We used Firehole Canyon Campground on Flaming Gorge Reservoir as an overnight stop en route from Fort Collins to Grand Teton. We talked about staying in the KOA at Rock Springs, but as soon as we saw it from the freeway, we knew that wasn’t happening. Going farther turned out to be such a good choice. The landscape around us harkened back to the southwest… bands of color, rock spires and quiet. That night, we reveled in the cool fresh air, sleeping with the ramp door down. We were awakened in the middle of the night by the haunting sounds of a chorus of coyotes not too far in the distance. From what we’ve read, the southern end of the gorge is the more beautiful, but that wasn’t in our travel plans.

If we had it to do over again, we’d have taken more time to get to Grand Teton. We saw a couple of BLM campgrounds south of Jackson, right along the banks of the Snake River that looked very inviting but we felt time pressure so we didn’t stop. Entering Jackson from the south, we were impressed that diesel was posted at $4.39, comparable to what we had seen earlier in the day. Perhaps here, they weren’t so interested in gouging the visitors to the National Parks. We were disabused of that notion as we reached the north side of town, and found it at $4.69 and later, within the park at $4.96 (I think that’s the highest we’ve seen since Death Valley’s record $5.33!)

We found the campgrounds at Grand Teton less than inspired, but the beauty of the lake, the surrounding mountain vistas, the wildflowers still in bloom in late August and the stunning scenery more than made up for it. We camped in Colter Bay campground, a short walk from Jackson Lake. The water was clear and beautiful, and surprisingly not too cold. It was a treat to walk along the lakeshore, throwing sticks into the lake for Noche to retrieve and enjoy the multi-colored rocks shining just below the surface. They reminded us of the rocks we used to build the wall on Fern Flat. Hiking at this higher elevation was a bit of a challenge, but fortunately we chose a trail that was not overly strenuous and had enough birds that we hadn’t seen before to justify stopping frequently in order to identify them. We thought it looked like great moose habitat, but apparently the moose had other ideas, because we didn’t see any. Our last morning there, the wind had picked up significantly and the character of the lake had changed dramatically. Instead of the placid view we had enjoyed, now the surface was covered with whitecaps and the wind howled through the tops of the trees like a freight train. Time to move on to Yellowstone.

It rained and it rained some more, and it began to look like the Folks Festival was going to be a bust. But we dug out our rain gear and warmer clothes and walked to the festival grounds (about 15 minutes from where we were parked) to check out the scene. Once we arrived, we knew that we wanted to be there. Jim, Beanie, Macy and her boyfriend Cody met us there for a late afternoon and evening of good music. The sound quality at Planet Bluegrass made Greg Brown sound as good as we always wanted him to when we heard him in Santa Cruz County.

A side note about our wonderful hosts. Brian and Liz Erley are a wonderful, fun-loving, generous couple that we had the good fortune of meeting while camped with Mike and Westi outside Zion early on in our Journey. They live in Lyons and run an optical shop in Boulder called Wink. They opened their home to us and welcomed us as if we were family. A full post could easily have been dedicated just to their beautiful landscaping and whimsical and charming lawn art. The life-size abstract metal burro really upset Dottie!

After Sunday breakfast with Brian and Liz, we made our way to Fort Collins, setting up on the curb in front of Jim and Beanie’s. Little Feat was playing a concert at the New West Festival downtown, so we all walked down to listen (and enjoy a margarita). Braden came up from Denver to join us. Monday, Braden and Macy took us up to the site of the infamous April Fool’s tragedy of 2004, when their home burned as a result of a neighbor’s backyard-burn-gone-bad. It was the first time Macy had seen it since the fire. Over the course of the next 5 days, we fell in love with Fort Collins, at least “Old Town”, the section of town where we stayed. Walking distance to downtown, biking distance to most everything else and the most bike-friendly, dog-friendly place we have ever been. Fort Collins City government, as well as the community, seem to have truly embraced bicycling as an alternative transportation option. The City has a dedicated staff position (bicycle coordinator), there are bike paths, in addition to bike lanes and even a bicycle library (where anyone with a valid ID and a credit card can check out a bike and accessories for free). On Jim and Beanie’s street, it seemed as if as many bikes went by as cars. When Braden’s friends came by to pick him up to check out the bars, they showed up on bikes! Did I mention dog-friendly? The city has two off leash parks, and for a community just under 130,000, that’s pretty good. The city has an annual event, the Pooch Plunge, which we were lucky enough to attend. The last two days of the season, the pool at City Park goes to the dogs, literally! Somewhere between 100 and 200 dogs swimming, using the slides, fetching toys, and generally frolicking together! Noche and Zoe (the cutest ever Doberman!) had a great time, not to mention how much fun it was for Laura and Beanie. (Laura couldn’t watch dogs and handle a camera simultaneously so we don’t have photos but you can watch video of 2006 and 2007 Pooch Plunges.)

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves visiting with Jim and Beanie, getting a glimpse into their lives, seeing Macy growing into a lovely young woman, and hanging out in their neighborhood, where everybody seems to know everybody, and people are warm and friendly. We supported Fort Collins local economy too. We were able to find a number of products that we’d been looking for along the way: a specialty replacement lock for the bike rack, a wind screen for the campstove and new navigational software, as well as stocking up at Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) before leaving town.

We stayed a couple of days longer than originally planned in order to repair the damage to the rack holding the solar array. The replacement parts were originally sent to the wrong address, so it took an extra day for them to come, and by the time they did arrive, it was really too late in the day to make sense pulling out. Oh well, another night with the Grieser’s, and a yummy breakfast compliments of Jim, made the delay a welcome one.