Trip through Bighorn National Forest / Devils Tower Wyoming (8/5 - 8/6)

On 8/5 we left Cody and headed East to Devils Tower. The trip took us through the Bighorn National Forest. The last section of this ride was a little rough but very beautiful. The elevation change to get over the Bighorn Mountains is up 6000 feet on the west side then down about 5000 feet on the east side. The road was a little windy but a drop dead beautiful drive. We stopped for lunch at one of the brake check stations near the top of the mountain and watched a Wyoming cowboy moving some cattle at the edge of the woods.

Devils Tower is not a town it's just a couple of stores and a campground in front of the gate to the nations first National Monument. We had a campsite in the back of the campground with a view of the Tower. This is the filming site of the Spielberg movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind starring Richard Dreyfuss. The guy at the campground told us that Spielberg sat on the ground in their parking lot for two hours then said this is the place for the movie. The money that the campground got for the movie helped them get their Good Sam Franchise.

There was nothing quiet about this place while we were here. This is one of the prime tourist destinations for the Sturgis crew. The second day we were here there were at least 200 motorcycles in the parking lot and the rumble of the motorcycles was a constant sound.

We used our "Old Peoples Pass" and went to the mountain on the second day. It's a short ride up the mountain. We went to the welcome center then took a walk around the mountain. You can see the different sides of the mountain and some of the 5000 people that climb the mountain every year. We saw about eight people climbing and we ran into two guys who were on their way to the base for a climb.

There are three theories on how the mountain was actually formed but all agree that it was molten magma. The tower rises 867 feet from its base and stands 1267 feet above the river below. 5112 feet above sea level. The original formation was about 50 million years ago. Erosion has brought this solid structure up to the surface.

Devils tower is a pretty place. The location was made our first National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It's a little off the beaten path, but I would also add this to your bucket list if you are in this part of the country.

Life is Good!!

The Bighorn National Forest.

Keep an eye on that white rock.

Going Up!

This tells the story about the work the CCC did in this forest. It is a beautifully kept area with wooden fences, great signage, and many recreation areas.

One of the recreation areas.

Our lunch stop near the top. Get along little doggie!!

Wasn't as bad as it looks. This was the first of two signs.

Going down.

Our first view of Devils Tower as we were coming in.

Just a small group.

At the store first day.

On the walk in. There is an Indian Legend that the marks on the mountain were made by a great bear trying to get to the children who had climbed the mountain to get away from him. It may be true.

This climber was only up about 200 feet.

The beautiful valley from the base of the mountain.

This is an Indian Prayer offering. One of many at the base of the mountain.

This guy was near the top.

The sky doesn't get much prettier.

These were the two climbers heading up to the mountain.

Love that sky.

This is a designated Prairie Dog Refuge. There are thousands of them down in the valley below the mountain.

Our home in Devils Tower.

The red rock is along the river.

Camera selfie. Is that a spaceship in the back?

Cody Wyoming (8/2 - 8/5)

CODY WYOMING 8/2/2016 - 8/5/2016

See below for narrative.

South entrance to the museums,

This woman was skyping with a class in Argentina. The topic was US Geography.

Have Gun Will Travel. This is a

the actual weapon worn by Richard Boone in Paladin. The display also had his card.

Weapon below. 4 gauge. 19.5 lbs.

Two man gun?

The Bison contributed a great deal to the history of this part of the country.

Buffalo Bill with one of the Indians in his show.

Courtyard at the museum building.

The doves are pretty large out here. You probably only need two for a decent meal.

I think his name was Jade. This is a juvenile Bald Eagle that had a broken (unrepairable) wing.

Don't cut down that tree put birdhouses on it.

Someone left their hat.

The is Sacagawea or Sakakawea or Sacajawea. The Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped Lewis and Clark on there charting journey across the country.

Indian Art.

Another statue of Sacagawea

No flat screen TV.

Add caption

The new gravesite of Jeremiah Johnson played by Robert Redford 1972 movie.

It's really Jeremiah "Liver Eating" Johnson.

A very interesting man.

The town.

This is a Funeral Wagon.

See below.

Main entrance to the museum.

Lunch at Erma's the Old Cody Hotel that's on the National Register of Historic Places.

On August 2nd we pulled out of Spring Creek and headed to Cody Wyoming. It was another great ride and we pulled into Cody around three in the afternoon. The campground is a tight one right in the town and it was really full because of the Sturgis crowd. The bikers seem to come to the area surrounding Sturgis (within a 200 mile radius) the week before the rally. They cruise the beautiful roads throughout the region and basically do the tourist thing.

We basically got settled the first night, planned the next couple of days then we cooked our rainbow trout from the prior day. There is a museum here that is really five museums in one. The five parts to the museum are: Buffalo Bill, Cody Firearms, Draper Natural History, Whitney Western Arts, Plains Indian.We spent the entire day touring the five sections. It was fantastic.

The Buffalo Bill section told the whole story of his involvement with the town and his escapades in various endeavors throughout the world. A history of his family and other famous people who were associated with his wild west show. He basically died broke. Very interesting

The Cody Firearms  section was unbelievable. Thousands of firearms from the early days all the way to the present. The displays went on and on. It blew me away. I think this museum even has more guns than Brian Daneker. I've never seen anything like it. Awesome. Even Eileen was impressed.

The Draper Natural History section had beautiful displays of the wildlife and plant life in this part of the country and talked about the geology. It was laid out in a way that you walked from the prairie going up in elevation and they displayed the wildlife and fauna that live at each of the altitudes. The displays were drop dead beautiful and very well presented. Fantastic.

The Whitney Western Art section had original paintings, sculptures of the western culture. Very beautiful.

The Plains Indian section showcased the history of the plains Indians in every aspect. We have seen a lot of information about this in a number of places during our trip but his was by far the best presentation we saw. Again I have to say this was a fantastic exhibit.

We of course were exhausted but very satisfied when we left the museum. I highly recommend this place to everyone. It was really awesome.

When we left the museum in the afternoon the sky was full of smoke. There was a wildfire about 15 miles west of Cody that had started on that day. About 3000 acres were burning. The next day we didn't see much smoke but we found out that the fire was still burning and it hadn't been contained and it was up to 6500 acres. This whole area of the country has wildfires this time of year. It's a regular topic on the evening news. We left here on 8/5 and never did find out the status of the fire.

On 8/4 we visited a place called the Old Trail Town. It is located on the western edge of Cody and it is an old western town that has been put together with original buildings from around this area. Some of the building have historical significant and some are just original homestead type buildings. It is laid out like an old western town complete with saloon. They reburied five famous to semi famous people here and the grandson of Wild Bill Cody (see the pictures). This was another interesting place. At the end of the day we had a great meal at the Wyoming Rib & Chop House. This time I devoured a 16oz Buffalo Rib Eye. Yum!

Cody, as expected, was a great stop. If your going to wander around this part of the country. You definitely need to add Cody to the bucket list. You can also use Cody as a stop point on your way to the East Gate of Yellowstone.

Life is Super. Live it now!!!!