In the Land of Yogi and Boo-Boo

Turin-Denver (Colorado)-Boulder (km 70)

We leave Italy on a Saturday morning on a practically empty but very delayed plane. Despite this terrible start and a practically immediate connection in Frankfurt, we still manage to catch our flight to America. We arrive in Denver at about 5 in the afternoon (local time). Denver is called the mile-high city because it's at an altitude of about 1600 meters. After everything I've read in newspapers, on the internet and heard said, I expected a 'difficult' welcome, instead at customs things were rather quick and simple. Average, the usual questions and the usual requests. However, we noticed that it's not like that for everyone.. nationality makes the difference. Picked up our car at Avis (the car rental agencies can be reached from the arrivals terminal with buses belonging to the various rental companies) we leave the airport area.

The sky starts to darken and the storm seems to be coming. I've read that the Denver area and the Colorado Rocky Mountains are subject to afternoon thunderstorms and for the entire time we stayed in this area we experienced firsthand how true this is. We are rather tired, both the 8-hour time difference and the roughly 10 hours of flight make themselves felt, so we head towards Boulder. Boulder is a college town a stone's throw from the Rocky Mountains. Overnight stay: Lazy L Motel (1000 28th st. - Boulder - CO) $64.72

Boulder - Estes Park (Colorado) - Rocky Mountain National Park (Km 188)

We begin our visit to the national parks with Rocky Mountain National Park, established in 1915 about 65 miles northwest of Denver. In less than an hour by car from Boulder you reach the town of Estes Park located at the northeast entrance of the park. All protected areas in America, national parks, state parks, forests, etc. require the payment of an entrance ticket, so at the RMNP gate we buy the annual pass for entry to all national parks for a cost of $50. With this pass it's possible to enter all national parks for an entire year (we don't intend to stay that long but the cost of individual entrances is greater than the annual pass) and also some historical sites. While with the addition of $15 you can apply a sticker on this pass (it's a debit card) that transforms the National Park Pass into a Golden Eagle Pass and thus also allows entry to forests, Wildlife Refuges and more.

First of all we decide to drive one of the highest roads in America, the Trail Ridge Road, in fact it reaches an altitude of 3713 meters. It's also the only road that completely crosses the park from east to west (from Estes Park to Grand Lake). We will only drive it up to the Alpine Visitor Centre (3595 m.) located near the pass (the highest point of the road). It's a sunny day but the air is crisp. Along the road several panoramic points allow you to see the majesty and beauty of these places. The environment is typically alpine, they say that plants typical of the arctic tundra survive here. You encounter deer, marmots and if you look carefully even some pika. In the afternoon instead we go to see the Sheep Lake area, an immense grassy plateau where every now and then some bighorn sheep makes its appearance. It seems that in spring quite a few graze there.

The fact is that we, neither today nor tomorrow, despite the report of the appearance, for a short time, of a male around lunchtime, will see absolutely nothing. Finally we go to see the situation in the Bear Lake area, the area from which the trail we'll hike tomorrow starts. I go to the information center to ask about the trail and the elevation gain which obviously are never indicated on the maps. The lady gives me a whole explanation about the snowy areas and the difficulty of the trail, classified by them as 'strenuous', literally translated. I leave the visitor centre no longer so sure that this trail is a good idea. The return to town and reaching our motel was made rather difficult and slow by a small group of deer that was staying near the main road. After dinner we stroll a bit along the main street of Estes Park, which features typical western... far-west architecture.

The shops are open until 9pm so we can browse a bit. We stay at the Mountain Sage Inn, a cozy and quiet place, which we booked directly from home via email. Our room isn't very spacious but very nice. Overnight stay: Mountain Sage Inn (553 W. Ellhorn - Estes Park - CO) - $64.62 Dinner: McDonalds $8.38... We're in America... you can't avoid it...

Estes Park (Rocky Mountain NP - km 56)

It's five o'clock and we're already in the car heading towards the parking lot from which the Bus Shuttles to Bear Lake depart, the starting point of the 'Flattop Mountain Trail'. The road can't be driven with your own car because they're doing major road work. In any case the shuttle is free and the first one leaves at 5, after which there's one every half hour until 9:30 pm, in both directions. We linger a bit because we stop to look at a hare so we miss the first shuttle and are forced to wait for the second. There are quite a few people but there are as many as 4 buses for each trip so there are no seating problems, at least at this hour, and in about 15 minutes of travel on these old yellow school buses you arrive at Bear Lake. The day promises well and from the lake you can see in the distance Longs Peak, the highest peak in this park (4345 m).

With our backpacks on our shoulders we set off along our trail, on a one-way route of 7 km with about 900 meters of elevation gain we'll reach the top of this mountain (3756 m). The trail initially proceeds through the woods where we encounter some little hares and we are literally devoured by mosquitoes. It seems impossible but there are so many mosquitoes, we're forced to spray ourselves well with repellent if we don't want to be the main course of these insects' breakfast. The trail climbs gently and slowly leaves the woods, the vegetation becomes sparser until reaching what they say is an arctic tundra (hmm...so they say). Climbing you can admire Nymph and Emerald Lake and you also encounter an infinite number of Pika.

Everywhere you turn you see one of these cute little animals scampering among the rocks, they're also quite calm because you can get quite close and we manage to take several noteworthy photos.. Just as the name says... this mountain is really Flattop!!! Walk walk and walk and the top, so to speak, never seems to arrive, we see a few patches of snow but nothing particularly 'fearsome' as the lady at the information office had led me to believe. Sure the trail is tiring but it's nothing particularly difficult, so much worry for nothing. The view from this mountain is great, despite its panettone shape, you can see the landscape all around and also the Grand Lake area. The weather though is turning bad and it's not even noon... We stay a bit to rest but then... the temperature drops a lot, the wind blows and behind us we see the storm coming...

black clouds threaten to give us a good shower, so we gather our things and start descending. We meet quite a few people who, climbing up, ask us for information about the storm, we can only tell them it's coming. At these altitudes it's not so nice to be caught by a good storm with thunder and lightning.. Meanwhile the sky is getting blacker and some thunder has already made its entrance on the scene. It starts to rain when we've more or less reached the woods. These storms are characteristic of this area, usually in the afternoon, in fact several people advised us to go walking early in the morning because in the afternoon it's better to already be on the way back if you don't want to get caught in the storm. As was to be demonstrated, all correct.

They aren't long storms, because after a good downpour with rivers of water, lightning and thunder, the sky clears and the sun smiles again. And so it was this time too.. we had almost arrived at Bear Lake and the sun was already drying everything. After eating our sandwiches by the lake we stayed a bit to relax. It's a very popular place but all in all very quiet. Overnight stay: Mountain Sage Inn (553 W. Ellhorn - Estes Park - CO) - $64.62 Dinner: McDonalds $10.68

Estes Park - Bow Medicine Forest (Wyoming) - Red Desert - Green Rever (km 611)

We wake up leisurely even though due to the time difference already in the early hours of dawn we're there wide awake ready for the new day. Today a long drive awaits us, we pack all our stuff in the car and head towards Wyoming. Instead of just taking the highway we decide to make a detour near Laramie (Wyoming) to drive one of those roads they call 'Scenic Byway' named Snowy Range Scenic Byway (29 miles). This road, route 130, crosses the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. One of the things that impresses me most about this land is looking around and seeing only nature all around me. Expanses of prairies, woods, valleys devoid of obvious signs of human presence. Surely the populated areas, given the vastness of the territory, are fewer than what we're used to and this is a bit of what I envy them, all these endless open spaces.

Back to our detour, it was a happy choice, the area is scenically splendid, little lakes immersed in fir woods (or larches, I'm not competent on the subject), expanses of tundra and snowy rocky mountains. The road climbs up to Snowy Range Pass (3254 m) and then descends on the other side. It's not a very busy road and when we stop for a snack on the side of the road a thoughtful motorist stops to ask if we had car trouble. After this detour we get back on the highway and continue westward. The landscape gradually changes, the green of the prairies with their pronghorn antelope grazing gives way to the red and sand of the Red Desert. The highway passes near the Aspen Mountain and the Red Desert. If it weren't for the super busy highway and the big trucks speeding past us I'd say we're back in Namibia.

It's impressive how the landscape has changed, just this morning we were immersed in the mountains of Colorado and now we're in the Wyoming desert. The temperatures have changed too, in Green River, the town we choose as our stopping point, leaving our car with the air conditioning on was a shock. It's really hot and not a breath of air blows. Despite the typicality of the place I wonder how people can live in a place like this. First of all we have to find a place for the night... we see a motel that inspires us and so I go to ask for information at the reception. I ring the little bell, knock but nobody comes, I'm about to go back to the car when a guy comes out of a house and asks me if I was looking for the motel. I tell him yes and he invites me to follow him to his house, he tells me it's his wife who runs the motel.

I hope my facial expression wasn't too telling because as soon as I enter the house my hair stood on end. A mess... the man had me pass first through the kitchen, then into the kids' room and finally I arrived in a room adjacent to the reception where the wife was busy fiddling with mattresses. Let's say that to cover these few meters I had to be careful not to step on anything, there was so much stuff scattered around and on the floor that you didn't know where to put your feet. The wife, a girl roughly in her thirties, of whom you certainly can't say that kindness and friendliness are her strong points, tells me the cost of the room and accompanies me to see it. I must admit that having seen the house I'm no longer so sure I want to see the room but I go anyway. Average, clean and well kept, so we take it.

There's even a fridge (I should think so in this heat), a microwave and air conditioning at full blast (centralized so we can't, during the night, either lower it or turn it off). Given the features of our room we go looking for a supermarket to buy some milk for breakfast. Well.. no big deal.. we drive around a bit but we find everything (including a nursing home) but not a trace of the supermarket. We find a discount store but it only sells drinks, cookies and various stuff... no milk. But there's the post office, so, while I go to get some stamps I take the opportunity to ask this information since there aren't that many people around. The post office is empty, I head towards the counter where a very kind lady welcomes me, too bad she's not equally quick-witted. I ask her for stamps for Italy specifying that it's in Europe (you never know).

She fiddles a bit with some stamps then asks me if I want them for the United States. I repeat that I want them for Italy in Europe. She tells me she understood and goes back to fiddling with other stamps, then looks at me and asks if they're for outside the United States. I understand that one doesn't have to be a geography genius but this one really doesn't know the subject. After all this mess for two stamps I'm a bit undecided whether to ask her about the supermarket but then I tell myself, come on, going grocery shopping, what does it take for her to tell me where it is. What does it take.. yes... and it takes a lot indeed!! So I ask her about the supermarket. She looks at me as if I'd asked her if she'd met Martians, I understand that my English isn't great, but...I'm not giving her a philosophy lecture, I'm asking her about a supermarket.

So I explain that I'm looking for a grocery store, nothing doing... meanwhile the post office is filling up.. in the end desperate, I don't know what else to tell her and I say that I want to go buy some milk, where do I need to go. Maybe I said the magic words and she lights up... she understood and tells me 'ah minimarket'. Geez I'd been trying for two hours to make her understand that I wanted a supermarket... wasn't it the same thing!?! The fact is she starts her explanation, but at a certain point she's interrupted by another lady who disagrees with the explanation, they argue a bit and in the end she concludes the explanation, incorporating some of the other lady's confused directions. I leave the post office sure that we won't find this damn store and that in this town, I don't know if it's the heat or what, but they're not at all 'with it'.

For the record the supermarket, sorry, the minimarket, we don't find it. For breakfast we'll make ourselves a tea, I brought the tea bags from Italy as well as the sugar. For dinner we go to Pizza-Hut, it's about a hundred meters from our motel, on the same street. Here too the air conditioning is at full blast and the difference with the muggy heat outside is felt even more. Overnight stay: Flaming Gorge Motel - 316, Flaming Gorge Way - Green River (WY) - $45.10 Dinner: Pizza Hut - $13.70

Green River - Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge - Jackson Hole (Gran Teton National Park) - Dubois

After breakfast we're immediately in the car heading north. I take a few photos along the road of this strange landscape, called Bad Lands Hills. Our first stop is at the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, an area used as a refuge for animals. The only green area is the one near the river (the Green River), for the rest it's all gray and arid. Apart from a few pronghorn antelope and an eagle we see nothing else. We resume our journey northward and finally, after so much traveling in this African-like environment, we begin to see mountains in the distance. Finally, I'd had enough of sand and dirt. For lunch we arrive in the super-crowded Jackson Hole. It's the closest town to Grand Teton National Park and therefore a destination for thousands of tourists both in summer and winter because it's part of a ski resort area.

Architecture in perfect western style with a variety and vastness of shops, hotels, restaurants and lots of people crowding its streets. We stop at the visitor centre where from the upstairs terrace you can admire the majestic peaks of the Teton Range and the immense prairie where the Wapiti and bison come to winter. For now, in the nearby town park you can only admire a small group of Canada geese. We dedicate the afternoon to a reconnaissance visit of Grand Teton National Park by car, we go in search of panoramic points from which to photograph these immense sceneries. Apart from a few deer we see no other animals. We also visit the various information centers, with staff always ready to give advice or directions. Grand Teton NP was first established as a reserve in 1897 to become a national park only in 1929.

The name Grand Teton given to these mountains is the work of French explorers, who in these slender peaks with vertiginous slopes saw a particular part of the female body.. I'd say it had been a while since they'd seen their consorts because they were starting to get a bit confused!!... In any case these are among the most imposing and spectacular mountains of Wyoming, not even the nearby Yellowstone park boasts peaks of this elevation and height, in fact there are three peaks that are around 4000 meters high (Grand Teton 4197 m, Middle Teton 3902 m and Mt. Owen 3940 m). The landscape is truly spectacular and Marco, also due to his passion for mountaineering, remains ecstatic about these mountains. In the late afternoon, while we head towards our destination for the night: Dubois, we run into a real traffic jam..

a male elk has made its appearance on the side of the road and has practically paralyzed traffic. We chose Dubois as our destination, which is 55 miles east of the park because it's the home of the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Centre. The road that leads from Teton National Park to Dubois, route 26, is another Scenic Byway that crosses the Shoshone National Forest. In this area in winter (in summer really nothing happens!?!) the bighorn sheep come to winter. Some of the landscapes we can observe along the road remind me of old movies with Indians. What places! Dubois is another little town straight out of the west, perhaps too much so. We immediately find the Interpretive centre and take our tour, interesting, it also displays specimens of Bighorn Sheep from around the world ($2 per person entrance).

We have a bit of trouble finding our motel which is located outside the town heading east in the Painting Hill area. Around Dubois, too bad we don't have a day available to explore the area, there are these strange red mountains. The contrast of the green with the red of the rocks of these mountains is spectacular. Unfortunately even of this area, our EDT guide makes no mention, the only information I have was kindly sent to me by the visitor centres of the area. For dinner we choose a country place. On the wall are hung many old car license plates and near the counter there's a photo of a young man in uniform killed in Iraq, this too, unfortunately, is part of America. We order two Hamburgers with fries. We're served a super Hamburger that has nothing to do with the synthetic ones from McDonald's. So with full bellies we return to our motel immersed in total silence.

Overnight stay: Riverside Inn and Camp (Dubois - WY) - $46.64 Dinner: Wind Bunch Dubois - $14.46

Dubois - Gran Teton Nationa Park - Dubois (km 243)

Up early, but it's not a problem, the effects of the time change are still being felt, because today we're going to hike what our parks guide (U.S.A. The Great Parks of the West - Gremese Ed.) calls one of the most beautiful trails in the Tetons: the Amphitheatre Lake trail, a good 7.6 km, one way, with an elevation gain of more than 900 meters. The guide indicates a hiking time (round trip) of nine hours! This one is also classified as 'strenuous' by the Americans, but after the Flattop Trail this classification no longer worries me. So we cross the Shoshone Forest again and re-enter Grand Teton National Park. There isn't much traffic around yet and we soon arrive at the parking lot where the trail starts. We hoist our backpacks onto our shoulders and set off. An information board illustrates the possible trails you can take from this point.

Of course we've chosen the longest one, and we also notice that it's the same trail that leads to the base camp for all those who want to climb these mountains. Unfortunately there's also a photo of a man who came to climb these mountains last week but never returned. I immediately think a bear ate him, Marco, a bit more realistic, suggests that maybe he fell while climbing, since that was also what he'd gone there to do! We set off, American trails are never very steep, they always climb gently, making you cover a lot of ground. In the woods we encounter some blue grouse (they're a sort of pheasant) and quite a few ground squirrels but nothing more. Once out of the thick vegetation we can admire the view before us.

Our first stop is Surprise Lake (elevation 2907 m) with Mount Teewinot reflected in its waters, fantastic! While I take a few photos of the lake, Marco tries to photograph a deer wandering near the lake. We then reach Amphitheatre Lake (elevation 2946 m) which is truly as the guide describes it: stunning. As the name suggests, it sits right in a natural amphitheater of rocks and meadows. We look for a nice scenic spot to rest and have lunch. Marco scans the mountains with his binoculars and, with considerable envy, watches the climbers moving across the mountains. In the afternoon we start the descent, the long descent, since we're more than 7 kilometers from our car, thinking that the day's emotions are over.. but no... while we're crossing through the thick woods a noise catches our attention.. a mother bear and her cub are busy among the trees.

They must have been less than 15 meters from us, the cub, like all cubs, was hopping between one trunk and another and occasionally falling, while the mother, a beautiful specimen of black bear, was working on a trunk, indifferent to our presence. At a certain point, she plants her hind legs against a fallen trunk and with her front paws uses it as leverage and, as if it were a breadstick, splits it in two and starts eating the larvae inside the trunk. The sight of this animal is astonishing, there's another couple with us who show some concern about the animal's presence. Mother bear and cub move about completely at ease, cross the trail and then disappear into the thick woods.. what a shame.. I would have stayed to watch them who knows how long. I've read a lot about bears and possible encounters with this animal.

To avoid unpleasant outcomes the park authorities, in my opinion, engage in a bit of scare tactics about it. It's true, a bear can kill and it's therefore better for tourists to use the utmost caution when they find themselves, so to speak, in its home, it's good to signal your presence so as not to startle the animal and it's certainly good not to try to approach it or feed it, because that would be harmful to both. As for mothers and cubs, there are various theories, some maintain that the presence of the cub makes her very aggressive while others maintain that precisely the presence of the cub would hold the mother back from attacking humans, obviously as long as she doesn't see a danger to her cub in the human. In any case tonight I'll go to sleep still dreaming about this experience. It was exciting and wonderful.

This alone was worth the trip here! For the record, the nine hours the guide indicates as the time, I don't know where they got them, in the sense that you could go almost twice in the time they indicate. We took three hours to go up and two to come down. For dinner, we return to Dubois, and since we're quite tired, we buy one of those Caesar Salads at the supermarket. They sell packages with the lettuce, the dressing, the croutons and the cheese.. in short, everything you need to make your salad. So we get a package of salad and a basket of strawberries for dinner which we'll eat in our room. This motel is very nice, the rooms are large and spacious, there's also a small table with two chairs and a small porch with a bench. Accommodation: Riverside Inn and Camp (Dubois - WY) - $46.64

Dubois - Yellowstone National Park - West Yellowstone (Montana) (km 339)

We wake up to rain, I knew I should have photographed the Painting Hills yesterday evening, in the rain the colors look more washed out, even the town of Dubois with its wooden buildings looks sad. Our destination today is Yellowstone National Park. The road leading from the Tetons to Yellowstone has alternating one-way traffic because they're doing major construction work (they're always doing major construction work, with super machinery, a ton of people and lots and lots of chaos), the fact is that according to the signs this should cost us an extra half hour of lost time. Too bad that after this construction site there will be others, Yellowstone, especially the eastern part, is one big construction site, some stretches of road are even closed. This means that at these points, given the large crowds of people, it almost feels like being in Turin during rush hour.

Yellowstone, home of the famous Yogi and Boo-Boo, was not only the first American national park to be established but was also the first park in the world, in 1827 to be exact. Initially, in 1886, cavalry units were assigned to protect and preserve the area, only in 1916 was the National Park Service established, which took on the responsibility and burden of conserving the wonders present in this area, and thus the famous rangers were born! Although most of the park is in Wyoming, the park nevertheless extends over three states: Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Yellowstone is not just rivers, lakes, green valleys and mountains but also geysers, geothermal basins, canyons and lots and lots of wildlife (they say it boasts the highest concentration of wildlife). All this makes it a very special park, too bad about the excessive crowding. Years ago part of the park was damaged by a large fire.

The signs, although nature is slowly reclaiming its spaces, are still clearly visible. We begin our visit to the park from the West Thumb Geyser Basin, it's a very particular thermal basin because it's practically right on the edge of the lake. A trail and wooden boardwalks allow you to visit up close the various pools with their evocative colors. In the afternoon we drive, with much patience, given the countless construction sites, along the road that skirts the Yellowstone River. We also stop to admire the Hayden Valley: an immense green valley. Along the road we can admire quite a few bison. Solitary males grazing in these green prairies or herds of females tending to their young. Since we're on the way we also stop at Artist Point, a spot from which it's possible to observe the spectacular canyon of the Yellowstone River.

In this part of the park the river runs through a narrow canyon with walls of very particular colors, reds, pinks... It really looks like a painter's palette, full of colors. The waterfalls present in this area are also distinctive. Along the roads and not only we encounter many animals, deer, pronghorn antelope, bison, we even manage to see, in one of these immense green prairies, a grizzly (with binoculars) busy eating what's left of a bison. Who knows where Yogi and Boo-Boo are... heh heh heh heh. The great ecosystem of Yellowstone, which also includes the Teton range, is the largest intact natural area in the entire United States (if you don't count Alaska). Among its valleys live deer, bears, bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, beavers, otters and bald eagles. The latter we managed to see too! For the night we've booked a very nice motel in West Yellowstone (Montana - west entrance).

The town isn't that big, by now we're used to these so to speak Western towns that we don't pay much attention to them anymore. After dinner we stroll around the town and also do a bit of shopping. Souvenir shops abound but we choose to 'leave' some money in a sporting goods store. Accommodation: Golden West Motel (429 Madison Avenue - West Yellowstone (MT) - 406.646.7778 - $57.20 Dinner: McDonald's $11.18

West Yellowstone - Yellowstone NP - West Yellowstone (km 323)

Our itinerary, we realize, is a bit rushed, maybe we should have devoted one more day to this park to be able to visit it calmly, but time is what it is so we'll try to make the most of our time. We head straight for Mammoth Hot Springs (north entrance of the park), it's early morning and it's not too hot yet, the ideal moment to hike a short 8 km loop that crosses fir forests, prairies, where, according to the guide, you can see: deer, elk, pronghorn antelope and even some beavers near the ponds. It's the third time we've come to America and we've never managed to see even a trace of a beaver, so.. hopeful we set off along this trail. Several times we're seized by the doubt of having lost the trail or taken the wrong one because that's exactly the impression we have. Of all the amazing wildlife we're supposed to see, apart from mosquitoes you can't see a thing.. Walk and walk...

and at a certain point coming out of the woods we see a she-bear and her cub. Wow... A brown bear... enchanted we stay watching the cub playing in the tall grass. The little one moves toward the woods and we, to see it well, start moving with it, a quick glance around and we no longer see the mother bear. It's not clear whether she's already reached the edge of the woods or is hidden in the tall grass. Caution is never too much so we stay where we are and after a while the cub disappears from our sight... We continue on our way satisfied with the encounter until we reach an American family who inform us they've seen as many as 4 brown bears and a grizzly... daaang they couldn't keep quiet... a grizzly a bit closer than yesterday's I would have gladly seen too. In any case we continue our hike, the ponds are there but the beaver must have moved away a long time ago...

there aren't even any signs of its presence, either it's a lazy beaver or it's been a long time since it went elsewhere. Oh well... at least we saw the bear another time, we didn't think we'd be so lucky and see it again so close. The rest of the morning we devote to visiting the Mammoth Hot Springs area, where wooden boardwalks allow you to go and admire up close the terraces and travertine waterfalls produced by the precipitation of mineral salts with the evaporation of the hot spring waters. Some photos at the information center depict the area in winter with snow and the deer comfortably seated on these terraces enjoying the warmth of the springs.. In the afternoon instead we go to visit the green Lamar Valley (northeast), one of the most enchanting landscapes of the park. It's also one of the least crowded areas.

Since we haven't had enough of crowds yet we also go to visit the Geyser area. We choose to go see the Old Faithful Geyser (southwest). A panel at the information center shows the probable eruption times of the various geysers present in the area. Accommodation: Golden West Motel (429 Madison Avenue - West Yellowstone MT - tel. 406.646.7778 - $57.20

West Yellowstone - Glacier National Park - East Glacier (Montanta) (km 670)

Today a long day in the car awaits us... we leave Yellowstone behind and head toward Glacier National Park crossing the endless prairies of Montana. In the afternoon we arrive at GNP. It's a true jewel of nature in the Rocky Mountains. It encloses an area of about 4040 sq km, and together with the neighboring Canadian national park Waterton Lakes it forms the first International Peace Park in the world. Glacier National Park was founded in 1910. Animals such as Rocky Mountain goats, deer, bears (both grizzly and brown bears), marmots, elk, beavers, otters, hawks and partridges live in this area. 1985 was the year of the wolf's return. It's not that it showed up at the registry office to change its residence, but starting from the winter of that year a pack settled permanently in the area, today the park boasts as many as 4 groups of wolves permanently present in its territory.

Hard times for Little Red Riding Hood!!! Our motel is in East Glacier, a small center in the southeast corner of the park. The motel's reception is at the gas station store. Managing everything, store, motel, gas pump and we'll later discover also a car rental and a rental of little cars to get around the golf courses, are two rather elderly ladies. They could be mother and daughter since one is much older than the other. These are grandmothers with a business sense... they don't waste time knitting seated in the garden!!! The room isn't bad even if the style could be said to be a bit old-fashioned like the owners.. heh heh heh For dinner we go downtown.... If that's what we can call the only street that crosses the town with a bit of life. Thinking about this trip I had imagined finding the America of big food chains, stores, restaurants.. and instead.. none of that.

This is small-town America with its little shops that still have the freezer for selling ice.. and if they sell it that means there are still people who buy these blocks of ice... For dinner we choose, it's not that there's much to choose from, anyway we go to the Glacier Village Restaurant. They're very kind and dinner is also excellent. After dinner we take a stroll along the street and stop at the train station, an immense wooden structure, very well kept. I consult the train timetables and discover that the passenger train still stops at this station. The folks at Trenitalia should take note, they who want to let the small commuter lines die!!! Accommodation: Sears Motel (1023 Highway 49 north, East Glacier Park MT - Tel. 406.226.4432 - $57.20 Dinner: Glacier Village Restaurant (304-308 Highway 2 East, East Glacier MT) - $12.90

East Glacier - Glacier NP - East Glacier (km 161)

Up early and straight into the car... we need to go north, toward Canada, to the Many Glacier area, an area that offers a splendid spectacle with its glaciers descending from the mountains. We've chosen to hike the Iceberg Lake Trail. It's a glacial lake nestled among the mountains. We leave the car and set off along the trail. A notice informs that a bear has recently been spotted along this route. Great.. let's hope we have a bit of luck and see it too. Actually it must be said that this trail was recommended to us precisely for this reason. Our friend George, who lives around here, suggested we hike this trail both for the particular beauty of the place but also because this is the area of the park that boasts the highest concentration of bears.

The trail alternates stretches in the thick vegetation with poor visibility of what surrounds us and areas of open shrubby clearings that instead allow good visibility. We're very lucky... right after a bend Marco stops immediately.. a black bear has just crossed the trail and stopped in the meadow below the trail. Slowly we emerge from the bend and go position ourselves above on the trail. It would be a beautiful position from which to admire the bear if it weren't that he (or she) heard us... didn't see us, but stood up on its hind legs.. sniffed the air and ran away at full speed. What a ripoff... The trail doesn't cover a big elevation gain (about 360 m) but it's quite long, about 15 km round trip, anyway in less than two hours you easily reach the lake. The lake is in a natural amphitheater; it's surrounded by rock walls that drop sheer to the shores of the lake.

Just as the name suggests, blocks of ice break off from the walls into the cold waters of the lake. The landscape is impressive. The peace, the silence and the power of nature is surprising. Observing with binoculars you can see the mountain goats moving with complete naturalness and ease on the rocks of these steep walls. With all the prairies available, I say, they just had to plant themselves there. The lake's water, precisely because of the ice melting in it, isn't really that warm, I put my water bottle in to cool and in no time the water is cool... but maybe for Americans used to tons of 'ice' this water is just a bit chilly... 4 kids, in the early afternoon, dive into the waters of the lake. Theirs is a 'dip and dash', but meanwhile they had the courage and audacity to throw themselves into these cold waters.

For dinner we return to the restaurant from the night before, where they welcome us with an 'Italians... welcome'.. they remember us.. heh heh heh heh.. Marco orders a super big salad while I choose a bison steak with a sauce of I don't know what.. really exquisite.... At the register they ask us to translate the color of the credit card receipt ('yellow') into Italian... after a bit of help with the pronunciation the manager manages to say his 'giallo' all satisfied.. go figure... as long as he's happy... Accommodation: Sears Motel (1023 Highway 49 north, East Glacier Park MT - Tel. 406.226.4432 - $57.20 Dinner: Glacier Village Restaurant (304-308 Highway 2 East, East Glacier MT) - $22

East Glacier - Glacier NP - West Glacier (km 249)

Early in the morning we leave our motel on a sad day that feels autumnal. The sky is overcast and all these clouds promise nothing but rain. The morning's plan calls for reaching Logan Pass, the starting point of the trail chosen for today. Since it's not a long hike, along the way we stop to look at the scenery. Saint Mary Lake is truly immense. The mountains, the glaciers of this park are truly sensational. Arrived at Logan Pass we leave our car in the visitor center parking lot and head toward the Hidden Lake trail. The first part of the trail, up to the viewpoint that allows you to see Hidden Lake from above, has all been outfitted with wooden boardwalks so as to allow even the disabled (I'd like to see who pushes the wheelchair uphill) to reach this point. Indeed the trail is very busy and there are lots of families.

Arrived at the viewpoint the trail continues, fortunately without boardwalks and various stuff, up to Hidden Lake, set in a basin. A little beyond the viewpoint we encounter some mountain goats and quite a few marmots, one in particular keeps trotting in front of the tourists who instead ignore it and prefer to photograph the mountain goats. Mountain goats, in fact, are not very bothered by the presence of humans. Arrived at Hidden Lake, we realize that...there's almost no one... most people stop at the viewpoint, so the shores of the lake are deserted, all the better. Back at the parking lot, a nice surprise awaits us.... I try pressing our car remote to open the trunk (what luxury huh.. I even open it remotely) and.. nothing happens, I try the doors, same thing.. in the end I resort to opening it with the key. We load all our stuff, get in the car and..uh oh uh oh uh oh...

it won't start... the battery is dead, we forgot the headlights on... daaang... this we didn't need.. of all nights when we had plans for dinner it wouldn't be nice to be late. The parking lot is full of people, we ask the one who parked in front of us who's getting ready to leave if he has jumper cables. He gives us a long speech pointing out that he doesn't have cables because his car is a rental and that it wasn't worth asking cars with Montana plates because they were very likely rentals, but to ask cars with neighboring plates... honestly my arms dropped... we have Oregon plates and it's obvious a mile away that we're not Americans... what kind of reasoning is this guy making!?! The fact is that Marco goes to call a ranger.. who as in the best American traditions shows up with a super powerful pickup that just starting it will burn half the fuel in its tank..

the fact is that we manage to get going again. Sitting in complete relaxation not far from the roadside a male bighorn sheep is the cause of a traffic jam. In my opinion they do it on purpose.. The area around Logan Pass is anyway very beautiful, there's a lot of traffic and, here too, this is really a mania, they're doing road work, so the road has alternating one-way traffic, with the usual eternal traffic lights. Our motel is on the road leading to Essex, we also booked this one via the Internet, it's also the last accommodation we booked in advance, from tomorrow... the itinerary was only thought out and not formalized. The place is very cute and the owners are very kind and hospitable. The establishment is in perfect country style, the walls are papered with hunting trophies, taxidermied animals, birds.. etc... Marco goes up to look at the mountain goats and the other trophies.

Bill, the owner, thus gives him the tour of his hunting trophies and tells him a few things. Marco also works with hunters so it's almost amusing to hear that, despite there being miles and miles of distance, the discussions they have are always the same... The fact is that he points us to a place, a bit further south of Essex where there's a salt lick and you can observe mountain goats. In case it wasn't clear, it's Marco's favorite animal. Having left our new friends we get ready for dinner, we have an appointment in West Glacier with George and his family, after so many emails we'll finally meet in person. We arrive a few minutes early because we don't want to keep anyone waiting. They're not there yet... let's just hope we understood the place correctly. After a few minutes they arrive. While George parks, Kate gets out to welcome us to their town.

The evening was very nice, we don't speak great English, but they were very kind and spoke more slowly than they're used to. It was a nice experience and a pleasant evening... We went to have dinner in what could be called a 'very american restaurant'.. as Marco says.. in the gas station restaurant, just like in TV shows... a blast... maybe the only one who was bored was their thirteen-year-old son... for him we weren't much of a company. Accommodation and breakfast: Middle Fork River Inn (Highway 2 mile 173 - Essex - MT - $53.45

West Glacier - Omak (Washington State) (km 715)

After breakfast at the motel and loading our car we head toward the salt lick that Bill pointed out to us (Goat Lick Overlook). We easily find the area and can observe a female and a baby mountain goat. This salt lick, a very steep dirt slope that from the thick woods descends to the riverbank, where they come to lick the salt contained in the rocks and sand of these walls. While we watch the two animals on the riverbanks a brown she-bear with her cub appears. She loads the cub on her back and swims across the river. Spectacular... Delighted by this sight we return toward West Glacier, after a quick visit to Lake McDonald and a few souvenir shops we get back in the car heading toward the state of Washington. It's a long journey.. having left Montana and entered Idaho we immediately have to set our watch back another hour, and so there are nine time zones separating us from home.

For lunch we stop in a center in Idaho, along the highway. Seated at one of the tables of the park adjacent to the information office we relax and study the map. Just out of curiosity I make a little dash to the information office, where I'm immediately cornered by a little old lady who surely remembers the War of Independence too, she's that young. She wants to know where I'm from and once she's found out she shoves her nice visitor registry under my nose to sign. I humor her and come out with a few brochures. We resume the journey.. and thus cross the enormous plains of the state of Washington, at first they enchant us. For the night we stop in Omak. It's very hot and the town is practically deserted. Having found a motel for the night we look for a place to have dinner.

The town doesn't offer much choice and in the end, since our room is equipped with a kitchenette and a microwave oven, we buy at the supermarket one of those frozen dinners to cook in the microwave that have nothing to envy of the meals offered on planes!!! In the area there must be a large Mexican community or something like that because at the supermarket the signs were in English and Mexican. Accommodation: Stampede Motel (215 W. 4th St. - Omak - WA - Tel. 509.826.1161) - $37.25

Omak - Okahogan National Forest - Concrete (km 243)

Having left Omak behind us we head toward North Cascade National Park. This morning we had no intention of going hiking but after a first stop at Washington Pass (1669 m) to admire the splendid peaks of the Okanogan National Forest we decide to take a little walk to explore this forest. Washington Pass is almost deserted, there's a large parking lot and a building that could have been an information center but is closed. A short path allows you to reach several viewpoints. We're about to leave when another car arrives, they park and a Canadian family gets out that seems to have come straight out of one of those corny movies that tell of these alternative families who leave civilization to go live on the shores of who knows what lake lost in the Canadian mountains where inevitably there's a bear that wants to taste the family as soon as the father moves away.

You won't believe it but it's like that.. very alternative father and mother, and their two teenage daughters get out of the car without shoes and head toward the short dirt path that leads to the viewpoint... Having resumed the car we head toward the starting point of the Easy Pass Trail, a trail that in about 11 km round trip with an elevation gain of a little more than 800 meters will take us to Easy Pass (about 2000 m) from which we can admire the majesty and the permanent glaciers of the North Cascades range. The trail is very long and tiring, the first stretch goes through the woods, but once past this the scorching midday sun accompanies us up to the top of the pass. The view from the two sides of the pass is spectacular, the silence, the peace contribute to making the majesty of these mountains impressive.

Shortly before reaching the pass a sign informed us that we were about to enter the park's territory. After a quick bite on the pass we start the long descent back to our car. To stop in this area the Golden Eagle Pass is required, the National Park Pass is not enough since we're in a national forest and not in a park. Having resumed our car we head toward our destination for the night: the town of Concrete. The road we travel crosses the park through the middle, it's also the only road that crosses it, in an area that isn't exactly park but is called Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Ross Lake and Diablo Lake with their colors are very evocative, especially for the setting in which they're placed, but a visit to this park only by car doesn't allow you to see the majesty of these mountains, not fully visible from this road. The town of Concrete is all one big construction site.

They're redoing the road surface of the main street. Maybe it's because of this or who knows what else but it appears to us as a very inhospitable place. In this area lives a Swiss girl who, in response to one of our emails asking for information, had replied sending us quite a bit of documentation and a short letter about herself. She's lived here since she got married and left Switzerland. If we had arrived yesterday we could have stopped by to thank her, Wednesday is the day we would have found her at the Concrete information office. We find a motel for the night outside the town, near a restaurant, a supermarket and a few other businesses. The motel is very nice and the room is very large and given our plan for the following day we decide to stay two nights. For dinner we go to the restaurant adjacent to the motel. My mom would have liked it.

The style of the place, tables included, is decidedly country. On the walls and ceiling hang a ton of pieces of pioneer history, old rifles, license plates, various utensils, photos, hunting trophies, pots and pans, even a coffee pot, it looks more like a museum than a restaurant. Dinner is excellent, I get a super Hamburger with a grilled chicken cutlet and Marco a big salad. Accommodation: North Cascade Inn (44618 Highway 20, Concrete - WA) - $65 Dinner: North Cascade Inn (44618 State Route 20 - Concrete - WA) - $20

Concrete - North Cascade National Park - Concrete (km 129)

Up early and straight into the car to reach the starting point of today's trail. We should travel quite a bit of dirt road before leaving our car. There are many cars in the parking lot, this is in fact the starting point of several hikes and mountaineering ascents on the surrounding peaks. Having left our car we take the Cascade Pass Trail, a trail that will take us to Cascade Pass. Once out of the thick woods the trail becomes very scenic, in the background you can admire the glaciers of Eldorado Peak. The view from the pass is spectacular, and since it's still early we decide to continue and take the trail that leads to a better viewpoint than the pass itself. With binoculars we even manage to see the rope teams of climbers crossing the glacier of Sahale Mountain.

Compared to the other parks it seems to us that wildlife here is a bit scarce, apart from a deer and the usual little ground squirrels we haven't encountered anything else. For dinner we return to the same restaurant as the night before. Lucky that I keep all the credit card receipts because once home, checking the credit card statement, I noticed they had charged us $10 extra. But since I had all the documentation to prove the error, on the following month's statement it was refunded to us. I want to think it was an honest mistake and not an attempt to rip us off. Accommodation: North Cascade Inn (44618 Highway 20, Concrete - WA) - $65 Dinner: North Cascade Inn (44618 State Route 20 - Concrete - WA) - $17.50

Concrete - Mt Baker National Forest - Marysville (km 364)

Today's plan calls for a visit to the Mount Baker National Recreation Area. This too is not a park and therefore the National Park Pass isn't enough, you need the Golden Eagle Pass, or you pay the daily ticket. We made the choice to visit this area after seeing some brochures depicting this mountain, with its 3286 meters and its imposing glaciers it seems to dominate the area that surrounds it. It's even more imposing than the peaks of the nearby North Cascades National Park. We arrive on site very early, first a short stop at Picture Lake in whose waters Mount Shuksan is reflected, and after getting our backpacks we head toward the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail. The trail after an initial nearly flat stretch, descends quite a bit and then climbs back up. The area is still very snowy and the trail crosses several snowfields.

There are no clouds in the sky but, as happens on our mountains in summer, little by little the fog arrives and before lunch Mount Baker is hidden in the mists. Having resumed the car we decide to stop for the night along the road that leads to Seattle so as to have less road to travel tomorrow. We stop at the Smokey Point Studio where at the nearby Safeway (supermarket), we buy a nice Chinese dinner in those rectangular cardboard packages that you always see in TV shows. At the register, the clerk, gives us a whole speech about the advantages of having the supermarket card, meh.. can't he see we're tourists!?! A curious thing.. in a highway rest area there was a little craft stall with two middle-aged ladies offering coffee to motorists in exchange for a donation. Accommodation: Smokey Point Studio (17329 Smokey Point drive, Marysville - Tel. 360.659.8561 - WA) - $66.25

Smokey Point - Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge - Port Angels (km 318)

Back on the freeway, we drive towards the Olympic Peninsula. We pass through Seattle, named after a tribal chief, where we decided not to stop. The freeway anyway runs through the city wrapped in a light low-lying fog. You can see the top of the Space Needle, the big rotating tower, emerging from the mists. The freeway, we notice, has a lane reserved for public transport and vehicles with at least two people on board. Once we reach the peninsula, we make our first stop at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, just before Port Angeles. Entry costs $3, unless you have one of the many types of annual passes that exist, such as the Golden Eagle Pass. In any case, you have to fill out a slip to put in an envelope where you either write your details and the pass number or put $3 in the envelope. Once sealed, the envelope goes into a special container.

In any case, there are volunteers on site who, besides helping tourists with this strange form of ticket payment, also provide a map of the area. The guy asks us if we have sweaters with us because the air on the Pacific Ocean is very cold. No problem... in our backpack we have everything we need against the cold. After walking a bit in the forest, we come out onto the beach. The refuge in fact includes a large stretch of sea and beach up to a lighthouse; however, only a portion of this reserve can be visited. The day isn't one of the best, the air is freezing and the fleece is just barely enough, while the view is practically nonexistent. The fog coming from the ocean envelops the entire coast. It's a shame because you could see Vancouver Island. Among other things, in this stretch of sea you can also spot whales, and in the area they even organize boat excursions.

In the afternoon we head to Port Angeles where we look for a motel for the night and find a nice and rather cheap one. Instead of the usual key, we're given a magnetic card to insert into a special slot in the door. A hi-tech motel, a friend of ours would say, but I don't have much trust in this little card. The fog really seems determined not to go away, we stroll a bit around town and on the pier where there are sand sculptures, but the air coming from the ocean is very cold. For dinner, despite the many restaurants in town, we again opt for a Chinese dinner taken from the supermarket takeaway and a cake of the Grandma Duck style. It would have all been perfect if not for the meat that had a sauce a bit too spicy for my taste and the Grandma Duck cake: a sort of pie with a kind of fruit compote inside.

Given that the pastry hasn't even seen sugar from afar and the filling really doesn't know what it is, saying it wasn't great is almost a compliment. When it comes to desserts, they really don't get it. Accommodation: Aircrest Motel (1006 E. front Street - Port Angeles - Tel. 360.452.9255 - aircrest@tenforward.com WA) $52.95

Port Angels - Olympic National Park - Forks (km 251)

After a nice breakfast of bread and jam, the cake we ended up throwing in the bin because our stomach refused to eat it, we head towards the entrance of Olympic National Park. UNESCO declared this park a National Biosphere Reserve on October 26, 1976. Later, the World Heritage Convention, October 27, 1981, awarded it World Heritage Site status, a recognition given, worldwide, to areas of particular natural and cultural interest. To give you an idea, ancient Thebes (the Egyptian pyramids) and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia are also World Heritage Sites.

The characteristic that makes this park unique, some would like to institute a limited number of visitors per year, is that of being three parks in one, because there are in fact three ecosystems present in it: you go from the subalpine forest to the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains, to the rainforest and finally to a strip of wild coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Today's program includes only a short hike on Hurricane Hill (1755 m) from which you can admire the peaks of the Olympic Mountains and the coasts of the Olympic Peninsula and the Canadian island of Vancouver. The weather is very clear in the mountains but on the coast there's the same light fog as yesterday, perhaps a bit less dense because you can see the outline of Vancouver Island.

We see a deer and a few examples of Olympic marmot, which emit a whistle that sounds like a person's, quite different from the whistle emitted by our alpine marmots. The isolation of the peninsula during the ice age led to the development of endemic fauna and flora, that is, found only in this area. Among the animals there is a particular species of marmot and the Roosevelt elk. It seems the park was also established with the intent of protecting this white-backed deer, which however we didn't have the honor of admiring, yet they say there are quite a few. The trail, about 4.8 km round trip, starts from Hurricane Ridge. In the afternoon we move to the southwest side of the park, where we go to walk a short trail (Spruce Nature Trail, about 2 km) inside the Hoh Rain Forest. They say there are deer but we don't see a thing except a lot, but a lot of people. It's strange...

this morning we were sitting on a hillock admiring the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains while now we're walking in the thick vegetation in this forest that has nothing to envy of river forests, enormous centuries-old trees, ferns, mosses. Back in Forks, where we decided to stay overnight, we stop by the park information office to get the tide schedule. Tomorrow we want to go visit the park's beaches. You need to visit them when it's low tide, the sea retreats and in the pools (called tide pools) that remain on the beach you can admire starfish, anemones and other marine creatures. However, it's important to know the exact times of low tides. Our room is nice, nothing special, but the exterior of the motel is particular. The porch in front of the rooms is teeming with flower pots as is the courtyard and the adjacent garden, while the reception is invaded by dolls.

A particular place. Forks is a small, quiet town... there's a supermarket that sells everything, but really everything. And here too... the inevitable ice freezer, I'd really like to know who still uses it. For dinner we go to Pacific Pizza, it works a bit like Pizza Hut.... You choose the size of your pizza and what you want on top. They're always puzzled by the fact that on our pizza we always and only want tomato, cheese and ham. Observing the nearby tables we see certain combinations of flavors that would make any pizzaiolo in Italy's hair stand on end. Accommodation: Town Motel (1080 S. Forks Avenue - Forks - Tel. 360.374.6231 - WA) - $55.12 Dinner: Pacific Pizza (870 Forks Avenue - Forks - WA) - $15.60

Forks - Olympic National Forest - Emunclaw (km 404)

Uh oh uh oh.. the good weather that has accompanied us until now this morning decided to go elsewhere. A light drizzle and a November-like fog greet us when we wake up. No big deal, we're going to see the beaches anyway. Armed with rain jackets and wearing our boots so we don't get wet, we head to the beach. The trails leading to the beaches first cross this kind of forest, very dense, that with the rain it almost feels like being in the Amazon, then suddenly pop out onto the beach. The guide says to observe well the point where you come out because then you might have difficulty finding it, but huge signs like those for no-entry prohibitions are placed at the start of the trails, so, either you're a fool or you'll find your way home easily. With low tide, the sea has retreated quite a bit leaving pools here and there. We stroll a bit on the beach.

The smell of the sea, the sound of the water, the cry of the seagulls, it would all be perfect if not for Marco, who doesn't like the sea, complaining because the soles of his poor high-mountain boots are getting soaked with sand. I told him to wear sandals!!! We see quite a few anemones and starfish and I almost get a fish on my head. A seagull or a cormorant in flight drops its half-eaten fish which lands less than forty centimeters from me! After finishing the visit to the beach we resume the journey towards our next destination, Mt Rainier National Park, whose photos excited Marco quite a bit. Mount Rainier, with its 4892 meters of height is the highest peak of the North Cascades range, gives its name to the homonymous park created as the fifth park of the United States on March 2, 1899. It's a still active volcano whose last eruptions were reported in the 1800s.

Every year about 4500 mountaineers climb to its perpetually snow-covered summit, I won't be one of them.. heh heh heh The town of Enumclaw isn't that small but the city boasts only two motels, or at least these are the ones I saw and that the kind lady at the information office pointed out to me. Actually I had also gone in to ask her if she had a road map of Oregon and I came out with the map of Washington state which isn't quite the same thing, but I didn't dare tell her that I already had two in the car not to mention the ones I left at home. A visit to the information offices of small towns, in my opinion, is a must... apart from the enormous amount of material you find, the courtesy with which they welcome you and the helpfulness of these people is impressive.

Most of the time there are ladies of a certain age who, besides giving directions and brochures, also offer cookies and coffee. The motel we choose isn't bad at all, our room is on the first floor in a corner position. It's very spacious and is even equipped with a small balcony. Accommodation: King's Motel (1334 Roosevelt Avenue, Enumclaw - Tel. 360.825.7552 - WA) - $63.95

Emunclaw - Mt Rainier National Park - Greenwater (km 172)

Early wake-up and straight into the car to reach the Sunrise area in Mt Rainier National Park. It's an area that offers breathtaking views of Mount Rainier and its glaciers, and it's also the road that reaches the highest elevation of the park, so says the guide. Leaving our car in the empty, for now, Sunrise parking lot we head towards the Burroughs Mountain Trail. It's a trail 11.2 km long round trip that in about 3 hours, allows you to reach first the summit of First Burroughs characterized by a typical tundra landscape and then Second Burroughs from which it almost feels like you can touch the summit of Mount Rainier. The upper part of Mount Rainier and its glaciers is shrouded in fog and only visible at moments. In any case with a bit of patience and a lot of luck we manage to see the summit of this mountain too. It's truly majestic, Marco is fascinated and attracted by it.

We decide to have lunch on Second Burroughs like other people who arrived after us. In the distance you can see a herd of Mountain Goats grazing peacefully. In the park, the guides say, there are also bears, deer, cougars, lynxes, marmots, beavers and raccoons.. but we saw very little apart from a few deer, the usual little squirrels, a few marmots and the mountain goats. Lunch was enlivened by the company of a nice, but equally intrusive, Columbian Ground Squirrel. In fact there was more than one wandering in the area but only this one was as daring and brave. Not only did it approach people without fear, but it walked over your shoes, your legs, stopped to look at you and.... I even had to go retrieve it in my backpack. My little friend found the backpack open and slipped inside. Gently and without squeezing hard I grabbed it, I thought it would react, maybe bite me, instead..

no fear... I took it and placed it outside the backpack and it didn't flinch. After the experience with my backpack it decided to go terrorize a lady by jumping on her back.. the scene was comical.. she was screaming and her friends were trying to shoo it away with trekking poles.. heh heh heh In the end we had to share our lunch with our friend. I couldn't make the sandwiches because it wouldn't get out of the way, so I had to give it a piece of bread to keep it busy. After lunch we resume walking, the trail continues and allows you to reach another hillock from which, for a few minutes, we could see other imposing glaciers of this mountain. Accommodation: King's Motel (1334 Roosevelt Avenue, Enumclaw - Tel. 360.825.7552 - WA) - $63.95 Dinner: McDonald's - $11.37

Emunclaw - Mt Rainier NP - Morton (km 273)

We wake up and it's raining. We have to drive quite a bit to reach the southern part of the park, so, even if the weather isn't good we don't stay lounging in bed longer than necessary. In Paradise Area, our destination today, the weather is rainy and cold. And to think that for today we had planned a trail that would take us to the foot of the glacier. The fog is too low and visibility is very poor. We wander around the Paradise area all morning, visit the Narada Falls, the visitor center that tells a bit about the history of the mountain, the park and its animals. In the afternoon tired of this aimless wandering and since the rain has stopped falling we set off, like many others, to walk the short trails that branch out around the Paradise Area.We choose the Panorama Trail. At times the fog clears and allows us to see the environment around us.

Unfortunately at Panorama Point the fog dominates. On a rather steep snowfield some people are doing alpine rescue exercises, while further on a small group of novice mountaineers (you can tell from the brand-new store-fresh boots) practices arresting a fall with an ice axe. The trail in several points crosses snowfields, some people either didn't read the sign at the start of the trail or underestimated the thing since they find themselves slipping on the snow, and therefore having to turn back, since their shoes are not at all suitable for crossing these snowy stretches. Hopeful that maybe tomorrow's day might be good weather we don't want to move far from this area. We therefore look for accommodation in Ashford, a town at the southern entrance of the park, but we find nothing that suits us. I have a list of accommodations but certain places we can't even find.

In the end we fall back on Morton where the only available motel that suits us is not at all cheap. We found a cheaper motel but it was a smoking room and as soon as the door was opened the smell of smoke invaded us. Oh well.. no big deal... as a friend of ours would say... "tonight a gentleman's motel". Nothing to say about the motel, very large and very nice. The rate also includes breakfast. The lady at reception strongly recommended that we sign her guest register because, she told us, it was the first time she had Italian guests...she could have even given us a little discount.. heh heh heh heh For dinner.... Apart from a Mexican restaurant which I exclude because I don't like this type of cuisine, there's only one other place where we eat the usual hamburger with fries, the menu didn't offer much to choose from.

Accommodation and breakfast: Seasons Motel (200 Westlake Avenue - Morton - WA) - $76.79 Dinner: $10.92

Morton - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument - Longview (km 240)

We wake up and the weather hasn't improved at all. Considering that the weather wasn't much different from yesterday's we abandon the idea of returning to Mount Rainier and head towards the Mt St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. On May 18, 1980 the eruption of Mount St Helens wiped out 396 m of its summit incinerating hundreds of square kilometers of forest, killing many animals and also some people, including the owner of a lodge on the shores of Spirit Lake who had refused to leave his home and some loggers who were working in the area. To visit the area you don't quite understand what kind of permit you need, the fact is that we have to pay the ticket. There are several visitor centers, located in different areas, and each requires payment of a different ticket. All a bit in contrast with what we've seen so far.

The weather isn't good and the low fog doesn't allow us to see the volcano. We visit a visitor center where a path illustrates the history of the volcano and images document the spectacular 1980 eruption. While waiting for the rain to stop we decide to go watch the screening of two films, one on the history of the eruption and one on the situation of volcanoes in the United States, the entire west coast is, in fact, a succession of volcanoes. The two films are very interesting even if we can't help but notice the style of documentaries like 'look how good we Americans are at dominating nature'.. heh heh heh...they're not perfect either! We drive the road (Hwy 504) that takes us right to the center of the eruption area but the weather doesn't improve and the only thing we can see is the valley floor filled with lava where nature is slowly being reborn.

With binoculars Marco also sees deer grazing in a spot where the grass has already grown back. In some parts of the park, due to reforestation by man, the destructive force of the volcano is barely noticeable. The guides report that at the end of this road there's an excellent panoramic point from which you can see the lava dome inside the crater. For the night we choose a motel in Longview, a town on the banks of the Columbia River. After a quick pizza at Pizza Hut and a stop at Safeway, where the clerk wanted to make us the discount card at all costs, we return to our room where the arduous task of fitting everything into our suitcases awaits us. Lucky our room is very spacious because tonight we really need a lot of space. Accommodation: Town House Motel Longview (744 Washington Way - Longview - Tel. 360.423.7200 - WA) - $46.50

Saturday August 7, 2004 -

Longwiew - Mount St. Helens NVP - Portland (Oregon) (km 281)

If the weather had always been on our side this morning we should have gone to see Mount Hood in Oregon a few miles from Portland and instead even if today doesn't seem to be one of the best we take the Mount St Helens road again hopeful of being able to see the summit of the volcano. Indeed the day is better than yesterday's even if it can't be called beautiful, because at least we can see the slopes of this mountain but.. alas no peak. Unfortunately time is pressing so we have no choice but to take the road towards Portland airport, which is right after crossing the Columbia River where the border between the two states also passes. We leave the car at Avis where we're greeted by an employee of Romanian origin who speaks Italian better than English, a nice and kind little man.

After a last look at our car that has kept us company for three weeks we head towards the departures terminal with the awareness that our vacation is really over! The checks are always very thorough. At check-in they check passports and put the usual strip with the destinations on the luggage, but they don't take them. They must, in fact, go through another check: they are put into a device similar to the one for carry-on baggage screening. You leave the suitcases on one side and watch them pass... if the staff see unclear or doubtful things on their monitors they open the suitcase and check the contents. This is why a notice explains not to seal the suitcases before this check because if they open well otherwise they'll break the locks to open them, the notice suggests that they're not willing to be too gentle.

Once the check is completed the suitcases are arranged by the staff on special carts. If you want to close them properly, for example with a key or a padlock, you have to ask the staff to do it for you because after the check they no longer let anyone near the suitcases except their personnel. Our seats on the flight are near the window. The flight route is in this initial phase very panoramic. Those sitting on the right of the aircraft like us can admire the views from above of Mount Hood, the summit of the St Helens volcano and the nearby peak of Mount Adams (located in an Indian reserve), the majestic Mount Rainier and the peaks of the North Cascades range, while those sitting on the left will enjoy the view of the Olympic Peninsula and Seattle. We are more than satisfied with our view, we can finally see the summits of these mountains emerging from the mists.

And so this trip has also ended... I often happen to hear on the radio the notes of 'The Reason' by Hoobastank and nostalgically remember the long car journeys accompanied by the notes of this song. Now what remains are the memories, the photos, this account and everything that we will nostalgically remember of this trip and of this immense country.