We are honored to have Notloc with us for Road trip 17. We left NC early in the morning with the first stop in Horse Cave, KY.  Great location for a quick visit to Mammoth Cave National Park. We spent the morning doing the ranger led Historic Tour of the cave. It is quite a site. We also managed to fit in a late afternoon visit to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, which was a short drive north of Horse Cave. We got there right before they closed up. It was a full day. Perfect night for Taco Tuesday.

KOA Horse Cave KY

Our Site in Horse Cave

Nerak and Notloc Mammoth Cave sign

Notloc Leading the way thru Mammoth Cave

Notloc in a tight squeeze thru the cave

Notloc’s first Jr Ranger Badge for Roadtrip 17

Notloc at Abe Lincoln Birthplace sign

Abe’s Birthplace Memorial – cabin is inside

The Clan at Abe’s Cabin

Abraham Lincoln knowledge experts

Our next stop was at Arrow Rock State Historic Site campground for an overnight stay. It is a real nice campground and a pretty neat old historic town. From there we had a long drive, continuing our push North and West, North and West, and North and West. We had an over night stop in Sioux Falls, SD.

Morning stop at Arrow Rock, MO

Brief stop Sioux Falls, SD KOA

We continued, you guessed it, North and West, heading to Medora, ND for two nights. We had a very busy day visiting the Teddy Roosevelt National Park, both the South unit and the North unit.

Notloc at the enchanted highway deer crossing sculpture

Tight quarters at Boots Campground Medora ND

Notloc at Teddy Roosevelt National Park sign

Notloc and Nerak at Teddy Roosevelt NP

Teddy Roosevelt’s Cabin

Notloc capturing the view – TR NP

TR NP wind erosion

Cannonballs TR NP North Unit

Avid hikers Notloc and Nerak

Lone Bison drinking from Little Missouri

Checking out the View TR NP

TR NP Wild Horses

Notloc and Jr Ranger Badge number 3

Caramel Caribou ice cream

Nice drive from Medora ND to Gardiner MT. We are staying on the Gardiner side of Yellowstone at the Yellowstone RV Park. Nice little RV park right on the Yellowstone River. It is about 3 minutes to the park entrance. Our goal on this second visit to Yellowstone is to see all the things that we couldn’t see on the last visit due to roads and sections of the park being inaccessible from the massive flooding that had occurred. Since we are only staying at Yellowstone for 3 days, we focused on seeing Mammoth Hot Springs,  Lamar Valley, and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We also squeezed in a quick trip to Old Faithful and Fishing Bridge. 

Yellowstone RV Park – Gardiner MT – Site 3

Yellowstone RV Park – Gardiner MT

The clan in Yellowstone – Gardiner MT entrance

Old Faithful – Yellowstone

Mammoth Hot Springs – Yellowstone

Notloc losing that hockey face for pictures

Grand Prismatic Spring – Yellowstone

Upper Falls – Yellowstone

Notloc on the South Rim

That’s a bear in that bush

The little town of Gardiner doesn’t have a lot, but it has enough, and it is a nice town to walk around.  We had a pretty good lunch at the Yellowstone Pizza Company, and we also did a float trip down the Yellowstone River with Flying Pig Adventures. Gardiner is also the home of the original Park entrance, the “Roosevelt Arch”. Inscribed on the top of the arch is “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people”. It is impossible to come to Yellowstone and not have an amazing time. It is by far one of the most amazing places in the United States. 

Gearing up at the Flying Pig for Float Trip on Yellowstone

Birthday girl on the Yellowstone

Notloc floating the Yellowstone

Beautiful day for a float trip on the Yellowstone

Nerak and Notloc with some ice cream

View from Artist Point – Yellowstone

Bison Herd – Lamar Valley – Yellowstone

Nerak and Notloc at Fishing Bridge Visitor Center

Tower Falls – Yellowstone

Yellowstone River cutting through park

Notloc at the Roosevelt Arch – Gardiner MT

Yellowstone – By Notloc

Notloc at a rainy Old Faithful

Notloc at Mammoth Hot Springs

We arrived at Yellowstone RV Park and then we got ready to go into the park. But first we stopped to see the Roosevelt Arch which is the original entrance to the park where we also saw a herd of elk. Then we went to go see Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring in the rain. On the 2nd day we wanted to see the stuff that was closed down the first time we came. So we went to Mammoth Hot Springs and Lamar Valley where we saw probably around 1,000 bison and tons of elk. On the 3rd and final day we did a float trip on the Yellowstone River with the Flying Pig Adventure Company in the morning. We also went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and then we went down to Fishing Bridge to check out the lake and visitor center. I love Yellowstone because it is such a versatile place, it has volcanic activity, mountains, grasslands, waterfalls, a canyon, and tons of wildlife. I also really liked Mammoth Hot Springs.

Thanks Notloc! Next up – Glacier National Park, 3 days in East Glacier followed by 3 days in West Glacier

We left Gardiner, Montana, and headed north up through Bozeman, Helena, and Browning, and then proceeded up 89 through the Blackfeet Reservation to St. Mary, MT. We stayed three days in St. Mary at the KOA East Glacier. This turned out to be a perfect location for exploring the eastern side of Glacier National Park. There is not a lot in the town of St. Mary, but just enough. The campground was minutes from the east entrance of the park at St. Mary. It was a short 20 mile drive from the campground to the Many Glacier area. We had a packed 3 days and did a pretty good job of seeing the eastern side of Glacier NP.

Notloc at the Glacier NP sign

St Mary Lake – Glacier National Park

Going to the Sun Road – Logan Pass

Selfie – Nerak – Notloc – Kram

Swift Current Lake – Glacier NP

Nerak and Notloc – Swift Current Lake Trail

Moose in Many Glacier

Many Glacier Hotel – 1915

Many Glacier Hotel view

Boat ride in Many Glaciers

Lake Josephine – Many Glaciers

We had a great trip up to the Many Glacier Hotel and took advantage of the hiking in the area. We seemed to really like Many Glacier due to the lack of crowds. On our last day in the east side, we hiked the Sun Point to St. Mary Falls trail. It was about 4 miles and somewhat rolling, but not to bad. With only a mile to go, we had an encounter with a grizzly bear that wanted to borrow the trail for awhile. So we had to back away, stay calm, and talk nicely to him or her. It was actually his trail. We were the visitors.

Mountains reflecting on St Mary Lake

Sun Point to Saint Mary Falls Trail

You need that Bear Spray – ask Nerak

Baring Falls – Glacier NP

Break time – St Mary Falls

Notloc and Nerak – Saint Mary Falls Trail

Saint Mary Falls – Glacier NP

Couldn’t handle the Bear Spray and Camera – the Grizzly’s back

Notloc completed the Jr Ranger program for Glacier National Park and received his fourth NPS badge so far for this trip.

Jr Ranger Notloc – Glacier National Park

We drove from the east side of Glacier NP to the west side. We stayed in Glacier Village at the RV park. A really nice campground. Thought went in to the layout. The campground roads are paved and wide, the sites are wide and long. A refreshing RV park. The west side of Glacier National Park is definitely the more crowded side and parking is a premium no matter what you do. We even used the shuttle bus once, which was really slow and depressing. With all that said, the three of us decided that we prefer the east side of Glacier NP to the west side of Glacier NP. On our first day from the west side, we drove the Going to the Sun Road up to Logan Pass. Quite a different road on the east side of the Continental Divide.

Arriving West Glacier Village RV Park

Large, Level, Spacious

Really first rate campground

Traffic coming up the Going to the Sun Road

Going to the Sun Road – Photo by Notloc

A different world up the GTTSR

Mountain Goats near Logan Pass – photo by Notloc

On our second day we took a lake cruise on Lake McDonald. We noticed smoke is starting to roll in a little bit from western fires burning in neighboring states. Nothing is burning here in Glacier. After the lake cruise we hiked the Trail of the Cedars, which is a short little hike through extremely large cedar trees. Then we headed back to West Glacier and tee’ed it up at Golfing to the Sun Mini Golf: Kram 56, Notloc 63, Nerak 70.

Getting ready for Lake McDonald cruise

Notloc and his new ride

Lake McDonald Cruise – photo by Notloc

Nerak and Notloc – Lake McDonald Lodge

Nerak and Notloc on Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald boat tour

Trail of the Cedars

For our third day on the west side of Glacier, we took the back roads up to Polebridge, MT and up to Bowman Lake. That was definitely a ride up into the back country. Pretty scenic but a little hazy from the smoke. We have been able to see pretty much all of the areas of Glacier except for the Two Medicine area. In this 6 day stop, we saw plenty of deer, mountain goats, a single young coyote, a moose, and a Grizzly bear, that became friends with Nerak. We filled up the Ram and prepared for the departure south to Craters of the Moon in Idaho. We are starting the push South and East, South and East, and South and East.

Heading to Polebridge

Polebridge Middle of Nowhere, MT

Sasquatch Grill in Polebridge

Lake Bowman up in the North Fork area of Glacier

After a long drive to get from Glacier National Park in Montana to Craters of the Moon in Idaho, we slept well. It was a slog. We are staying in Arco, ID, which is the first city to be lit by atomic power in the U.S. We awoke early and ate some Wal Mart donuts and headed 20 miles down the road to Craters of the Moon. This is one of those stops that we didn’t quite know what to expect. The National Park Service did not let us down. This is a well maintained Monument and Preserve with a very good visitor center. The park is spotless. We checked out the exhibits, watched the short film, grabbed a map, obtained a permit to enter the cave, and headed out to explore. 

Pretty desolate and rough in Southern Idaho

The clan Craters of the Moon selfie

Notloc on the move Craters of the Moon

Lava fields Craters of the Moon

More lava fields Craters of the Moon

Cinder Cones Craters of the Moon

Nerak and Notloc heading out into the lava field

Nerak photo bomb trying to shake up the hockey face

Notloc at the top of Inferno Cone – Craters of the Moon

Wierdly pretty tree – Craters of the Moon

Kram and Notloc coming down off the Inferno Cone

Nerak and Notloc heading into the lava tube cave

Nerak in the lave tube – Craters of the Moon

Nerak and Notloc climbing out of Lava Tube

Nerak giving American tourists a bad name

Notloc completes another Jr Ranger Program – Craters of the Moon

We are leaving Arco, ID early in the morning and heading South through Salt Lake City down towards Moab, UT. We will be staying in Dead Horse Point State Park. It will be an all day trip, and Notloc has already scheduled a game of Monopoly for tomorrow night.

Filled up the water tank on the Cougar and arrived in Dead Horse Point State Park outside of Moab. We have electric, but no water and sewer. It is going to be quite a challenge for 3 people staying 4 days without full hookups, in 90 degree heat. We are staying in the Kayenta campground, site 17. After we got set up we went to the visitor center and overlook.

Notloc at Dead Horse Point State Park, Moab UT

Campsite 17 – Kayenta Campground – Dead Horse Point State Park – Moab Utah

Work done by the Colorado River

The plan over the next couple of days is to visit Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park – Island in the Sky district, and Canyonlands NP – Needles district. 

Our first stop was at Arches, and we are really surprised that it is not crowded at all. No line to get in. Drove right up to the gate and entered. No line and no wait. Quite surprising. But then again, it is 100 degrees out. 

Arches National Park

Distant Arches

Geology wizard Notloc!

Used to be an Arch

Nerak leading the way to Double Arch

Nerak and Notloc under the Arch at Arches NP

Notloc and Nerak heading up the Windows Trail

Balancing Rock at Arches

Notloc balancing on a Rock

The clan at Arches

Delicate Arch

Jr Ranger Notloc at Arches

The next day we spent exploring and doing easy hikes at Canyonlands National Park, at the Islands in the Sky District, which is right down the road a short way from Dead Horse Point State Park, which is where we are camping. This is a really a great National Park and like Arches, not crowded at all.

Notloc and Nerak – Canyonlands – Island in the Sky

Nerak shaking loose the hockey smile

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands

Holding up Mesa Arch

View from Mesa Arch

Jr Ranger Notloc at Canyonlands

For the last day in the Moab area, we drove a hundred miles to the Canyonlands Needles district. We did 3 of the easy, short hikes and took in the whole park. We then headed back toward Moab only to find the Moab Diner closed on Sunday. This impacted Notloc’s ice cream schedule, but he had a back up plan at the ice cream food truck.

Needles – Canyonland NP

Nerak on the Cave Springs Trail – Needles District

Cowboy camp – Canyonlands – Needles district

Hiking in Canyonlands – Needles District

Natures work at Canyonlands

Notloc is 0 and 2 in Monopoly. Notloc and Nerak suffered to bad routs at the hands of Kram. 

We headed south to Four Corners and then continued on and made a one night stay in Grants, NM. We have a visit planned for White Sands National Park in Alamogordo. 

Notloc in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona – all at the same time

Four Corners

Notloc and Nerak at Four Corners

What a drive from Moab, with a side stop at Four Corners, to Alamogordo NM. We were in Alamogordo previously during Road trip #5. Alamogordo has gone through quite a transformation in the past few years and now sports a Lowes and a Home Depot! Holloman AFB must be growing. We are staying at the KOA in Alamogordo for two nights, so we have a full day to explore White Sands National Park, and make another trip to Pistachioland.

Monopoly Update – Notloc is now 1 and 2.

Notloc getting some shade from the Giant Pistachio – Alamogordo NM

Now that is a happy Notloc

Visit to White Sands National Park

Nerak and Notloc at the Visitor Center

On the dunes at White Sands NP

Making sure Notloc doesn’t get any sand in his shoes

Notloc in 4WD climbing the dune

Hot day for a hike, 103 degrees

As they say, no place like it on earth

Notloc the Jr Ranger at White Sands NP

The last stop on Road Trip 17 before we head home, is to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, located in Carlsbad NM. We are staying at the KOA Carlsbad (which is about 15 miles from the town of Carlsbad). Pretty nice campground, very quiet, in the middle of nowhere. We only had one day and we had a timed entry reservation for Carlsbad Caverns for 10:30 AM. So off we went, we had breakfast at a nice little bakery/cafe in Carlsbad and then continued up to the National Park. 

Setup at KOA Carlsbad Campground HOT HOT HOT

Breakfast – Blue House Bakery & Cafe – Carlsbad NM

A day at Carlsbad Caverns

Amphitheatre to watch the bats at night

The hike down down down to enter the cavern

It is going to be dark down there

Wales Mouth

A whole different world down there

Lions Tail

Resting – its a 3 mile hike

Selfie – inside Carlsbad Caverns

Stalagmites and stalactites everywhere!

Notloc prepping for Final Exam

Another Junior Ranger program completed

Carlsbad Caverns really nice Visitor Center

Notloc – Whites City NM

Its been a tough year. It was great to get away on another road trip and see some more of the country with Notloc. He is a pure pleasure to travel with. Although he doesn’t smile in pictures, he does smile with his eyes. Additionally, his map reading skills are first rate and very helpful. He does need to improve on his National Park Monopoly skills, the final score was Kram 3, Notloc 1, and virtual no show Nerak 0. We traveled 7405 miles on this road trip and visited the likes of Mammoth Caves NP, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Point SP, Four Corners Monument, White Sands NP, and Carlsbad Caverns NP, and I believe the final count was 12 Ice Cream stores for you know who. How did I forget, two stops at Pistachioland.

Along the way we saw many miles of crops in the making, hot deserts being hot deserts, beautiful soaring mountains, and we crossed many rivers (the Missouri River is everywhere!). Off the beaten path, small town America is still struggling and there are more abandoned buildings than people in some of these sad towns that I am sure have a story to tell. It was a great trip and we got to color in North Dakota and Idaho. We purchased the Cougar in April of 2021, and so far we have camped in the Cougar in 46 states. I don’t know why, but three cheers for Arkansas gas prices. Planning is now underway for a trip to Washington and Oregon. For future reference, Notloc has committed to taking his future grandchildren to some of the same National Parks that he has experienced. Me knowing that, makes me smile.