18 May -- Star Valley, Wyoming

Wyoming Road Trip

The day started out wet and stayed that way most of the day. I wasn't about to let a little bit of rain stop me.   After living in Seattle for 10+ years, I could handle rain. We picked up Brekke around 8am and headed up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake.  As we got higher up in elevation snow began mixing in with the rain.  Luckily it didn't last. We headed north along Bear Lake and met up with a large group of cyclists out racing. There were two groups:  the professionals and the regulars. They had a motorcyclist also following along who helped the traffic to get around the pack of cyclists.

We stopped in Paris, Idaho, at the site of a very old tabernacle then in Montpelier, Idaho,at the Oregon Trail museum. They had a lovely quilt display. We didn't take the time to go through the official tour.  Besides they wanted $10 per person. Maybe another time when I have budgeted for it.

Intermittent Springs AKA cold water geyser

I think it was around 11am when we arrived in Star Valley. We met Brekke's parents at the Afton Library. They wanted to show us the sites. They took us up to Intermittent Spring in Swift Creek Canyon. It is a cold water geyser. Because of the rain and the melting snow pack, it wasn't easy to see the fluctuation in the flow. The spring stops and starts it flow at several minute intervals throughout the day. It was a dirt road drive to the spot where you can hike in to the falls, an easy hike. The spring is the water source for the town.

artisan well

The fields in Star Valley are watered by artisan wells. They have to put restricters on the wells for the fields because the pressure coming out is so high. There where a couple wells that the pipe was sent veritcal and the water allowed to spew out in winter. It made a huge icicle that had a blue tinge to it. Star Valley is very beautiful, but a bit isolated by the mountains around it in winter.

By late afternoon we headed back to Logan a different way than we came. We headed toward Preston, Idaho, when we left Montpelier. We drove through a lot of forested area before getting to the farm country. We seemed to be driving away from the rain on the way back to Logan.

Trivia:  Maverik gas started in Afton and appears to still have its headquarters here.

Elkhorn Arch