U.S.A. Road Trip: Red Lodge to Mount Rainier

All too quickly, we found we were onto the final leg of our US road trip, which took us from Montana, through a sliver of Idaho and on to Washington towards our final destination of Seattle.

Red Lodge

After making it across the Beartooth Pass with our lives, we camped at lower elevations near the former mining town of Red Lodge. The next day was Odessa’s birthday, and just the kind of thing she likes to do is see some animals, so after a quick American breakfast at Prindy’s Place diner, we headed off to Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary who work to rescue, rehabilitate or provide longterm homes for native animals including grizzlies, bison, coyote and birds. A particular favourite were the racoons, with a fascinating talk from the keepers about these intelligent trouble makers.

From Red Lodge, we drove north to join the I90, the longest interstate highway in the USA which we last saw around Portage, Indiana. Between Billings and Bozeman, we followed part of the path of pioneering Americans Lewis and Clark across the Bozeman pass in 1806, and then over the continental divide over the Homestake Pass in the Rocky Mountains, a little to the east of Butte.

Butte – the mining centre of the world

Disappointingly, we discovered Butte is pronounced ‘Beaut’, like an Aussie adjective. Once the largest city in the Rocky Mountains and dubbed the ‘richest hill in the world’, it has a long history around its success as a mining town in an extraordinarily rich area of gold, silver and most dramatically copper. The copper mining resulting in a huge mountainside scar of the most productive open cast copper mine in the world; Berkeley pit, in operation between 1955 and 1982. The pit is now filled with a lake of water so contaminated no one is quite sure what to do with it. There’s still some mining in town, these days they’ve moved on to molybdenum. Butte is clearly not the town it once was and the population, at 34,000 is less than half its peak. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it has real history with some beautiful heritage buildings in the centre and mining towers littering the hillsides all around. Overall, we really enjoyed Butte. The site of an old mine named Orphan Girl on a hill above the town hosts the boldly titled World Museum of Mining.

Here there are fascinating displays on the history of mining in the area, including the still intact 100 foot tall head frame and hoist house from the mine. A particular highlight was the vast rock and ore collection on display, and we found the memorial to those who lost their lives to the dangerous occupation of mining in the area fascinating and poignant. There’s also a recreated mining town, ‘Hell Roarin’ Gulch’ which is made up of historic buildings relocated to the site and modern recreations to conjure up the essence of the mining town that existed in Butte in the late 19th century. While walking about Hell Roarin’ Gulch was a lot of fun, we couldn’t help but feel an opportunity had been missed- couldn’t there have been an old style bar in the saloon building, or the offer of tea and cakes in the tea room? Maybe even the sale of pickled cabbage in the faithfully recreated sauerkraut factory?

Coeur d’Alene

Our second trip through Idaho was no less impressive than the first (you’ll remember the ‘Scenic Idaho, Famous Potatoes’ numberplate boast from Idaho). We stayed on the edge of the delightful Coeur d’Alene National Forest at Camp Coeur d’Alene, a beautiful campsite between forest and lake made even more perfect by the free water sports and kids activities, gorgeous hiking trails, forests in which to build a den and, most awesome of all, free firewood. Everyone should have access to s’mores.

The Columbia River views north of wild horse

The drive from Coeur d’Alene to Yakima was largely uneventful save for the opportunity to stop for a few moments at a magnificent viewpoint over the Columbia River. As well as the stunning views you can gaze on the petrified gingko forests in the State Park on the far bank. There are more than 30 species of tree found petrified here, including the exceptionally rare gingkos. Petrified wood is even the official state gem of Washington- even though it’s a fossil, not a gemstone, but we won’t quibble about that.

Yakima river canyon

The Yakima river winds its way through rolling hills and dramatic basalt cliffs between Ellenburg and Yakima. There’s a more direct highway between the two towns, but the winding 821 follows the route of the river and is littered with campsites and places to set up for a day of adventuring on the river, popular for fishing or just bobbing down the current in an inflatable. Camping here was also a steal at $8 a night, half the standard price with our trusty America the Beautiful National Parks pass.

After setting up camp, the kids spotted an opportunity for larking about on the muddy shoreline. It was only after the exhilaration had subsided that Rafe and Odessa realised they now faced a good wash in those same somewhat chilly waters, as the campsite has no running water which was not a welcome prospect. Fortunately, their antics and washing peril had been spotted by an amused family luxuriating around a nearby RV, who offered the use of their heated external shower for a rinse off – bliss!

Mount Rainier National Park

Yakima is around 70 miles east of Mount Rainier, our sixth National Park on the road trip. First, we had to cross the White Pass Scenic byway with views over Rimrock Lake, Clear Creek Falls, and our first glimpse of Mount Rainier, part shrouded in cloud from Goat Rocks lookout.

The mountain is a Washington icon, commemorated on the state licence plates. It’s visible from Victoria in British Columbia, over 300 miles away on a clear day. Unfortunately as it’s always raining in Washington, there aren’t too many of those. The mountain is a stratovolcano, the tallest mountain in the Cascades, the highest in Washington and the fifth tallest in the contiguous United States. The locals pronounce it Ray-NEER.

Mount Rainier’s showcase visitor area is at Paradise, about 20 miles into the park at an elevation of 1646m. The National Park Service claim that Paradise is the snowiest place on earth where snowfall is regularly measured, which is believable seeing how darn rainy the cascades are. The trails were still thick with snow in mid June, but we boldly set out on the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point, offering views of the Nisqually Glacier, and up to the peak of the volcano. We were in the ‘medium prepared’ category of visitors. Some were attempting the hike in shiny white adidas while others had hiking poles and crampons. As with any activity which involves snow, there were some snowball fights/ ambushes along the trail.

We set up our tent a little down the mountain at Cougar Rock Campground, which at this time was below the snow level, and all the paths around here were snow free. We hiked up to the impressive Narada falls, getting a little splashed from the force of the water at the lower viewing point. Cougar Rock campground is situated along the Nisqually river and set amongst huge old growth western hemlocks, cedar and Douglas fir trees, with views up to the top of the mountain. It made the perfect setting for one last campfire and dinner cooked over the flames.

From Cougar Rock, we were only 100 miles from Seattle, the final leg of our three weeks driving coast to coast. By the end, we had clocked up 4170 miles across 16 states and a brief sojourn into Canada. Our $50 Walmart tent kept us cosy and warm, despite a couple of thunderstorms. Odessa lost two teeth, turned seven and got an enormous free birthday slice of chocolate cake at her favourite US restaurant, Olive Garden. We discovered the largest flagpoles and US flags are outside RV dealerships, and found there really is a lot of the USA between the two coasts.