I haven’t heard enough jokes about the place from friends and family.
Exhausted from climbing the massive mountains into Wyoming, we stopped for four days in a random, off the main street BLM land in the state. Still a couple of hours to our destination of Jackson Hole, we enjoyed several isolated days. Not a single soul disturbed us, and our dogs enjoyed some much needed running in seemingly endless open fields. Mountains in view, and endless sage and grass, we sighed a breath of relief as we slowed down for a few days and just existed with nature. I wrote, played some video games, and we relaxed with no plans of doing much except leaving on Sunday.
I would like to add that I have skipped an entire post about our time in Moab, which I will get around to, but the events of Jackson Hole are too profound and fresh in my memory to not write down immediately. The quick of that is that our dogs got into a fight with an unsupervised, off leash dog. The dogs were fine, but while prying the other dog off of mine, he turned and caught my hand in his mouth. That, being in the desert, not drinking enough water, hiking and adventuring, and overall ignoring my bodies needs, I briefly passed out. We called paramedics who deemed me healthy aside from my hand that had swollen to the size of a balloon. They urged me to go to urgent care, and so we did. I have made a full recovery since.
So we headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to enjoy the Teton mountains and eventually Yellow Stone. We scaled a very massive mountain through unpaved and unmaintained narrow mud roads. We scored the first site heading up and stared out into the mountains, too caked in clouds to properly see.
Eventually the mountain we resided covered with cloud, making the environment feel very much like Silent Hill. As the sun faded away, surprisingly late, snow began to cascade down on us.
We turned on the furnace and talked about how amazing and cozy it is to experience heavy snow in a warmed home up in the mountains. We awoke in the middle of the night alarmed to see the snow had grown more intense and absolutely trapped us on the mountain. By the morning, it was a winter wonderland in mid-May.
Being so high in the mountains, it was very much worth my time to clean off the solar panels, which continued to provide lots of ample energy during the snow. So I climbed my happy ass up on to the roof with a broom and cleaned them all off. We enjoyed hot coffee and played in the snow with our girls for the day.
The snow cleared that evening, and the clouds quickly followed. And from our windows, we had the most breath taking and amazing view available.
We spent the following day exploring the mountain we were on. We walked the trail and found ourselves significantly happier with the site we had chosen, finding we had the best views and the most privacy. We enjoyed seeing wild deer running in large groups, hopping through the wooded mountain. We unfortunately didn’t get photos of them on this hike.
Towards the end, we were amazed to find a beautiful waterfall, made entirely of snow runoff from the mountain. Particularly loud and full from the recent snowfall, we stomped through the snow around it and dipped our hands and paws into the frigid waters. Izzy leaped in where it was safe, the husky in her unbothered by the sub zero temperature.
When the roads finally cleared of snow, ice, and rain, we descended in our little smart car to run our errands and take our first hike in the national park. The roads were a little torn up from off roaders shredding their way up the mountain, but we were surprised at the capability and resilience of the vehicle. We happily got our propane, groceries, and water, and headed off to Jenny lake to enjoy a long hike around it.
A beautiful and pristine lake comprising almost exclusively of the snow runoff from the mountains, we walked the circumference.
The air was very cold in the morning before the sun peeked over the mountains, and we found ourselves quickly stuffing our jackets into our packs when it came in full force. The water felt like liquid ice even after the sun had been out for several hours.
We found an off trail labeled as “moose loop” and decided we wanted to see moose and headed off towards it. We giggled as we watched rockchucks squabble like family near their burrow for a good fifteen minutes. They grabbed each other and play fought nearly five feet from us, unbothered by us silently observing them. One eventually ran past out feet to another tree across the trail from us.
(Side note: we post videos of these things and much more on our social media pages, Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to check those out!)
We followed the trail for a good two and a half miles before we decided it was taking way too far off the main trail and was absolutely not a loop, despite teh sign. Two and a half miles back, and we still didn’t see any moose, but got to see a wonderful marsh vibrant with all kinds of life. We attempted to follow a somewhat primitive trail to “complete the loop” the sign said it was, but turned around again when it became too marshy to continue.
Back on the main trail, we gasped every five minutes as new angles around the lake revealed more and more beauty for us to discover. Our destination: Inspiration point. A climb high into the base of one of the Tetons, giving a view of the entire lake. Although the hike around Jenny is all around an inspiring event in and of itself.
The highlight of this hike for me was easily hidden falls, tucked into the back of the lake at the base of the mountain. Water gushes down endlessly, providing the crystal clear mountain water provided to the lake. Crowds gathered in droves to seat themselves at the base and enjoy the cool misted environment that makes the air taste almost sweet, mixed in with the dew of the trees and minerals of the rocks. It roared loudly that it drowns the rest of the world out and leaves you with the white noise of nature.
Already inspired, we made the climb to inspiration point.
In my opinion, it’s not even the best view of the lake. Gorgeous nonetheless, we sat and enjoyed lunch and took in the views along with other people touring the lake. We descended down again and made our way to the boat dock for the ferry. Having done the extra moose loop (Which we later learned WAS indeed a loop), we had about seven miles at this point. As we made it to the base, we spotted a black bear on the trail heading away from us. No pictures, as we did not want to chase it, we stared in awe for a moment as this majestic creature indifferently trudged his way away from us, unbothered by the people standing around.
We enjoyed a short ferry trip back and a conversation with a nice couple with pictures of the bear and some moose from the trail that they shared with us. They gave us some hiking locations and told us some stories of animals interrupting their driving, much to their delight.
Exhausted, we returned to our dogs and enjoyed a quiet evening and sunset. Before the sun set, we had a friend visit us.
Unbothered by the barking dogs or even our physical presence, this doe grazed near our RV and we enjoyed just watching him in awe for just shy of an hour.
With plans to relocate the next day, we were shocked in the morning when it snowed so bad we were trapped once again. With the solar not generating nearly enough to keep us warm for that night, I braved the snowy mountain in the smart car to retrieve gas for our generator.
It was beautiful and mostly sunny in town. On the way back, the snow turned to rain, and the off roaders once again turned up the mud, making for a very stressful and entertaining drive up the mountain. We enjoyed another snow day with the girls and planned to scale the mountain the next day.
By the morning, the road was absolutely not prepared for our 15,000 pound rig. I descended less than halfway with the smart car, where I was sliding too much to feel safe with something larger, and climbed back up. We waited about four more hours in direct sunlight without rain before I checked again. Feeling like it would likely be okay, I packed most of our belongings up. I loaded the jugs of water into the smart car, and made my way all the way to the bottom. Feeling confident in the roads, I returned to the top.
“Why is there water coming out of the bottom of the smart car?” Hannah asked when I returned. It was covered in snow and the engine has been heating up, of course. I thought nothing of it. Hannah brought the five gallon jug of water into the RV to make room for the dogs, and I quickly noticed it was missing all of its contents. “Did you dump out the water?”
She did not. The smart car did, during the most recent climb. To add insult to injury, the smart car is made with a literal bath tub next to the battery. We took our water pump and emptied all of the water out. It still started, it still ran. We didn’t have time to decide as the weather remained unpromising, and we made out way down the mountain. A muddy mess with multiple switch backs, Hannah led in the smart car and I followed. Keeping the rig in first gear, we carefully and masterfully navigated the muddy switchbacks slowly and safely. Shout-out to the random lady that took the time to roll her window down and yell “f*ck you” to Hannah when she passed. Hannah tried to stop her so her off road capable vehicle could stay safely out of the rigs way.
We made it to the base of the mountain safe and sound, and Hannah led the way to another nearby BLM site not too far, Flat Creek campground. After we made it there, Hannah informed me that the smart wouldn’t go above 20 MPH, and was stuck in limp mode. We gutted the car and left it with a fan running to dry as much as we could. We enjoyed the new view while we stressed about the vehicle.
The next morning, we had more errands in town. I pieced the car back together, and found a blown fuse. Replacing the fuse allowed the car to start up appropriately and we celebrated an easy win. I threw the vehicle into reverse, moved it about five feet, back into drive and… It stopped moving. Turning it off was a mistake, because it then didn’t want to start again. Every light was illuminating. The OBD reader showed an illuminated, but blank screen.
I found another, larger, blown fuse, and replaced it. The vehicle drove again. I circled around the RV several times. We decided to drive it a little ways away. With the vehicle dry and operating, we started making our way to town. Six miles later, it stopped driving again. And then it stopped turning on. The dash lights flashed, and I checked our battery to find 11.5 volts, meaning it is as dead as they come.
The Smart can go into emergency neutral, good to move it a few blocks or get it on to a flat bed. Try and flat tow it, you will destroy the transmission. Learning from our past, we had roadside assistance, and called for a tow. We had only one currently available option Saturday of memorial weekend for repair. We called Hole Valley Automotive and explained the situation. Jay told us he could take a look and dry everything out, and replace any broken equipment. He told us he had worked on Smart Cars before. Great.
So the tow showed up two hours later and asked where it was going. He was a long time local and told us he had never heard of this mechanic before. We didn’t have much a choice, but this was our first ignored bad sign. He hauled up our smart car, and we arranged for everything to be taken care of so we could hike all the way back to our dogs.
We emptied our critical stuff from the smart car, water jugs, pump, jackets, shook the tow drivers hand, and began our lengthy walk back to our dogs. Exhausted two and a half miles in, a man in a large RAM truck stopped and offered us a ride on the back of his tailgate. He asked that we keep an eye out for badgers for him and we enjoyed a beautiful drive, more serene from the generosity of a stranger.
He dropped us off and we profusely thanked him. He offered us drinking water, which we declined because we had plenty, and he chatted about badgers with us for a moment before departing. We remain extremely grateful for the hours of time he saved us.
Devastated, we spent the night praying that the bill wouldn’t rack up too high or that major components wouldn’t be damaged. Calling the next day, having heard nothing, the owner told us it was still very wet, and pulled back the carpets to dry. The battery had completely failed and he took it upon himself without asking to replace it with a new one so he could connect his computer to scan for problems. Lots of codes appeared, consistent with water damage. He told us he might need to replace the SAM unit, which could take two weeks to arrive, but he was going to try to dry it out further and see if it would work.
So we waited another couple of days before we received another call from the owner. He was now telling us that he was incapable of ordering the part to do the repair. The vehicle is so busted that it won’t go into neutral, so it will need to be towed out of his shop. Take it to Mercedes, six hours south of here, he told us. He gave us our invoice of $800 and gave us the vehicle in the same condition we gave it to him in. I asked him to remove the $300 battery I never asked for or wanted, and he refused. With little options, we asked him to hold the vehicle until Saturday when we could have a flat bed trailer brought to us to bring it two states south.
We called around the area to see if someone would buy it from us. Nobody was interested in even scrapping it, let alone buying it from us. So we now have a lengthy and expensive plan (after paying $800 for a battery replacement) to move the vehicle somewhere where a competent, honest, and capable mechanic can take a look at it, repair it, and promptly sell it. We are interested in buying a reliable vehicle that can be repaired by a majority of mechanics with readily available parts, that does not consist of proprietary bullshit that only specialty equipment can operate on. And it needs to be capable of flat towing, and under about 3,000 pounds. Reach out if you know anything.
We are now in a beautiful forested BLM area where wildlife seems to be everywhere. The trees are thin and sway in a way that reminds me of windmills; mesmerizing. Hannah won’t stop mentioning that it is the location that Gabby Petito died, a very tragic story.
So look forward in a few weeks to the unwinding tale of our plans to get back on the road proper again.
Love the adventure? So are we despite everything that keeps happening. Buy us a coffee using the link on your screen. Want to get something for your money and support us? Check out Hannah’s art website and grab something! Proceeds help us keep up on our endless repairs, gas in the car, and food in our puppies bellies.
Moo Moo says thank you!!!
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