Wandering from Tennessee to Alaska, and back, 2023

[Machinebuilder]

a little side story.

In the Black Hills there is the Town of Lead, old time gold mining town. Mines operated until 2001.

in the late 1980's I was working with a bunch of scientists, mostly physists. 
Some of them were working on the first massively parallel computer, attempting to calculate the mass of a neutrino.
I had to ask what a neutrino is, it is one of the smallest subatomic particles. so small they pass through the earth without hitting anything.
He mentioned that weeks before they saw a supernova in telescopes all the neutrino detectors in the world saw many more detections.

the neutrino detectors are huge pools of liquid deep in old mines (and antarctica) with super sensitive light detectors. 
When a neutrino hits an atom a photon is emitted.

In the Homestake Mine in Lead is the Sanford underground research facility. at 4800ft down is a neutrino detector.
when the original one and its discovery's won a nobel prize in physics

I thought it was pretty cool.

the Homestake mine was the highest producing gold mine in the USA

[Machinebuilder]

And back to our regular programming.

I may have forgotten a few things since I posted last

The Worlds Largest Fly Rod Houston BC



 

Gabby And Sox Made a new friend, a golden doodle



 

one camp (Lasalle Lake, BC) had a lot of Stellar Jay's they are extremely bold and I had to scare them off the dog food and my food several times



 

Rearguard Falls is the furthest point salmon migrate to from the ocean, about 800 km or mi (I forgot which the sign used)


 

Mt Robinson



 

When I was getting a campsite in Whistler Campground in Jasper NP, I was told "there's a lot of elk here"

this is as i was walking back to my truck



 

[Machinebuilder]

THe Town of Jasper is a crowded tourist trap, it reminded me why I avoid going to Gatlinburg.
As I got to them Lake Louise and Banff are the same

I took the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff.



 



 



 



 



 

More Red Chairs



 



 



 



 

The Wind off the Columbia Icefield was strong enough to "Fly" Gabby's Ears 



 

Many of the Campgrounds were already closed for the season.
Mosquito Lake was open and the overflow camping was over flowed



 

[Machinebuilder]

Icefields Parkway continued

Mosquito Lake Camp it was 29F that morning



 

Sox made friends with some young ladies from New Zealand



 



 

LAke Louise



 

I then headed south on hwy 40,



 



 

THis ended near the Frank Slide, in 1910? a landslide took out most of the town of Frank



 



 

Near there was the Lietch Colliery, a high tech coal facility for its time



 



 



 

[Machinebuilder]

Waterton Lake NP



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 

[Machinebuilder]

From Waterton it is a quick trip across the border to Glacier NP

Glacier is reservation only for the summer, I was there the first weekend reservations are not needed do it was rather busy.



 



 



 



 



 



 

[barbender]

I think the reservation system for Glacier is only for the Going to the Sun Road. Iirc they have it set up so you have to have a lottery issued pass to access the Road between 9 to 5. You can use it without a pass outside of those hours. The last time we were there (2 years ago) I can see why the lottery pass system is necessary, that road was PACKED! We visited after Labor Day, when passes are no longer needed.

[barbender]

One of my cousins works in that underground research facility. He does hardhat/labor type of work, I don't know if he's aware of what a neutrino is😁

[Walnut Beast]

How many miles have you logged so far on your trip? 

[Machinebuilder]

I think Glacier has expanded the reservation to include most access points 

I'm just over 19000 miles so far 
I'm ready to get home now
But I'm still traveling slowly

[Andries]

By the time you get home, it could be more than a 20,000 mile trip. Well done, it takes good planning to pull that together!
When it comes to vehicle, equipment, and provisions, could you share with us what you might improve on for your next ramble?
.
Thanks for taking us along, you take great pictures. I really appreciate it, it was a lot of work for you, and I'm sure the rest of the forum does too.

[barbender]

MB, that could certainly be the case. It sucks, but I get why it is completely necessary🤷

[Machinebuilder]

I have made it home.

I stopped and saw a friend from high school in Grove Spring, Missouri, another friend from about 30 years ago in Dickson TN and my Sister and family in Franklin, TN

I still have quite a few pictures to go through and will post a brief summary of the trip.

Thanks for all the interest and support.

I have alot of cleanup on the truck/camper, a fair amount on my property and then I have quite a few projects I want to work on.

[DbltreeBelgians]

Welcome home and glad you made it safely. Thanks for taking us along on your journey.

Brent 

[Magicman]

Thank You for sharing your trip with us vicariously.  You brought back many memories for me as well as seeing sights where we did not go.  (We only traveled 14K miles with two oil changes.)  I look forward to seeing your "wrap up" edition.

[aigheadish]

Welcome Home Machinebuilder! Thanks for taking us on the trip with you. I don't know if I'll ever make it up that way but I can flip back through these pages to find some spots to see if I do!

[tule peak timber]

Awesome trip, thanks for all the posts!

[barbender]

That was a great trip, just by the pictures! The dogs must be exhausted!😊

[moosehunter]

Amazing story, thanks for sharing and the pics. 6 years or from now we plan to do a similar trip. 
mh

[Ron Scott]

Great trip and documentation!

[Stephen1]

Thank you for sharing your Trip. The pics are great.  
I spent 3 winters working in Jasper NP as a Ski Instructor when I retired. It definitely is not busy in the winter. I travelled and skied all over the Rockies . My favourite travel was always the Ice Field Parkway form Jasper to Lake Louise. A 2 hour drive and if you saw another car it was a miracle. Your pictures brought back great memories. 

[Machinebuilder]

From West Glacier I had to go to Kalispell. I had miscalculated on a medicine I take and ran out in BC.
I learned that a US prescription can not be filled in Canada and vice versa.

I found a campsite near Hungry Horse Reservoir and then took hwy 2 to East Glacier and Two Medicine Lake



 

The Camp Store was the dining hall from the original park lodge there Built in 1912



 

I saw a large Bison herd near Browning, MT...........not wild ones like in Canada



 

ANd took a scenic byway (hwy 89) south From Belt, MT

Sluice Box SP



 



 



 

I made a quick stop at Little Big Horn



 

and found another nice campground, Red Shale Campground, free FRS camp with really nice spacing between sites



 

[Machinebuilder]

From there I headed to Devils Tower NM, as I had not been there before.



 

There was a line at the entrance and a traffic light 1/2 mi from the visitor center to control the traffic.



 



 



 

I saw a couple climbers



 



 

and spotted the "ladder" used by the first climbers over 100 years ago. the arrow points to it



 

on a side road I found this and tried it out



 



 

[Machinebuilder]

I headed east to South Dakota

Near Aladdin, WY there is a coal mine and tipple from the late 1800's



 

I found the Geographic Center of the USA in Belle Fourche, SD



 

ANd took another scenic byway (hwy 14A) south from Spearfish, SD



 

I saw 4 Mountain Goats, 2 ewes and 2 kids



 

and found a very nice camp near Hanna, SD



 

[customsawyer]

When did they move Devils Tower to NM.? :D