Hi Ken, Hi DD#1,
You asked: In August, I'm planning on taking DD#1 to Wyoming for a
week or so. Camping, hiking, photography, writing, etc.
My wife and I have camped at a number of places in the Wyoming
mountains, mostly back when I was working on my thesis in the late '60s.
First stop: South Fork Campground in the Bighorns, just west of Buffalo.
It's on a lovely stream (with neat bugs to catch or photograph). South
Fork Inn is just across the road, with small cabins and the chance for a
good dinner. OK, not remote, but very nice. Further up the road are
Sourdough, Crazy Woman, E-la-ka-wee, and Lost Cabin Campgrounds. I really
like the Bighorns--they aren't jagged and forbidding like the Tetons.
Very nice hiking opportunities. West of Powder River Pass is Sitting
Bull Campground; we stayed there in 1969. Also has a ski resort nearby
for an occasional decent meal. Hiking trails lead to some snow fields to
the east. With a 4WD, you could get to some remote spots. A 4WD would
also let you get to Seven Brothers Lakes on the east side of the Bighorns.
Going west from Powder River Pass one descends through Ten Sleep
Canyon. Here's where you want a standard transmission in a lower gear.
Or try the Beartooth Mountains. The drive up 212 from Red Lodge in
unforgettable. We stayed at Island Lake Campground several miles west of
the Beartooth Pass. Again, there's an inn, Top of the World Inn, IIRC,
near the pass. I was collecting insects in and along a small stream near
the Pass in 1969, and I came up with specimens that I had a hard time
identifying. Turns out they were in a genus of midges that hadn't been
reported in NA outside of Alaska and below treeline in the Arctic. Neat
thing about the Beartooth Pass and nearby Beartooth Plateau--you basically
are above treeline in the Arctic. Read about arctic-alpine habitats. Long
story short, I now have a midge named after me: Trichotanypus hanseni.
Hansen's Trichotanypus--probably no more than three people in the world
have ever seen it. Or ever cared to. You two could bring that up to four
and five.
A few years ago I camped in the Medicine Bow Range west of Centennial.
There are several nice campgrounds along different creeks. Try Sugar Loaf
Campground near the highest point on Hwy 130--there are wonderful hiking
trails to snowfields, vistas, etc. For a night of not roughing it, stay at
Mountain Meadow Inn nearby. A trio of fellow hunters later joined me in
Rawlins, and we headed towards Bairoil north of Rawlins for some antelope
hunting. Get to Bairoil and head several miles west to Twin Buttes. Then
get off the gravel road and go south on any of a number of two-track
"roads." It's all open range, and a 4WD could get you back into some
interesting sagebrush country. Some would say desolate, I'd say open and
inviting. It ain't mountains, but it's nice in its own way. And you can
see antelope. You won't see people. Or trees.
We were driving a '62 Plymouth sedan on those '60s trips. Your 4WD
should open up lots of additional spots to see. Beartooths, Medicine Bows,
Big Horns--they're all nice. You and DD#1 will have a great time.
Dean
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