In the Shadow of the Bighorns

Wednesday 8/14 we pulled into Buffalo in mid-afternoon after spending an hour or so in Casper fixing the right front trailer tire and replacing the broken wheel.  Buffalo is one of our favorite Wyoming towns (but then, it seems we like all of them!).  Population 4,584 (in 2017), Buffalo is the town author Craig Johnson used as a model for the fictional town of Durant, WY, home of Sheriff Walt Longmire of the Longmire Mystery Books and the Netflix series of the same name.  

Nestled along the banks of Clear Creek at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains, Buffalo is a great base camp location for exploring the Bighorns and the surrounding area.  We’ll be here for a couple of weeks, so you can look forward to photos and tales of our adventures.

Thursday was a lazy day.  We took a walk, then went into town to mess about and have lunch at the Busy Bee Cafe (also a fixture of the Longmire series).  We also took it easy because my back has been giving me trouble when stooping and bending after my fall on the trail outside Laramie.

Friday we began to hit our stride.  We had a wonderful walk along our favorite Clear Creek trail at the Morain Park Recreation Area west of town.  

There is a beautiful trail along the creek, extending downstream and `about a mile-and-a-quarter upstream to a couple of ponds and a low-water dam associated with a water facility.  

The trail has recently been expanded, and it provides excellent hiking through woods alongside the creek.  This year, Clear Creek is running full and fast, rushing past us as we navigated the path.  Most of the wildflowers have faded, but there are interesting lichens and lush green moss clinging to the rocks along the path.

We’ll be walking here several more times while we’re here, so you’ll likely see more pictures of this beautiful area.

Adventures Along the North Platte

From Laramie, we traveled a short distance to Casper and again camped at River’s Edge RV Park on the banks of the North Platte.  This is a nice park, and if you don't want to stay in your RV, you can rent a tepee for the night. 

In our opinion, its best feature is the lush, green riverside area.  We were told the river is only about 1/3 as wide as it was in the 1800s, but it's still deep and swift.  

The dogs enjoyed their romps here, and Kota even tried a short swim.  You can't trust her for a second.  One minute she is sampling the fresh green grass along the river, and the next instant she is taking a dip.  The swift current quickly discouraged her, thank goodness.  I was not enthusiastic about having to chase her downstream or haul her out if the bank was too steep for her to climb out.

We had a nice hike up the mountain from Rotary Park.  There are lovely views of the valley below, and just a short distance from the trailhead is beautiful Garden Creek Falls.  

We spent an afternoon visiting the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.  The Center details the history of the hundreds of thousands of people who traveled west through the area between 1841 and 1869 along the North Platte River toward Oregon, Utah and California.  Within a few miles of Casper are the places where the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail and the Pony Express Trail came together for folks to cross the river and continue west.

Almost life-size dioramas depict life on the trail, and are very well done.  There are audio and video presentations, and areas where children can “play-like” they are crossing the river using toy wagons, people and animals.

Visitors can also take "experiential" rides in a stagecoach

and a conestoga wagon crossing the North Platte.

As our wagon lurched and rocked, a video of the crossing, including the back end of our oxen,  played on a screen as if we were looking out the front of the wagon.  

It was a neat museum and an enjoyable afternoon.

Hiking The Tie City Trails

We finished our visit to Laramie on Saturday with another great shooting experience and a hike through some beautiful country east of town.  On the way, this pronghorn doe crossed the road in front of us with her twin fawns.  The volunteer at the visitor center said it has been a very good year for wildlife because of all the rain they have had.  This was one of many sets of twins we have seen this year.

The trail system off the Tie City Campground is extensive, beautiful and well-used.  We saw other hikers, but on the morning we visited there were also a number of mountain bikers as well.  

The trails were well-marked and clearly identified on a map…and it’s a good thing.  There are so many of them that it would be easy to get disoriented and wind up going in circles or having to double back.   We did just that after taking a wrong turn at the one unmarked trail intersection we found.  It added about a mile-and-a-half to our hike, and we logged six miles instead of four.  All our “dogs” were tired after that.  It’s a beautiful area, though, and we’ll hike it again the next time we’re in the area.  

The trails range from level stretches through meadows and sagebrush…

to relatively steep, rocky trails through heavy timber.

There are occasional streams where the dogs can cool off, and plenty of shade for John and me.  

And, then there was the apparently easy trail through an aspen grove where the stump of a sapling caught my toe and sent me sprawling.  Thankfully, I escaped with only a couple of small scrapes and a kink in my back.  I'm grateful that God was watching over me, and He must have caught my camera as well, because it was undamaged.   

Bullwinkle and Friends

Laramie has a lot to offer in terms of outdoor activities, too.  Materials from the Laramie, WY, Visitors’ Center gave us a number of options for exploring the area.  The most intriguing, by far, was the Snowy Range Scenic Byway (WY Hwy 130) 27 west of town.  The Byway is only 29 miles long, but has breathtaking scenery and good opportunities for hiking and wildlife viewing.  Designated the second National Forest Scenic Byway in the U.S., the Snowy Range Byway was begun in 1920 and took 6 years to complete.  It was called the “Great Skyroad.”

As we headed out, light rain spattered on the windshield and we saw herds of cattle grazing in the Laramie Valley.

Soon, however, we reached the small town of Centennial on the eastern edge of the route, and the road began to climb.  The Snowy Range rose to meet us.

The Byway crosses the Medicine Bow Mountain Range.  It only takes about 45 minutes if you stay on the highway, but you’ll miss a lot of wonderful scenery.  We took the Barber Lake and Libby Creek Road just a few miles outside of town.   There are several campgrounds on both sides of the Byway, but none have electrical hookups.  A couple of miles before rejoining the main road, we saw our first wildlife…a moose cow and her calf crossed the road.  The calf paused briefly and I got a photo or two before it followed mom up the hill.  

Continuing down the highway, we saw a gravel turnoff called the Brooklyn Lake Road.  There are campgrounds along this road as well, along with several pretty little lakes. 

Wildflowers were everywhere, and some of the prettiest surrounded the tiny Saint Alban’s Episcopal Chapel near Little Brooklyn Lake.  

Services are held there Sundays at 10:00.  

The chapel is dedicated to the memory of Julie Vella Ivins Stone (1887-1938).  I tried, but  was unable to find out who she was, or when the chapel was erected.  It is a lovely spot, though, and is often used for weddings and other events.  

But the best part of the trip down Brooklyn Lake Road were Bullwinkle and his friends. 

We came around a corner and there, only some 70 yards from the road were these three handsome bull moose.  Their antlers were in velvet, and they were calmly munching vegetation and chewing their cuds.  We watched them for 5 or 10 minutes on the way in, and stopped again on our way out. 

The largest of the three had a very distinctive chunk missing from his left ear.  It should allow us to identify him if we ever see him again.  

Based on research into moose antlers, we think he is possibly about 4 years old, while the youngster in the background is probably in his second year.  

We think this fellow is probably 3 years old, but invite some of our moose expert friends to weigh in if they have a different opinion.

We enjoyed seeing this mule deer doe in the background watching the bull moose.

And the dogs were very interested as well.  I wonder if Rue thinks they are just big cows with funny horns?  We didn't dare let her out of the car to find out.  Kota's demeanor makes me think she was remembering the young whitetail buck she, Lucky Dog and Nickie chased and "bagged" when she was only a year old.

We hace seen moose several times before, but always cows and usually at some distance.  Seeing these big guys so close was a real treat!

There was plenty of snow in the Snowy Range.  We had good views of it as we ate our picnic lunch in the Sugarloaf Recreation Area.  The gravel road to this site ends at a trailhead which leads to over eighty mountain and glacial lakes, as well as the summits of Sugarloaf Mountain (11,398 ft.) and Medicine Bow Peak (12,013 ft.) 

We hiked a mile or so around the lake and played in one of the snowbanks close to the trail.    We wish family and friends baking in the heat back in Texas could be here with us.  It is glorious.  

Kota and Rue love the snow, and raced madly across the surface, stopping to roll in it.  (John said Kota was making the dog version of a snow angel.)

On the promise of a treat, they finally stopped just long enough for John to snap a quick picture, and then they were off again.

As we walked around the lake, wildflowers and thick bushes lined the trail.  

We kept hearing sharp chips, or pips.  I thought it might be alarm calls from pika or marmots, but was never able to see one.  Then, movement in the trailside brush caught my eye.  The "pips" were coming from this little fellow.  

Looking through the Audubon app on my phone, I think it is a white-crowned sparrow.  He may have been little, but he was certainly noisy.

Another worthwhile stop along the Snow Range Scenic Byway was the observation point overlooking Libby Flats.  

The stone structure was constructed in 1961, and offers views of several mountain ranges.  

Nearby, we saw these trees.  They are sometimes called "flag trees," but the proper term is Krummholz, a German word meaning "crooked timber" or "elfin timber."  These wind-shaped trees mark the transitional zone from forest to alpine tundra.  They are "naked" on the windward side and often lean to leeward, away from the wind.

It was an incredible day!  Don't miss the Snowy Range Scenic Byway if you're in the area.