Summer 2012 – Wyoming Bighorns Day 2
Day 2 of our Wyoming adventure brought us more spectacular scenery and miles of dirt roads. We got an early start from camp and headed north on the Bighorn Mountain Road passing a group moving cattle up to their high summer pasture. It was fun watching the border collies working the cattle.
We took a slight detour to get a look over the valley we had left the day before and an area called Red Wall. A spectacular sight from up high.
Heading further north the road condition deteriorated even more and the going was slow. We were thrilled with the high rolling country with the road following ridge line after ridge line.
We finally had to make a choice. Do we drop down to Ten Sleeps or stay high as we entered the Bighorns. Just the name, Ten Sleeps, lead us down out of the southern foot hills of the Bighorns.
Loosing over 4000 feet in altitude seemed to take forever. Descending took us from high mountain meadows down through red rock cliffs reminiscent of the times we have spent in Utah. We finally hit some blacktop and headed into Ten Sleeps.
Ten Sleeps is a rustic ranching community at the base of the Bighorn Mountains. The town sits along a pleasant stream with impressive sandstone cliffs rising up to meet the Bighorn Mountains. A quick stop at a local store lent itself to a pleasant conversation with some locals and a wonderful chocolate shake.
After fueling up we headed back into the Bighorn Mountains. Heading east out of Ten Sleep we opted to take the old highway climbing through Ten Sleep Canyon which was a slow climb back into the mountain with wonderful views and more dirt road.
Having finally made the mountains it was time to find a good camp site. Our goal was to camp along the route we would be taking north. We ended up finding a GREAT spot in a slice of BLM on the road down to Hyattville.
The view from our dinner table was spectacular and the evening finished off with a fantastic sunset due to all the smoke in the air.
