The Million Dollar Highway, Medicine Wheel and Gillette, WY
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011August 17th-18th
The road took us back into Wyoming and east towards South Dakota. Before climbing into the mountains again, we stopped off at an old ranch, now historic site. It was so secluded I don’t know how anyone lived out there. We continued on the scenic route through the Bighorn National Forest. The road climbed to around 10,000 feet. We visited a very unique archeological site, the Medicine Wheel, a sacred Native American ceremonial site. Historians don’t know what the original purpose was, but they think it was built about 700 years ago. It’s in the shape of a large wagon wheel. To reach it, we had to walk about 1 ½ miles on a gravel road. We saw pikas and marmots on the way. At the site, there were offerings along the outside railing and inside the wheel left by Native Americans who came there today to do spiritual ceremonies.
From the Medicine Wheel, we continued to climb in elevation on the road (it was windy and chilly outside) until we finally came to a turn off for a picnic area. The dirt road to get there was rough but we were rewarded with charming picnic spot next to a river. Descending down from the mountains and the scenic road, we had a lot of construction delays (this had been a theme coming through Washington, Montana and Wyoming- there is road work everywhere.) After 12 consecutive days in the tent, we were ready for a little luxury. We found a motel in Gillette, WY with a swimming pool and hot tub. After a refreshing swim and recuperating soak, we treated ourselves to some good BBQ at a restaurant in town.
Gillette is known as the energy capital of Wyoming and clearly depends on coal mining as the city’s main industry. Fabien found out that we could take a free guided tour of a local mine. We reserved it through the tourism office. At 9 AM in the morning, we along with a couple on their way home from Sturgis (the country’s largest motorcycle festival), took a mini-bus to the open mine site. Our fantastic guide (a career teacher who used to drive trucks in the mine) showed us the open pit, examples of reclaimed land, where the trucks unload the coal, etc. We also saw where it’s loaded onto trains…and later in the trip saw many of these coal trains first hand. She also explained that coal generates a significant amount of revenue for the state of Wyoming, attesting the fact that they are one of the few states that isn’t experiencing a budget crisis.
Posted from Lake of the Ozarks SP, Missouri
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