According to our trusty Google maps, fourteen and a half hours of driving lay between Eugene Premier RV Resort and our next stop at Flagg Ranch Campground in Moran, Wyoming. No small feat. Oof.
With our best attitudes packed, and excited to reach Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, we headed east.
Oregon is a big state. The southern part of Idaho is also lengthy. We considered a stop in Bend, OR to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful town that we’ve visited before on trips to Oregon, but with so many hours to cover we decided to focus on putting as much time behind us as possible on that first driving day.
As we drove, Google maps regularly alerted us that our “route may be affected by wildfire”. The Cow Valley Fire in Malheur County had been declared a conflagration the day before we began our trek which included hours of travel through Malheur’s remote Burea of Land Management wilderness.
Oregon has, in my opinion, two very distinct, and two very different, biomes: the thick, damp, rolling evergreen western coastal region and the flat, dry, desert east. Our drive across the eastern two-thirds of the state was as barren and remote as drives we’ve taken through Montanna, Wyoming, and New Mexico. We knew as we approached the BLM lands that we needed plenty of fuel, and held no hope of stopping anywhere to eat dinner. Two-burner propane stove for the win, again.
We didn’t see any sign of wildfire activity (at least that we recognized at the time) through most of our drive. There was a unique and stunning cloud to the north that we all kept our eye on in awe. It was so surreal that I even took a picture.
What I didn’t realize when I took this picture is that it was actually a sign of wildfire activity, and is called a pyrocumulus. A friendly fellow traveler offered us that information while we talked along the shore of a beautiful creek, watching the sunset in the thick fog of wildfire smoke. We waited until after 8pm to pull off the road for dinner. We had been driving in the smoke for a couple of hours at this point.
Have you ever been driving along on a beautiful sunny day, and suddenly hit a distinct line where a downpour of rain is occurring? Or experienced that bizarre weather pattern of rain falling out your front window, but not your back window? That’s what happened with our wildfire smoke. Our drive was clear and sunny, with a view of the impressive pyrocumulus cloud, and suddenly, BAM! We drove into a literal curtain of reddish-hued smoke.
With no cell signal for hours, seeing another young family pulled off at our dinner rest spot was comforting. They were traveling west, and so were able to let us know that the rest of our route for that night was open and safe, and that we should expect to exit the smoke curtain in about an hour. After chatting with the family for a bit, they went on their way and we cobbled together a dinner of BLTs and strawberries. The temperature was 104 degrees when we stopped. While it wasn’t oppressive while we sat and ate – the evening actually afforded me some of the most beautiful and memorable moments of our entire trip – I did worry about us boondocking with temperatures so high, so late.
Worried about the forecast, I had researched and found a campground in PIcabo, Idaho. There was availability to book a site for the night at Picabo Angler RV Park, and our arrival time was slated for 11 pm. While it wasn’t the best use of $60 – to stay at a site for a literal eight, nine hours, tops, Mike and I agreed that we would likely need electricity to run a fan at a minimum. And with an electric hook-up, we’re exceedingly fortunate to be able to run the AC!
It was well after midnight when we pulled into our site in Picabo, Idaho. It was also 56 degrees. Yes, the temperature dropped 48 degrees between our 8 pm dinner and midnight arrival. No, we didn’t need the AC. Sigh. Live and learn? Better safe than sorry?
Though we didn’t need the AC, we tried to make the most of our $60 stay by brewing our own coffee (I love my own coffee – coffee on the road is NEVER as good as coffee brewed at home – our house or RV), and enjoying the beautiful Idaho view from our site.
The other perk of the Picabo Angler RV Park was its proximity to Craters of the Moon National Monument. With only five hours of travel left to reach Flagg Ranch, we left our site at 8 am to allow us plenty of time to explore Craters of the Moon, only twenty minutes down the road and on the route to Wyoming.
Craters of the Moon was AMAZING. I’m not sure how the determination is made between National Park and National Monument, but Craters of the Moon is a National Monument, and it should be, in my humble opinion, on every National Park enthusiast’s bucket list.
Our family started at the Visitor’s Center where we got the cave hiking permit every guest needs if they would like to explore the caves. Then we drove the loop, oohing, and ahhing with gaping mouths at the Star Wars-esque landscape. We stopped at the Caves Trail trailhead, and hiked out to explore the two caves open during our visit: Dewdrop Cave and Indian Tunnel Cave.
We spent nearly four hours at Craters of the Moon – longer than we expected, but beyond worth it! We were all ready for a picnic lunch before we hit the road east to Moran, Wyoming to spend the next week exploring Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.
