Southwest Bound

Post by Henry

Before we left Montana a few weeks ago, we had several days in a row of wet and chilly weather with snow in the nearby mountains.

First Snow of the Season
September 16, 2015
West Yellowstone, Montana

We're now slowly making our way southwest and so far, we have hardly seen a cloud in the sky, with temperatures up into the mid 80's.

Our first stop was barely 100 miles south at Juniper Campground on the Ririe Reservoir outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho.  This was a nice, quiet, county run campground with full hookups.  Besides being on the reservoir, the campground is located in the middle of miles of farmland and is full of fragrant juniper trees.

Our Campsite at Juniper Campground
Ririe, Idaho

Preparing for Winter

A short walk behind our campsite was a great view overlooking the green waters of the reservoir and the hill behind it full of windmills.  This was also a great spot to soak in some beautiful sunsets that occurred during our stay.

Sunset Overlooking
Ririe Reservoir

A Closer View of Sunset
Windmills and Irrigation Equipment

After eleven (11) nights at Juniper Campground, we moved further south to the Great Salt Lake area. We spent a week at a local campground that provided good access to explore the nearby area.

Brigham City, Utah
Proud of Their Bird Refuge

We made a trip out to the Bear River Bird Migratory Refuge.  The mosquitos and insects were rather intense, so this was mostly a drive around the refuge with windows UP.

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Western Grebe
Yes, those are Mosquitos!

Snowy Egret

Rock Wren

We did some exploring in the Wasatch Mountains, where the aspens were in their full golden autumn glory.

Aspens in Fall

A Peek of Color

Next, we moved to Antelope Island State Park located right in the Great Salt Lake.  Loretta had visited here several times in the past couple of years, as her daughter's husband and family were recently stationed at nearby Hill Air Force Base.  She had always talked about spending some time here in the motorhome, and now we're doing it!  This park is quite spectacular with an amazing amount of wildlife, such as free roaming bison and pronghorns, not to mention the millions of birds that migrate through.

Antelope Island Buffalo Herd
(The Little Dark Dots)

A Closer View

The campground doesn't have any hookups, but this very well could have been the most scenic campsite on our journey so far with 360 degree views.

Camping on Antelope Island

In one direction was the Great Salt Lake. Another direction was the Wasatch Mountains, looming in the distance.  Behind us were buffalo roaming a nearby hillside.  Close up, we had Jack Rabbits and a Quail-like bird called Chukar passing through our campsite.

Great Salt Lake, Bison, and Mountains

Chukar

Jack Rabbit

Over the next few weeks, we'll continue migrating towards southern Arizona for the winter.  In between we hope to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Monument Valley, Goosenecks State Park, the Grand Canyon, as well as anything else that catches our eye.

Bonus Pic!
Hippie Horse
PEACE!