 3 year old. Been there.
Thank you! I think this is a great age to travel with kids. A year ago a trip like this would have been difficult, but not the case at almost 4!
I’ve been following your youTube build from the beginning, so happy you’re enjoying your KaraVan – looks great !
You’ve been an inspiration, our 2016 is still a work in progress, I can’t wait to get it on a month long vancation too.
Congratulations on the new web site.
Such a nice comment, thank you! I can’t say enough good things about traveling in the van, it’s just working so well. And I know a thing or two about “work in progress,” mine has been in that state since I got it!
Thank you for taking the time to document your van build and travels. I have thoroughly enjoyed the YouTube videos and now the website. I appreciate the detail-oriented, meticulous nature of your build. You certainly have the cleanest and most well-built setup of any DIY van I’ve seen.
There is one aspect I don’t believe you have addressed yet. It appears you do a fair amount of camping (boondocking) with no hook-ups.
How do you handle taking showers and using the restroom when camping in an area with no facilities?
Hi Matt, thank you very much for the kind words, they are always appreciated. We do have a porta pottie but so far have not used it. Generally we are either at campsites that have facilities, or we are in a place where no one is around. The porta pottie will get used, most likely when we are at a location where no restrooms are available and yet people are around. As for the shower, that part of the van has yet to be built. It will be an outside arrangement, with hot water plumbed to the area just inside the rear doors. Like most people do with these vans, open the doors 90-degrees and put up one shower curtain to keep water out of the van and the other curtain on the outside of the doors for privacy. The size van I have feels completely confining inside if equipped with a permanent bathroom/shower. Thanks for reading!
Karavan log is perfect, like your van build. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Brian!!
We have been building our own van too and are big fans of your videos. In fact you helped guide us thru our Maxxair fan install and not one leak all summer!!! Just discovered you have a blog too…keep the posts coming and maybe one day our vans will cross paths.
All the Best, Greg and Lorraine
Thank you, I always appreciate messages like yours. I enjoyed working on the van (still more to do) but we have really been enjoying traveling in it. Not sure where you live but we will be at Sprinterfest Oct 19-21 at Lake Concow, east of Chico. Come join us if you happen to live in the area or feel like commuting multiple states like some do!
Unfortunately, we live on the east coast in New York and are off for the summers, but summer has come and gone. June of 2020 we’ll be going at it full time and then there will be more time for Van gatherings. They always seem to be during the school year when we are at work…Until then!!! Greg and Lorraine.
I recently found your site and YouTube channel and I am loving them. As for this post, this the best trip in the country! Alright, I’m a little bias, my family & I live in Idaho and we have been to many of these places often. Currently we live in Boise, but we spent 9 years in Idaho Falls. I purchased a 2016 144 with the same drive train as you 2 weeks ago and have been pouring over the YouTube channel taking notes along the way. Thank you for taking the time to share with us, I am so grateful that I found you. I hope to repay you someway, somehow in the future. For now my gratitude will have to come in the form of “Sprinter Van” imitation. 🙂 I may reach out via your contact page with a question or two if that’s okay. Thanks again.
Thanks for the message Jesse! You live in a beautiful place. We are planning to spend some time in BC next summer, but will be stopping at some of our favorite places we discovered in Idaho and Montana on our way up.
Congrats on the van! The 4 cylinder is the one to get. At least the next-gen V6 Sprinter will finally get the 7-speed transmission that us 4 cylinder owners have enjoyed since 2014. And FYI, use of the links I provide help fund the web fees, so any use of those is greatly appreciated!
Take your time and enjoy your build. I found my van to be highly functional even when it was under heavy construction. Take care!
Another Big Thankyou!! …Installed a passenger side half slider window this weekend..you’re an excellent teacher. And although we like and accept your new YouTube name, you’ll always be Kenetube to us!
All the Best,
Greg and Lorraine
TheVanStopshere.com
Ha, I’m okay with that! Happy to hear your install went smoothly; those windows require a bit more thought to ensure you cut the right sized hole.
Ken & Kara (my neice’s name as well 🙂
I just ran across you on youtube last night. Your approach, settled presentation and objective to do it right was very comforting, especially considering what you were going through at the time. Your aluminum kitchen cabinetry and overhead system was fabulous as well and meets my wife’s edict upon purchase of the van, to, “not have any cardboard or icky plywood”. In the past my checkbook has served as my tool chest but wasn’t willing to spend $150-$200 K for a spitshined factory version. Between your approach and a course by Ross Lukeman we are going to take a stab at it ourselves. Depending how complicated the water and Electrical turns out, those areas might need some outside assistance. Our platform is a 3500 (1 ton) dually high top, extended length, 2018 Sprinter with a diesel engine. On your Idaho, Wyoming, Montana trip I enjoyed your detail. When your route on Hwy 287, turns to Hwy 89 at Choteau, you passed through where I was born and grew up. On your return to Montana for vacation I might suggest going in late September early October. Potentially a bit of weather but if you took Kara to Slippery Ann on the Missouri River Breaks, she’d see the Elk in rut and be mere feet from them. Something no National Park comes close to. 30 years ago just a handful of locals would see it, now there are alot of folks there but nothing like the crowds you saw in Yellowstone, 25-40 cars would be a big turn out on an afternoon. Where ever you go you are on the right path with Kara as your Radar Intercept Officer in the back……enjoy every minute as you won’t understand where the time went when they leave home.
Blessings on you both.
Marcus & Dawn
Hi Marcus and Dawn, I really appreciate the thoughtful message! You reminded me I have yet to finish that trip report…such beautiful country out that way and we will certainly be back in the future. I always appreciate the tips on where to go and what to see. The National Parks notwithstanding, if it shows up in a travel book there will probably be more people there than I would like. Local advice is always best!
Congrats on taking the plunge on a van! The best advise I can give is to just assume the project will take longer than you planned and just roll with it. It’s when you set unrealistic timelines or put pressure on yourself to finish that you’re likely to make mistakes and not get the outcome you were hoping for. I.E. take you time and enjoy! We used the heck out of the van even before it had any systems at all. It sure helps you realize what you do and don’t need.
Thanks again for the message. Keep in touch and let us know how your project is coming along!
Ken
Hi Ken! Just wanted to drop a quick line and thank you for all your content. Your blog was so fun to read, as well. It’s been a while since I’ve atually stopped to read a blog versus just watching the video blogs, but yours was so well written and just overall great to follow along. Thank again, and all the best!
Thank you for following along! Which reminds me I need to finish the Yellowstone/Glacier blog post!
Great trip reviews. Would love to see additional ones as you travel. I will be converting a van in a few years after retirement. I especially like when you talked about “not having to be a tourist”. Our last trip was to Acadia National Park, I live in Indiana, so it was a big time investment to travel and stay there, I pretty much made it a death march every day to maximize our experiences. Can’t wait till I can stay for as long as I want, have slow mornings,hang out at the beach, take a nap, etc. It would be my dream (they are pretty small) to go to a trail head, do the hike, make lunch there, take a nap, then move to the next hike, then back to camp.
Hi Curt,
Thank you, the trip section is on the list for major revamping. If you follow us on Instagram (our.karavan) you will find we get out fairly regularly, however I have had difficulty finding the time to get a write-up online. As the van build gets closer to completion, that’s where I expect I will find the time to start writing more on our travels. It’s great to know people are interested.
The van has been an enabler for the ‘dream’ you mentioned. I knew the van was going to be cool, but I underestimated how much it would change our travels for the better. Be sure to check in and let us know how yours is coming along. I always appreciate the comments.