Cody and the Bighorn Canyon NRA, Wyoming
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011August 16th-17th
We arrived in Cody, founded by Buffalo Bill Cody of the Wild Wild West Show as a sort of holiday resort. We were a little disappointed as we had expected more authentic old architecture but the town was centered on one small street of souvenir shops and restaurants. They do have an nightly rodeo and a chuck wagon restaurant and cowboy show but we had already had this “western experience” in Fort Worth. We took a walk down the old street, visited a historic site on the corner of town and went to see the town mural. I didn’t understand from the advertisement that it was in the church of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints, but when we got there, we decided to check it out anyway. One of the church volunteers gave us an extremely informative history of the Mormon Church and of the impressive mural in the rotunda. Another room of displays explained the history of the Mormon settlements in Wyoming. In the end, it was an interesting stop, giving more perspective to some of the places we had visited on the trip.
We decided to continue the road towards the Bighorn National Recreation Area where we hoped to find a place to camp for the evening. We arrived at the visitor center about 15 minutes before closing, and an enthusiastic ranger recommended a secluded camping area and some places to view wildlife. We stopped first at a lake to have a swim- we were accosted by mosquitoes who had obviously found water in this arid landscape. The canyon reminded me of Canyonlands, rocks in shades of reds, oranges and whites that had been carved into steps by the Bighorn River. From our mosquito infested swimming area, we continued the road and saw some wild mustangs along the road (the National Recreation Area borders the mustang refuge.) We stopped off at Devil’s Overlook which is usually a good place to spot big-horned sheep (we were on a mission to see one), but we didn’t see any. Finally, after crossing the border into Montana, we came to our camping area. We had a very secluded spot (but with the conveniences of a picnic table, bear box and pit toilet) and it was free.
After a quiet night, we awoke to another hot day. We spent the morning doing some hiking trails which afforded us some more impressive views of the canyon. We never saw the bighorn sheep though.
Posted from Lake of the Ozarks SP, Missouri
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