Never a Wrong Turn (Ever): Big Horn Mountains

On Sunday, (8/8) we left Greybull and headed for the Big Horn Mountains. First we drove through farm land and then more barren country, covered with oil wells. Then we began climbing up hill after hill. We drove over the Powder River Pass (9666 feet) and saw mountain landscapes different from anything we had seen so far. No place offered the wide expansive vistas we have become used to. Instead we saw lots of rocks and beautiful meadows. When we thought that we had reached the top, the road would climb some more.

Looks like they get a lot of snow here!

Our constant traveling companions heading to Sturgis.

We had intended to go farther down the road, but the scenery was so gorgeous that we just wanted to hang out in these mountains. We turned down a small road that indicated a camp ground in six miles. The road soon changed to gravel and we bumped along. When we got to the campground, we drove past and continued a little farther to a place in the meadow that others had camped at before. It was so peaceful and beautiful! We stayed for two nights before we ran out of battery power. We really considered staying anyway, but there was no potable water, and our water pump requires electricity. I am getting lazy - in the past I would have just boiled water. We were by a stream that at first I thought was too small to fish, but towards evening a fisherman came by who had caught several brown trout. On Monday, I got up and sat in the sun in my bathrobe drinking coffee and feeling more at peace with the world than I had since Potosi Hot Springs. I wondered why does it take this kind of place for me to feel so content. I have a great home on some beautiful property on Whidbey Island, but when I sit with coffee there, I am always thinking about what I will do that day. Wash whatever, weed whatever etc. etc. I reached an awareness that no life can be so content very often. My goal is to be able to experience this level of peaceful happiness several times a year, and not get so busy that I miss the opportunities. I need to cultivate the ability to sit peacefully and enjoy the now whereever I am and regardless of what responsiblities I have. I think about the time I acheive that talent, it may be time to move on!

After coffee, I went fishing. You would think that a stream that is no more than three feet wide at any point and rarely deeper than two feet would be easy to fish. Not so! I decorated the bushes with my flies and got into some very yoga-esk postures reaching under and over logs and bushes trying to reclaim flies. I did catch two beautiful brown trout. We don't have brown trout in the northwest and I was impressed with the golden color covered with bluish spots on the sides. I may resort to painting fish though I have said before that I never would! While I was fishing, two bull moose came fairly close to camp. They had made an appearance earlier that morning but had disappeared before I could get the camera and take pictures. Mike followed the moose into some willow bushes and crawled on his belly in the bushes, hiding from the moose, to take pictures. Go Mike!

That evening some other campers including four elementary school aged children invited us over for smores. We had watched them playing horses earlier and were flabergasted to see them run and run and run. We think that the elevation there was about 8000 feet, and it didn't take much exersion for us to be short of breath. I know that they were from Sundance, Wyoming which is at 5500 feet and are used to thinner air, but I also think that youth had a lot to do with their ability to keep going.

We left Tuesday morning after a particularly cold night. We froze inside the trailer so speculated that the smore family must have been cold in their tent. We drove about 30 miles to Buffalo where friends from Minnesota, that we met in Northern British Columbia, were staying with three of their grandchildren. We were able to have breakfast with them on Wednesday. While we have only met them one time before, I feel particularly fond of them and wish for more time to get to know each other better. We will try to see them when we go through Minnesota. Have a safe trip home Peg and Terry! We are taking care of oil changes and maintenance in Buffalo and then will head towards Devil's Tower. I did get to finally try rocky mountain

oysters at dinner and they were delicious (and I had no nut alergy reaction). I would like to try them a little less breaded and fried. One other tidbit: I am constantly mystified by this state that does not allow the sale of beer and wine in the grocery store, but has drive up windows at liquior stores.