Carpe Skiem: A three state day, then boating on the Snake

Woke up the next morning, and drove over the Bear Lake Summit (the pass), and down along Bear Lake, through Montpelier, ID, then over through Afton, ID, and up to Jackson.

Bear Lake Summit, I caught it as the morning mist was burning off.

Photosynth link

In Montpelier, ID, I stopped at a FS ranger station (closed) which is also a museum for the Oregon Trail. What this has to do with Bigfoot, I have absolutely no clue. I guess I should have asked.

I decided to try to hike Meade Peak, the tallest in the area and apparently a short hike from the end of the dirt road shown on this map.

Up US-30. Amber waves of grain.

Up Georgetown Canyon. No more grain. No more road signs, either, and I overshot the Right Hand branch road by at least 5 miles, but it was pretty nice driving. The amount of publicly managed Forest Service land in the west is completely staggering. FREE for you to just roam around at will, camp wherever you want, interlaced with massive networks of clear, driveable dirt roads, (presumably) safe bridges, gravel double tracks, and pack- and hiking trails. And people are always complaining about the government around here?

Anyway, that "Righthand Branch Road" was pretty much a doubletrack and soon branchhes were brushing both sides of the car and I decided not to push my luck. Breaking the car a week before a cross-country drive would be bad. So I did an austin powers turnaround and headed back to the highway.

It doesn't look bad in this picture, but that is a steep, loose hill with big rocks, and this was almost the only place I could turn around, so I wouldn't have to reverse out the way I came.

Passing through Afton, WY, I decided to stretch the legs (mine and Sammy's) with a hike to the WORLD'S LARGEST INTERMITTING SPRING, called Periodic Spring.

Driving up Swift Creek. Dammed, and with a tiny hydroelectric plant, downstream from this photo. A very dramatic road with lots of cliffs on each side.

The spring is up a hug cleft below that long cliff ahead.

Periodic Spring is the largest of just a small handful of such intermittent springs in the world. Want to guess how many Yellowstone has? ZERO!!! Take that, "World's first national park"!

These ugly bugs were everywhere right at the output of the spring.

I got up there and it was flowing, then it went dry after ten minutes. Dry:

Waiting around for it to resume flow, I played with the camera.

After 15 minutes, it resumed. Now I believe the signs.

Should come back here sometime in winter and ski it? Well, long approach because the road's not maintained.

Swimming hole. Quick plunge, was really cold.

Then headed back to the car and kicked it back to the Village.

On Sunday, had an awesome time duckie-boating down Snake River Canyon with Mark, Sean, and their friend Jackie.

Sean: