Hiking Lakes Trail

Well, I left Wyoming with a bang!  I couldn’t be happier with my final hike of the summer.  Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is a hidden gem! I can’t believe I overlooked this place when I lived only 3 hours away in Denver.  The Lakes Trail is fantastic.

Towns Near Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest

The biggest city closest to Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is Laramie, Wyoming, approximately 45 miles east.  Fort Collins, Colorado is about 1.5 hours southeast and Denver 3 hours.  As a result, day trips are good options, though camping along with mountain cabins dot WY-130.

Additionally, two very small towns flank both side of the forest, Saratoga to the west and Centennial to the east.  Centennial is equipped with a small general store and a restaurant.  Saratoga is much bigger.  It has a gas station, some restaurants, hot springs, a museum, a grocery store, and a nice dog park. 

HAPPY HIKING!
view on pole creek trail

Hiking Pole Creek Trail

Pole Creek Trail is located in the Bridger Wilderness near Pinedale, Wyoming.  It is the main starting point for popular backpacking loops in the wilderness.  As a result, there is a huge parking area, pit toilets, and a basic campground at the trailhead.

After two days of consistent rain, I wondered if hiking the Pole Creek Trail to Elklund Lake was worth it with the collection of people in the trailhead.  It might have been the most people I had seen preparing to hike during the entire month I have spent in Wyoming. That said, it is not like a Colorado 14er or any other popular hikes near Denver when you can’t even find a parking space after 7am.

Additionally, I got a later start than usual and I hiked on the weekend…two things I avoid to enjoy the solitude of nature. Anyway, most people in the parking area were loaded down with heavy packs and were definitely prepping for a backpacking trip.  Donning just a day pack for a long day hike to Elklund Lake, I was able to stay ahead of the traffic.

HAPPY HIKING!

Grouse Mountain Trail and Ice Caves

My first 24 hours in Wyoming were a little rough.  I drove through two hailstorms. While looking for a camp spot, I got stuck in the mud and had to get a tow from some nice cowboys. And finally, Annie cut her paw and lost her brand-new bear bell on our first hike to Grouse Mountain and Ice Caves.  But, after waking up to a magnificent sunrise, breathing in the fresh mountain air, and spotting deer, pronghorn, and grouse during the first two hours of my hike, I’m quickly reminded why I venture into the wilderness.  #thatsWY

HAPPY HIKING!
chromatic pool in yellowstone

Day 248 – Yellowstone’s Grand Loop (Part 2)

Day 248 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Upper Geyser Basin

I started out today visiting Old Faithful.  The geyser is well known because of its consistency.  It erupts every 40 to 126 minutes for a few minutes.  While it doesn’t spew as high as Grand Geyser, the world’s tallest predictable geyser, it still puts on a good show.  Old Faithful is located in Upper Geyser Basin along with 125 other active geysers.  In fact, Yellowstone is home to 200 of the 500 active geysers found in the world!

While waiting on Old Faithful to work its magic, I wandered along the boardwalk past a variety of springs, pools, and geysers including Chromatic Pool, which I found to be the one of the prettiest as I breathed the rotten egg smell of sulphur.  Chromatic Pool’s colors are created by microscopic lifeforms.  Incredibly, these organisms can survive conditions that would be lethal to most other living creatures, including humans.

ON THE ROAD Again!
yellowstone lake

Day 246 – Yellowstone’s Grand Loop

Day 246 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

We entered Yellowstone National Park via the northeast entrance and bison peppered the valley while spectators peppered the road.  I’ve seen so many bison lately, I wondered if the visitors were waiting on a bear to run through the herd. It didn’t seem like a very spectacular event to me especially since they were generally far away.  Then I saw a line of them cross the river.  I guess people were waiting for them to cross the water like people wait for wildebeest to cross the river in Africa.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
skull at medicine wheel

Day 244 – Cody Country (Part 2)

Day 244 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Crook County Museum and Art Gallery

So I camped with the truckers last night at the Conoco…another first!  By the time I got up and going, most of them had left and only the two other camper folks
remained.  Before I left the tiny town for Cody Country, I stopped off at the Crook County Museum and Art Gallery to see the exhibit on the Sundance Kid.

First, this town was so small, I would have never thought it would have a museum, let alone worthy of a visit (my Reader’s Digest Scenic Drives of America helped with that).  Second, I found it humorous that it took me three tries to find the place!  I saw a giant sign on an old high school building mentioning the museum, but then I realized it said, “Future Home of the museum which is currently housed in the Court House”.  So I proceed to drive around the three blocks looking for the Court House thinking it would be an old, ornate building from 1915 like the bank. 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
devils tower

Day 210 – Devils Tower Loop

Day 210 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Devils Tower National Monument

After a slow start to the morning, VANilla, Petey, and I drove past miles of prairies and pasture lands before eventually arriving at Devils Tower National Monument.  The towering rock formation stands 1,265 feet above the river level and dwarfs everything around it including ponderosa pines that surround its base.

According to scientists, the tower was formed when a mass of molten rock welled up within the earth’s crust, then cooled, and was later exposed by erosion.  The mass looks as though it is made up of several columns.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
grizzly cub standing

Day 209 – Cody Country: Shoshone National Forest and Beyond

Day 209 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways
Grizzlies in Grand Teton National Park

For a rainy day spent mostly in VANilla, I couldn’t have wished for anything better.  There had been reports of a mama grizzly bear with two cubs roaming around the Jackson Lake Lodge area.  On our way to our hike yesterday, a handful of cars and rangers were camped out alongside the road, so this morning around 7:45 I ventured to the same general area along with several others.  I was willing to wait up to an hour, but much to my pleasant surprise, I only had to wait about five minutes.  During the next 15 minutes, I think I took 83 shots.  Every now and then, I just set the camera down and watched both the bears and the spectacle of photographers.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
sunset over jackson lake

Day 208 – North to Jackson – Part 5

Day 208 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Another lovely day in Grand Teton National Park!  We beat the crowds to the Spring Lake Trailhead which we followed through burned forest, ferns, around a lake, and up Cascade Creek to Hidden Falls.  The falls were ferocious, splashing down the rocks and spraying us from fifty yards away.  With the shade and the spray, there had to be a twenty degree temperature difference from the direct sun.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
oxbow bend

Day 207 – North to Jackson-Part 4

Day 207 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

I had a very quiet day today.  I had been attempting to fight off a migraine the last two days which wasn’t working well, so I simply slept in this morning and Max took the day to go to Yellowstone. She had never been there and being so close, she wanted to swing by Old Faithful with or without me.  Given I felt bad, had already been there, and plan on going again sometime next week, it seemed like a perfect solution.  It sounded like her day was more eventful than mine.  She saw bison, a black bear and a bull moose in velvet.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!