Western mountains trip day 1: on the road

 I’m happy to report that we have made much improvement in our road tripping skills since last summer (when I thought we might have to leave Luke at a rest stop in Indiana).

Of course, it’s also hard to compare what we did yesterday with a drive through the Midwest.  The first few hours out of town were on nice highways, few exits, light traffic, easy driving.

As the miles piled up the scenery just got prettier.  We knew we were heading towards the big big mountains, and it was exciting to start getting little glimpses of majesty.

After 3 and a half hours we turned north, off the highway and onto the, ummmmm, not highway.

It took us 4 hours to cover the remaining 160 km.  That translates to slow hard driving.  Up and up and up til we finally reached the hostel.  The road varied from potholed mud pit (above, and thank goodness this was just a short stretch of road!) to tight turns and washed out guard rails.  

We stopped for lunch on an unused stretch of road.  I know this might seem like we are picnicking in traffic, but the road ended just a few hundred feet downhill and this is much safer than it looks!  

Post-lunch and back in the car.  More ground to cover before we slept :)  Thankfully the drive was just fascinating.  Isaac's best part of the day was "watching rivers and looking for waterfalls".  For the final half hour Luke asked "How much longer" every few minutes or so.  Matt started answering him in kilometers.  "29 more kilometers"  "26 more kilometers" "24 more kilometers" and so on.  When we cracked into the single digits the excitement turned up and notch and ..... finally!  We were there!  

The hostel is in a town that straddles a river.  Right now it straddles a raging river, angry and full and roaring and spraying.  All the snow melt is headed for the Pacific Ocean.  It's got a long journey ahead, and it's in a hurry to get there!  

Our current elevation is 8490 ft and today we hiked to 10,400.  We are surrounded by unbelievable mountains and valleys and glimpses of snow capped peaks.  It's really an incredible place and we are so grateful to be here! 

Oh, I almost forgot.  We got our rooms and ate dinner at the hostel restaurant.  Guess who loves yak burgers?!?!