A Breakdown Going to Yellowstone

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Our next destination is Yellowstone National Park. We intend to explore the park from two different stops. First we’ll stay 11 nights at Rainbow Point Forest Service Campground near West Yellowstone Montana on the west side of the park. Followed by 13 nights on the north side of the park in Gardiner Montana. The drive from Kalispell to West Yellowstone is about 400 miles so we had a couple options to boondock for a night about halfway along the route. We had a pretty day for a drive and head south along US-93 on the western side of Flathead Lake. We find a place to pull over for lunch in the small town of Pablo.

After lunch we continue south and had only driven another 20 miles when I heard a ding. I look at the display on the dash and see a low coolant warning message. Now this wasn’t the first time we have had this warning. In the past couple of months, it had happened 3 times. Twice while we were either in a campground or rest stop and once while we were driving into Custer South Dakota. I knew that this would produce a check engine warning and the computer would turn off the engine after 60 to 90 seconds. The logic being that it would not allow the engine to continue running with low coolant. Probably a valid concern except by this point I know our coolant level is fine but that doesn’t matter to the computer. We immediately start to look for some place big enough for us to safely pull over before we shut down. We were just passing through the town of St Ignatius and I could see up ahead on the left a big gravel lot used to display sheds and small barns. It looked like the entrance was a few hundred feet off of a side road from the main route. I wasn’t able to see if there was a gate or other type of barricade at the entrance but knew I didn’t have much choice other than to give it a shot. Fortunately the lot was wide open and there was plenty of room to get situated just as the engine shut down.

The past times this has happened, I have overcome the issue three different ways. The first time was simple, I restarted the engine and the errors cleared. The second time was while driving to Custer. In that case I determined that the coolant level was perhaps a cup or two low. I drove all over Rapid City trying to find the proper coolant and a couple hours later, returned to add a quart and it started up and the errors cleared. I had hoped that the coolant issues were resolved after that problem. But just over three weeks and 740 miles later it happened once more. That occurrence happened in a rest area parking lot we had stopped at for lunch. I disconnected the harness to the coolant sensor and waited a minute before plugging it back in which eliminated the error codes that third time.

At least we managed to get into a very safe spot to try to get going again. I tried all my tricks but this time nothing seemed to be working. Being late on a Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t optimistic about getting this resolved before dark. We called a service number for our Freightliner chassis but the best they could do was assume it was one of two components that was intermittently failing: the coolant sensor or the sending unit just downstream of the sensor. A call to our towing service didn’t seem to get us much further. They would tow us to the nearest service facility that could get us in but since it was late Sunday, they couldn’t confirm the Freightliner service center in Missoula would be able to get us in. The other option was to tow us to a campground or Walmart parking lot for the night and then confirm where they would tow us the following morning. Since we were in just about the perfect spot to spend the night already, we told them we would stay put and check back in the morning. I tried calling the number listed on one of the sheds to let the owner of the lot know we were stuck in their lot for the night, but couldn’t get an answer. We settled in for what was a reasonably quiet night except for a few people stopping by to check out sheds before sunset.

The next morning we got a call from our towing service saying that the place in Missoula should be able to get us in and they were sending a tow truck. Of course it was after lunch before it arrived. I was expecting a big heavy duty tow truck but instead a semi with a flatbed trailer pulled in next to us. I explained the situation to him about how the engine will shut off after a minute or so and we came up with a plan to drive the rig onto the flatbed. We used his truck to air up our suspension so we didn’t need to waste our limited running time to just get the airbags inflated. We figure it makes more sense for me to drive the motorhome while he directs me. The trailer is only a few inches wider than the width of the rig, so there isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room. Besides needing to drive up the ramp, the front tires of the motorhome need to be positioned in between two of the axles on his trailer which means I need to drive up and over the exposed tires on the trailer.

I start the rig up with my warning messages still going and back the rig up to line it up with the trailer. Calling the trailer a flatbed is a bit of a misnomer. Fortunately the initial ramps are nice and shallow so it isn’t too bad for the first 20 feet or so. The truck driver was good at giving hand signals and would run to one side or another to make sure the rear end was doing okay as we went. When we got to the point where I needed to drive up and over two of the trailer axles, I was rather nervous. The incline was probably 4 or 5 inches high but rather steep, so I needed to give a fair amount of throttle to get up but then needed to quickly stop. Let’s just say, I wouldn’t want to do this all the time but we got it positioned to his satisfaction. Getting out of the rig wasn’t too easy since the bottom of the door is about 4 feet above the ground. It took him awhile to strap the rig down and then reattach the trailer to the semi.

The Dutch Star on a Flatbed

Our Spot at Miller Barns in St Ignatius MT

Having never ridden in a semi before, I asked if I could ride with him while Chris followed in the Jeep. Most of the drive is downhill from St Ignatius to Missoula and with our 34,000 pounds on top of his truck, we likely weighed in at a pretty high number. We have all heard the jake brake of a semi and find it rather loud. Let’s just say it’s many times worse sitting in the cab of the truck. Along the way, the driver told me about some of the attractions in the area. I hoped we wouldn’t be here long enough to need attractions but it was nice that he shared his knowledge. As we approached Interstate 90, he wasn’t positive if we would clear the one underpass we would go thru so he opted to pull into a truck stop and turn around so our approach would avoid the bridge altogether. We got into the the crowded parking lot at I-State Truck Center and unloaded. I had turned on my dash cam before we started all this so I managed to get an interesting view of the complete process. I cut out the time it took to strap the rig down and sped up the video 16 times during the loading and unloading and 64 times for the drive into Missoula. I think it’s an interesting video.

Lots of Gauges, Knobs and Switches

Of course, in the process of getting the rig to the service center, the error codes had cleared and it was running just fine. Based on past experiences, we likely could have driven away and not had another issue for a couple months and a several hundred miles but we figured we needed to get this resolved and we are sitting in a Freightliner service lot. The service guy came out to get the info from the rig and hoped he might get it in yet this afternoon. We ran out for lunch and a couple geocaches only to return with no progress on the rig. Rather than sitting in the parking lot right next to the service bays, we drove a couple hundred feet down the dead end street and set up “camp” then walked down two blocks to Big Sky Brewery. They don’t serve food here but the beer was good and we had no other plans. We figured we could handle a few beers and still walk back home just down the street.

The next morning, we went back in to just make sure the service guy knew we were waiting. He expected to get the rig in later in the morning or early afternoon. We took that as a sign we could safely head out and explore. The input I got from the semi truck driver about things to do in the area came in handy. We first headed to the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center. Besides having a small building with all sorts of displays to check out, the give 45 minute tours multiple times a day. The complex is rather large with lots of other buildings. The tour gets you access to other buildings in the complex and should be considered a must do if you take the time to stop here.

Display in Smokejumper Visitor Center

Typical Smokejumper Suit and Gear

One of the rooms has a dozen industrial sewing machines. Turns out that many of the smokejumpers construct their own clothing to meet their wants and desires. Another really tall room is where the parachutes can be hoisted while waiting to be mended. There was room for nearly 100 parachutes. Another room housed multiple long wooden tables used to inspect, repair and fold parachutes.

Sewing Room

Parachute Storage

Long Tables

When a team is called out to a fire, they not only need to have all their personal gear read to go but also all the gear they might need. One large room has racks full of boxed gear ready to go - including the small parachutes used to get them safely to the ground. The whole process sounds rather fascinating. The room with all the personal lockers has everyone’s gear ready to go at a moments notice. Our tour guide hasn’t been giving a tour when the alarm sounds, but it apparently has happened. If so, get out of the way! We ended up heading outside to see the plane they use to transport the smoke jumpers and gear to a fire. This crew typically works on fires in the immediate area but do get called to more distant fires that require multiple stops to refuel the plane. Once the tour was over, we explored the museum a bit more before checking out a few of the outdoor displays including an actual fire lookout building from 1937. Our total time spent here was between 1.5 and 2 hours and well worth the stop.

Additional Fire Fighting Gear Ready to Go

Smokejumpers Personal Lockers

A Perfectly Good Plane to Jump Out Of!

Smokejumper Mural

80+ Year Old Fire Lookout

The next stop was near the town of Arlee. The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas sounded just eclectic enough for us to make the drive there. It’s only about a 30 minute drive so if it turned out to be a bust, we hadn’t wasted much drive time. This place is sort of like a park and open to the general public regardless of religious beliefs. I doubt we comprehended more than a few percent of the symbolism represented here but we still found it interesting to wander thru and just admire all the beauty. The main feature of the garden is a large circular walkway with a diameter of 425 feet. In the center of the circle is a large and colorful statue of Yum Chenmo or Great Mother Goddess. Radiating from the center hub are eight spokes out to the main walking circle.

Entrance to Garden of 1000 Buddhas

Central Statue

Closeup of Yum Chenmo

All along the eight spokes and the outer wall are Buddhas. We didn’t attempt to count them (even though that might be expected of us!) but based on the name, I’m going to guess there are 1000 of these hand cast statues. The majority of them have a plaque beneath them that name the sponsor of that particular Buddha. There is a small pond and several other larger statues scattered around the grounds. It was an interesting stop and worthy of the nearly 45 minutes we spent there.

Looking Down One of the Spokes

Small Meditation Pond

Happy Looking Statue

When we got back to the shop, the motorhome was in one of the service bays so we stayed out in the waiting room. The technician was able to determine that this issue had happened three times before this one. I told him that was the case. But since there currently are no symptoms, he wasn’t able to really diagnose the root cause. We discussed what the likely problems would be and agreed there were really only two parts that may be intermittently bad. I asked him to change out those two parts just to be safe. Of course he came back a few minutes later and said they only had one of the parts in inventory but could overnight ship the other one. So I guess we get to spend one more nite in Missoula. He moved our rig back to our “camping spot” and we headed out for dinner.

This time we went to another brewery in town of which there are a lot of. Highlander Beer was rated pretty well and has a food menu. It’s a nice place with both indoor and outdoor seating. There is even access to a small creek that runs next to the property and quite a few people were out walking in the water. We headed to the Airstream trailer converted into a taco trailer and put in an order for tacos and some beer, then found a place to relax and eat. When we got back to the rig, we noticed the street parking was a bit more crowded. It turns out that Big Sky Brewery just up the street has a large outdoor stage for concerts and tonight was a concert night. While the main act was somebody we had heard of, it wasn’t really someone we cared to see. Marilyn Manson just isn’t our kind of band. As the start of the concert drew close, the street parking filled up. Once I could hear the music going - we are only about 1200 feet from the stage - I walked up to the chain link fence and watched about one song before I realized I had heard enough.

The next day, we knew we had at least until 11 AM or so before the coolant sensor would arrive so we headed over to a nearby RV dealer. We really want to head up to Alaska one of these summers but have thought that it would be a lot more fun if we were more nimble than a 38 foot class A motorhome towing a Jeep. Chris had asked if it might make sense to buy a small travel trailer that the Jeep can tow and use that as our Alaska exploration home for the 4 months or so we would be up there.

It was an intriguing idea so we headed to Bretz RV & Marine to see what they might have with that idea in mind. We nabbed a salesperson and explained what we were thinking of doing. He took us out to look at a few of the trailers that might fit the bill. We were impressed with the Airstream Nest. It isn’t the classic aluminum construction that Airstream is famous for but instead a two piece fiberglass shell. The interior construction was rather impressive although it is a tad on the expensive side at around $40,000. After the salesperson went to work with another customer, we explored a few more of the smaller travel trailers and were impressed with the Liberty Outdoors Little Guy Max which sells for $30,000 but had many nice features. We didn’t buy a trailer but did get our tank for the grill refilled with 99 cent propane! After lunch, we headed back and found that the part had arrived and was being installed. The paperwork eventually caught up with the service guy and we were able to get on the road. We made one last return trip to Bretz RV on the way out of town to use their free dump station. Then we hop on I-90 and head east. 

Once we realized we were going to be stuck in Missoula for a few days and would be late for our reservation at Rainbow Point, we had moved out our arrival date 3 nights hoping that would be about right. As luck would have it, that was the right number. We still had nearly 300 miles to go before getting there. Since we weren’t sure what time of day we would get out of the service center, we had several overnight boondocking options picked out and would pick the one that felt right. We made it through Butte Montana and just as we were crossing the Continental Divide at Homestake Pass, we exited to spend the night. I don’t think we have camped at over 6000 feet in elevation so this would be a first for us. There is a large gravel parking area just to the north of the interstate where in theory, overnight parking is permitted. There was one old Airstream trailer sitting at one end of the lot so we scoped out a spot on the opposite side. A lot of people come to this area with their ATVs to ride on many of the nearby trails but coming in near sunset, it was a quiet night with only an occasional car passing by on the road. 

Our Spot at Homestake Pass

The next morning, we got up and wandered around some of the nearby trails to check out the lake and get a couple of geocaches. Then it was back on the road. On the outskirts of the town of Three Forks is a really good bakery - Wheat Montana Farms. The parking lot was plenty large enough to fit our rig and a few others that must have heard about how good the breads and pastries were. I checked to see if there were any nearby geocaches while Chris went in to get some goodies. Turned out, a new cache had just been published the day before and nobody had logged it online yet. I headed over to see if I could find it and sure enough, I was the First To Find. We aren’t big FTF cachers. We know some people will set up their phones to get notifications of newly published caches and then head out at any time of the day or night to see if they can be FTF. I guess we prefer to just stumble upon them. In the town of Belgrade, we make the turn to head south on MT-85 to US-191 to head into West Yellowstone. We stopped for fuel at the Flying J and as we ate lunch, I realized the clouds heading our way look threatening, so the bikes come off the rear rack and get stored safely in the Jeep for the rest of the drive. It was a pretty drive along Gallatin River. There were numerous whitewater rafts heading down the river even though the rains had started, but by the time we got closer to our destination the rain had stopped and it was a nice day again. About five miles before our turn for the campground, we saw vehicles ahead slowing down dramatically. As we got closer, we saw the reason. A large bison was walking down the road towards us and people we giving him the space he deserved as they passed by. Not quite like the bison jams we saw in Custer State Park but interesting nonetheless. Here’s the dash cam video from our passing.

Homestake Lake

Rainbow Point Campground is a little over 5 miles off the main road. The first 3 miles or so wasn’t a great road but was manageable. The last 2 miles was a very rough and dusty road. It took a while to get all the way back to the campground. It was pretty typical for a forest service campground with the exception the sites had electric, and 50 amp at that! The campground is near the southeastern arm of Hebgen Lake. While nice here, the water did seem to make this place terrible for mosquitoes. It’s about 11 miles to the entrance to the National Park but we do find it easier to drive the Jeep over the 5 miles of dirt road than the motorhome. 

Our first full day brought us to Yellowstone. We quickly discover that the West Yellowstone entrance gets very busy. Even with several lanes, it can take 10 or 15 minutes to get in. Knowing we will be on the north end of the park for our next stop, we will try to get in all the sights most easily accessed from the west entrance. The first place is the place nearly everybody heads to - Old Faithful. Before I forget, I must mention that YNP has a wonderful free app available. It has all sorts of information about places to see, trails, parking areas and much more. Two of the better features are: 1) it provides the estimated eruption time for several of the predictable geysers; 2) you can download the information and maps when you have WiFi or cell service so that the maps still work in the app when you’re in the middle of the park with a “No Service” message on your phone. It became a must use app for our visit at YNP.

We’ve been to YNP before. Of course that was back in 1984, right after graduating from college and before we started to work full time. Thirty five years ago is a long time and I don’t remember much from the trip other than seeing Old Faithful. The parking area here is huge. It doesn’t seem likely that it would ever fill up but who knows. From the app, we knew we were arriving just before the expected eruption time. There was a big crowd this morning but not nearly as big as we would see later in the day. It was initially just doing a lot of steaming but it eventually blew. It is quite impressive and did draw a big response from the crowd of people. 

Old Faithful Thinking about Erupting

Old Faithful

Next we headed over to the very new looking visitor center. It opened in 2010 so it is fairly new. We took in most of the displays to try to get an idea of what all we must do while we are here. Just a few hundred feet away is Old Faithful Lodge. Since this was opened in 1904, I know it was there for our first visit to the park. Even though the building is beautiful and large, I honestly don’t really remember it from that first trip. I find that odd since it is such a striking building with all sorts of interesting features. Even though the outside has all sorts of rooflines and gables, it’s the inside of the lodge that is the most impressive. There is a massive 85 foot stone fireplace with a large pendulum clock hanging on the one side. All the structural members are logs. Even the braces between the horizontal and vertical members are interestingly shaped logs. We spent a great deal of time exploring the different floors of the building to see how it looks from all angles. Another set of stairs leads up to the Crow’s Nest but alas, structural concerns now prevent visitors from going up to the highest level. A second story deck extends out from the building with a view of Old Faithful. There are lots of seats and I suspect it fills up as the next eruption time approaches.

Old Faithful Visitor Center

Old Faithful Lodge

Inside with Fireplace and Clock

Unique Timber Construction

Mission Style Furniture

Even Outside Braces are Creative

View from Deck

Looking Up at Crow's Nest

There is a long network of boardwalks and a bike path that leads to many of the other geysers, pools and springs that are in this section of the park. We find ourselves slowly walking around the area and checking out all the various thermal features. There is such a variety of things to watch. The colors of some of the features are quite beautiful. Different types of heat loving bacteria thrive in the runoff of the springs and geysers. Often the different types have different colors so there is often a mosaic of colors that tend to follow the different water temperatures. 

Overlooking the Geyser Basin at Old Faithful

Colorful Bacteria in the Hot Water Runoff

Mesmerizing Pool

Old Faithful Goes Again

We take one of the few “real” trails (not boardwalk) in the area. The trail to Solitary Geyser is a 1.6 mile loop with just under 200 feet of elevation. The extra elevation does allow for some very spectacular views of the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. Solitary Geyser has an interesting history to it. Prior to 1915, it was a spring. But at that time, they decided to stick a pipe into the spring and draw out the hot water to be used in a pool. After the water level was decreased by 3 feet, the former spring started to erupt every few minutes. Now, over a hundred years later, Solitary Geyser erupts every 5 to 7 minutes. The eruptions aren’t very high - maybe 4 to 6 feet or so. And there isn’t a lot of warning of one coming. So we found ourselves staying for a couple of eruptions just to try to get a picture or two. We felt it was worth the effort to get there.

Viewpoint on way to Solitary Geyser

Solitary Geyser Erupts

Solitary Geyser from Different Perspective

Pretty Flower Along Trail

Back down on the crowded boardwalk area, we continued our tour of the features. Just about all of them have names but I wasn’t good with keeping track of which picture is which name. Some of the older geysers have cones around them. The cone is developed when the hot water with dissolved mineral lands and the water evaporates leaving the minerals to slowly build up over time. Every now and then, we would catch a glimpse of Old Faithful erupting. Hard to believe but we spent over six and a half hours just exploring this small area of the park. At this rate, we will need to spend several months to see all of YNP!

This one Boils but Doesn't Erupt

Reflections in Pool

Morning Glory Pool

Grand Geyser Erupts