2 May 2013; Super 8 Motel in Ogden UT --
Getting up at 0500, Grumpy discovered two facts that he had forgotten in his old age: First, the sun doesn't come up as early in the far-western section of Mountain Daylight time zone as it does in the mid-section of the Pacific Daylight time zone; second, the days in the lower latitudes after the Vernal Equinox are not as long as the days in the higher latitudes. It was as dark as it can get with only the stars and a last-quarter moon.
Besides, it was cold out of the down sleeping bag and out of the fairly warm tent, with the two GGson's emitting their mega BTU's of metabolism. The brilliance of the stars, dotting the sky right down to the horizon, were Grumpy's reward for persevering out of the "sack" on this cold morning.
So, to preserve his pride (and to try to get warm), Grumpy decided to walk laps around the camping circle. Each lap being about 3/8 of a mile, and by accumulating five laps in about 40 minutes, Grumpy guessed that he had walked at least two miles and perhaps as much as three. Anyway, as he was completing lap four, he noted that Her Royal Highness's tent was open -- Her Highness had apparently decided to forego her "Beauty Rest" for the lively company of the Grumpy One.
After a cup of hot coffee and a quick, cold breakfast our little party departed Farewell Bend and proceeded down the freeway to cross the Snake River into Idaho. This would be the first of six crossings of the Snake that we would experience this day.
A geological wonder, Malad Gorge was our next major destination (after crossing the Snake two more times). We stopped here and took many photos of this unusual geological formation. Malad Gorge was carved out by the action of Malad River as well as an ancient flow of the Snake River when its contents also included the overflow from the Great Bonneville Lake. Bonneville is today represented by three remnants, one of which is the Great Salt Lake. Malad River was named by some French trappers who got sick after eating some beaver that they caught in this river. They called it "Raux de Malade" -- literally, River of Malady. [Grumpy never knew this until this visit! See, this was an educational trip for the Great Grandfather as well as for his two Great Grandsons!]
Needing to top off the fuel tank, we exited the freeway into the little town of Burley Idaho [we had found that this "Aerodynamically Loaded" Subaru Outback was consuming gasoline at the rate of about 20 miles per gallon -- and the tank capacity is only about thirteen! Too bad Grumpy's Honda couldn't have accommodated everything that we had -- including the kitchen sink??]. Going into and exiting Burley gave us Snake river crossings number four and five -- we were again on the same side as when we first crossed into Idaho out of Oregon; we would have to cross it one more time to go South toward Salt Lake City.
Almost at the Utah line, we came to a Rest Stop which is at the site of another geological piece of evidence that the Great Bonneville Lake overflowed along this area into what is now the Snake River basin. The evidence that we could see was the extensive sand and gravel surface as we walked through the forest of Juniper trees that covered this site.
Finally descending into the Great Salt Lake basin, Grumpy pointed out the series of horizontal "benches" which were formed by the wave action when Lake Bonneville filled this entire 20,000 square mile basin. The reader is referred to Google Earth for more evidence of the progressively lower waterlines as the lake shrank during periods when precipitation and runoff into the lake were insufficient to maintain its level for a few years or possibly decades. Eventually, however, evaporation reduced it to present-day Great Salt Lake. [The salt content of Great Salt Lake is such that it is impossible for a human to submerge himself in this very dense liquid.]
Not finding a convenient (or inconvenient) campground, it was decided to live in luxury this night, so Grumpy found a Super 8 in which he and Great Grandma had previously stayed several times.
Tomorrow: Devil's Slide and Wyoming!
Besides, it was cold out of the down sleeping bag and out of the fairly warm tent, with the two GGson's emitting their mega BTU's of metabolism. The brilliance of the stars, dotting the sky right down to the horizon, were Grumpy's reward for persevering out of the "sack" on this cold morning.
So, to preserve his pride (and to try to get warm), Grumpy decided to walk laps around the camping circle. Each lap being about 3/8 of a mile, and by accumulating five laps in about 40 minutes, Grumpy guessed that he had walked at least two miles and perhaps as much as three. Anyway, as he was completing lap four, he noted that Her Royal Highness's tent was open -- Her Highness had apparently decided to forego her "Beauty Rest" for the lively company of the Grumpy One.
After a cup of hot coffee and a quick, cold breakfast our little party departed Farewell Bend and proceeded down the freeway to cross the Snake River into Idaho. This would be the first of six crossings of the Snake that we would experience this day.
Needing to top off the fuel tank, we exited the freeway into the little town of Burley Idaho [we had found that this "Aerodynamically Loaded" Subaru Outback was consuming gasoline at the rate of about 20 miles per gallon -- and the tank capacity is only about thirteen! Too bad Grumpy's Honda couldn't have accommodated everything that we had -- including the kitchen sink??]. Going into and exiting Burley gave us Snake river crossings number four and five -- we were again on the same side as when we first crossed into Idaho out of Oregon; we would have to cross it one more time to go South toward Salt Lake City.
Almost at the Utah line, we came to a Rest Stop which is at the site of another geological piece of evidence that the Great Bonneville Lake overflowed along this area into what is now the Snake River basin. The evidence that we could see was the extensive sand and gravel surface as we walked through the forest of Juniper trees that covered this site.
Finally descending into the Great Salt Lake basin, Grumpy pointed out the series of horizontal "benches" which were formed by the wave action when Lake Bonneville filled this entire 20,000 square mile basin. The reader is referred to Google Earth for more evidence of the progressively lower waterlines as the lake shrank during periods when precipitation and runoff into the lake were insufficient to maintain its level for a few years or possibly decades. Eventually, however, evaporation reduced it to present-day Great Salt Lake. [The salt content of Great Salt Lake is such that it is impossible for a human to submerge himself in this very dense liquid.]
Not finding a convenient (or inconvenient) campground, it was decided to live in luxury this night, so Grumpy found a Super 8 in which he and Great Grandma had previously stayed several times.
Tomorrow: Devil's Slide and Wyoming!
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