Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Pelicans on the Snake River at American Falls and Soda Springs, Idaho, September 26th to 29th.

After our morning bike ride we pack up our bikes and leave Craters of the Moon before noon. We’re heading to Pocatello through southeast Idaho. We camp at the BLM Pipeline Campground on the Snake River below American Falls Reservoir and are rewarded with an afternoon of entertaining bird watching.

From our camp we can see several hundred Double-crested Cormorants roosting on the suspension cables of a pipeline that crosses the river. They’re adept at griping the cable with their webbed feet as they space themselves out facing into the wind. Occasionally an incoming bird will try to displace a perched bird and a scuffle ensues. Sometimes the incoming bird wins forcing the other off the cable and sometimes not, being forced away to go elsewhere and scuffle with another bird. There’s always excitement somewhere along the cables as birds change positions.

Double-crested Cormorants perch on the pipeline cables facing into the wind. 

More Cormorants fly in to find a perch.

We see White Pelicans standing on a dike of exposed rock about a quarter mile downriver. In the morning they’ve come up stream to fish near our camp. When they fly they’re really impressive with a wing span of 108 inches, about the size of a California Condor, compare that with a Golden Eagle wing span of 80 inches. They’re beautiful and stately as they paddle past us in the river current.

A flotilla of White Pelicans paddles past our camp site at the BLM Pipeline Campground
with Canada Geese in the background.

Pelicans as graceful and beautiful as Swans.

We head south from Pocatello on Interstate 15 and take Highway 30 to Soda Springs. This natural spring was developed into a park with an encircling boardwalk. The natural carbonated geyser erupts hourly to release pressure in the spring.

Soda Spring.

Looking much like Old Faithful, the Soda Spring erupts every hour.

Colorful Soda Spring terrace.

Water flow across the terrace from the eruption.

Water and terrace create a natural abstract work of art.

We have a few days to spend before going to Moab, Utah so we wander the mountainous country side in the least populated part of eastern Idaho. From Soda Springs we drive north on Highway 34 across the Caribou Range. Fall colors brighten the slopes and we know it’s time to keep moving south. We’ll spend another night camped at a forest service campground near Montpelier and then head for Utah.

Driving through the Caribou Mountains.

Fall colors are catching up with us and it's time to keep moving south.

The next few days bring heavy rains as we drive on to Vernal, Utah to camp at one of our favorite campgrounds, Green River Campground in Dinosaur National Monument.

Heavy rains catch up with us at Vernal.

Green River Campground in Dinosaur National Monument.

After the rain the sun illuminates the cliffs along the Green River near our campsite.

Remnants of rain clouds hug the colorful uplift along the Green River.

We hike the trail along the river and look down on the Green River Campground in the cottonwoods in the middle of the photo. Is it any wonder that this is one of our favorite campgrounds?

The rain continues as we head south the next day. We drive from Vernal into Colorado on US 40 and take a scenic drive through the mesa country on Highway 64 along the White River. At Meeker we take Highway 13 to Rifle, CO on US 6 and then on to Grand Junction. We camp the night at James M. Robb Colorado State Park near Fruita, CO below of the cliffs of the Colorado National Monument.

A plaque for a sculpture in a city park in Rifle, CO.

"Over the Rainbow" a whimsical sculpture celebrating very large fish.

Tomorrow we go to Moab, UT to spend most of October visiting Canyon Lands, Arches National Monument and canyoneering with our friends.

Join us next time for fun times in Moab.
Jackie