After a weekend at the KOA Bozeman I took
again the road in the late morning after
having done a laundry at the laudromat of
the camp. An icy rain started to fall then
snowflakes. After about thirty kilometers
I saw in against-low road a large carpark
at the edge of the Madison River, Black's
Station. I decided to lunch and bivouac
there.
 |
 |
| Paysage Hwy #84 |
Black's Station
Ennis
Before leaving the bivouac I was like
every morning to go up on the roof of the
truck, with 3.5 meters height, to descend
the antenna HF which is used to me to send
the “position daily carryforward” with the
Airmail transport. The roof was covered
with a thick layer of ice. Barefeet and
sitted I progressed cautiously towards the
base plate of the antenna in the back of
the truck. I returned to interior by the
lantern of the shower. Tomorrow I will not
only emit the position carryforward, too
dangerous! I will wait more
mild days.
 |
 |
| Ennis, cité du
cheval? |
Virginia City
The target of the day was to visit
Virginia City, ghost town, a detour from
Ennis. Of course the city was deserted in
this season. I entered Outlaw's Café to
find me face to face with actors of
Hollywood having shouted movies in these
places. Back to Ennis I made a stop at the
library to consult my e-mail. Then I found
a bivouac, as the day before, on a carpark
for fishermen at McAtee Bridge at the edge
of the Madison River. The day was cold
with scattered snowfalls.
 |
 |
| Wallace St |
 |
 |
| Outlaw's Café |
 |
 |
| Outlaw's Café |
 |
 |
| Wallace St |
McAtee Bridge
En route
The driving day of October 24th was
carried out as a majority at +2000 meters
high in landscapes covered with a fine
film of snow. The cold was intense. In the
small hour there was -7°C under my truck
and +8°C in the home. I lunched at the
entrance of village of Island Park.
 |
| Lunch pause |
I arrived in the early afternoon at
Rexburg to go to the Visitor Information,
few booklets. Idaho is not an eminently
tourist destination. Finally I stationed
at Wal-Mart for a night after a stop in
McDo for a Wi-Fi external connection.
Rexburg
While getting up I discovered that it had
snowed all the night. On the ground the
layer reached nearly 10 cm. I leaved in
the mid-morning to go to visit the Craters
of the Moon close to Arco. Hwy #20 was
covered with snow, machines cleared the
roadway. From Idaho Falls and the Hwy #26
and especially in the desert of the south
of Idaho the landscapes were covered with
little snow.
 |
| Wal-Mart at 8 a.m. |
 |
 |
| Landscape on Hwy #26 at +1500m high |
Craters of the Moon
At the Craters of the Moon it was not the
crowd of the tourists, with-sorrow two
vehicles traversed the tour of the park.
The site is vast extended with lava flows,
with small islands of cones of ash and
sage bushes. For 15000 years, a series of
eruptions has produced cones of ashes and
several lava flows. I bivouacked at the
Park campground, I were alone, no water...
 |
| Crunchy rock, cinder on snow |
The days were followed and did not
resemble, on Friday morning the sun made a
splendid appearance. At 8 a.m. a pink
light lit the mountain magnificently. I
decided to remain to visit again the park.
I lunched on one of the carparks before
leaving because around 1 p.m. the clouds
darkened the sky and an intense cold fell
down on the site.
I found a bivouac at the junction Hwy #20
& 26.
 |
 |
| Low angle pink light on mountain at 8 a.m. |
The GPS road tacklog
From Craters of
the Moon to Hwy #15, exit #31
from 2012/10/22 au 2012/10/28
Blackfoot
All the morning of October 27th I drove in
landscapes covered with white frost or
snow at the altitude of +1500 meters. In
Blackfoot, 1440 meters, all the fields
were green. I stopped lengthily in front
of McDo to profit from Wi-Fi connection.
Then in the early afternoon I took again
the road to bivouac on a carpark at the
exit the #31. It was a driving day without
attraction.
I stayed two nights here.
