Fall Photography in the National Parks - Day 1 & 2

September 12th & 13th, 2025

I don’t seem to be able to leave my home base in Chilliwack before lunchtime, ever.
Even this time, I left Chilliwack, BC at about 2 PM, after emptying the RV tanks at the city facility (no, it’s not free. It costs 10$).
Although the RV is pretty much complete and all the quirks have been fixed, it still took me a while before I was ready to leave.
Eventually, I was on the highway.

The plan for this trip is to get to Grand Teton National Park as soon as possible, and then slowly come up through Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP and then back to Canada, going through Banff NP and Jasper NP.
I don’t usually manage to do all the parks in one go, but this year I will.

I really like the drive through Highway 3, the Crowsnest; it is very scenic and features beautiful colours, especially this time of year, when the fall colours start to take over.
I thought about stopping in Manning Park for the night, but I decided to drive further instead, and I stopped in Osoyoos.

Every time I go to the US, I end up crossing the border in a different city; this time, it was Midway, BC. It didn’t take me much to get there; in fact, I was there at 8 AM, and there was nobody else. I waited for the opening time at 9 AM.
The border officer signalled me to move on. They are often angry and harsh. By now, I am used to it, and it doesn’t bother me anymore.
He asked me where I was going, if I was alone, how long I would stay in the US, and when I had last been there.
He also asked me to open the RV door, check inside to see if there was anybody else, and finally asked me what that big white bag was that was on the ground. It is my 'Mariner 3 inflatable boat, I said. “I use it to take pictures on the lakes”. “Have a good day”, he said, and he let me go.
And there I was, once again, in the United States of America.

To reach Grand Teton NP, it takes a lot of highway driving, so I made a point to drive the whole next day, which I did.
I decided to take a slight detour, though, to go around Coeur d’Alene Lake. I am glad I did.

The beautiful road coasting the Coeur D'Alene Lake

It was a fantastic sunset, and the lake is actually pretty interesting from a landscape perspective.
It was getting late, so I only had the time to drive around and take a couple of quick shots, but it was worth it.
There were also some incredible houses on the lake, like those one sees in books, questioning if they actually exist.
Well, I now know they do.

Coeur D’Alene at Sunset

The darkness was taking over, and I don’t like to find a place to sleep when it’s dark. I’m okay to drive at night; I actually like that. However, if I have to stop somewhere, I prefer to do it when I can see where I am going. It helps avoid hitting those trees that sneak up on you at night. They especially like a big rig like mine, I have been told.

I stopped at a Walmart in Smelterville, Idaho, sure that I would be able to sleep there.
To my surprise, there were “no overnight parking” signs in ALMOST all the parking lanes. I was a little annoyed because Walmart has always been like the last hope for a late-night stop.
I went inside and asked the Customer Service, and the gentleman told me, very politely, that “if there are no overnight signs, it probably means you can’t park overnight”. Genius.
I checked the Overlander, and somebody posted that the Walmart manager allowed a limited number of vehicles to sleep overnight in the lane near the ATMs, a bit further away from the store's main entrance. Good enough for me.
Given it was late in the evening and I was exhausted, I decided to take the risk of being woken up during the night and slept there anyway.
Nobody bothered me, and actually, quite a few cars were parked overnight in the parking lot. Probably people who work there, but rules are rules, aren’t they?
In any case, I slept okay, but there was a lot of noise, being the parking lot right next to the highway, as well as the local little airport. Jackpot.

At 5.30 AM, the alarm went off, and in a few minutes, I was ready to retake the road.
Once again, I decided to drive the whole day and get to Grand Teton NP by the evening. I almost made it, except I decided to stop at a Campground in one of Montana’s forests; it's about two and a half hours away from the National Park entrance, so I should be able to get there in the morning, which is perfect.

Montana has a very special place in my heart, for many different reasons. The landscape is always stunning, and the lighting scenes that happen here are incredible. All of a sudden, there was a pocket of rain on the dark horizon with some haze in the distance, so I stopped to take pictures. And then I saw another thing…and then another one. And then I had to find a place to stay because the sun was almost down, again.

Another amazing sunset to add to the trip, and I just got here.

My RV at Sunset in Montana

As a sidenote, when I am on the road during these trips, I am always scouting around for a good shot.
This means that I drive SLOW, because I need to have the time to look around without ending up in the ditch on the side of the road.
Today, I was driving about 80km/h, even less in some sections, but the speed limit is a whopping 70 MPH, which probably placed me as the slowest car on the highway today, or maybe ever.
I do not care, though. I am in no rush, pass me (next sticker for the back of the RV).

A herd of horses enjoying the Montana’s sunset

In the end, I stopped at Bear Creek Campground, from where I am writing right now.
It is not too busy, and I met a group of people who actually travel with their horses.
They park in these campgrounds that have space for horse trailers and also fences! During the day, they take the horses and go on the trails around the mountains. Horse-trail-riding, but with your own horse. Amazing.
I never even thought about using a horse to go around and take pictures, but that sounds brilliant, except for the logistics of it.
I had no idea this kind of campground existed. But what can an Italian guy know about these things?
The people were very friendly; we talked a bit about what I do and where I am going. I asked if I could pet the horses, and they gave me some horse cookies to feed them.

An evening view of Bear Creek Campgrund in Ennis, Montana

I love horses. I have loved them since I was a little kid. Maybe that is also why I love Montana so much: horses everywhere.
I will get a horse one day, mark my word.