Today is the day, we stop at the RV repair center in Cody.
So we are leaving Deer Park Campground with the dawn patrol, as the sun rises!
We had to drive through a portion of the town of Buffalo,
since it was 6:30 am, the traffic was light. I did find these unique metal art
“barrels” in front of the bank.
Fort McKinney was an early US Army post with two locations.
After LT JA McKinney was killed by Cheyenne Indians on the Red Fork of Powder
River in November 1876, the name of Cantonment Reno, near the Bozeman Trail
crossing of Powder River, was changed to Fort McKinney. This post was occupied
through the spring of 1878, and then abandoned due to insufficient local
supplies of water, wood and forage. The name, however, was transferred along
with the troops to a new site on a broad terrace above Clear Fork of Powder
River where that stream exits from the Big Horn Mountains just west of present
Buffalo, WY. Construction of the new Fort McKinney began in July 1878. The post
at its peak consisted of barracks for seven companies of troops and at least 14
structures for officer quarters, stables, warehouses, laundress quarters, a
hospital, bakery, offices, and auxiliary buildings.
Troops from Fort McKinney were tapped to prevent more
serious bloodshed in the so-called Johnson County War. In April 1892, the
troops raised the siege of the T.A. Ranch south of Buffalo, where hundreds of
citizens of Johnson County had surrounded a group of about 50 stockmen and
detectives, who had invaded the county intent on killing men they believed to
be cattle thieves. In 1894 Fort McKinney was abandoned, and many of its
buildings were dismantled. The Veterans’ Home of Wyoming moved to the site in
1903. Two buildings—the hospital and dairy—from the original fort remain. A
highway interpretive sign awaits visitors to the site. The Jim Gatchell Memorial
Museum in Buffalo holds a collection of artifacts and photographs from the fort
explaining its significance to the development of Buffalo and the surrounding
region.
There were many old, old, old rock formations along the way,
most of them Precambrian. It is a major division of geologic time. Precambrian
time includes 80% of the earth's history. Precambrian rocks are mostly covered
by rock systems of more recent origin, but where visible they commonly display
evidence of having been altered by intense metamorphism . Precambrian rocks
often occur in shields, which are large areas of relatively low elevation that
form parts of continental masses. The rocks of this region, and of the early
Precambrian as a whole, are generally granite, schist , or gneiss .
Major rock units of the central and eastern Big Horn
Mountains are granitic gneiss, amphibolite, and biotite schist. Migmatitic
interlayering and gradational sequences are common. In the western Big Horn
Mountains, biotite schist and quartzite are dominant units and granitic gneiss
is relatively minor. Data shows that amphibolite has a composition similar to
tholeiitic basalt, and biotite schist is probably a metamorphosed pelitic rock.
Granitic gneiss is similar in composition to magmatic granitic rocks.
The Big Horn National Forest rises between the Powder River
and Big Horn Basins, this scenic country offers year round recreation
connecting visitors to a land rich in history and solitude. For centuries, the
mountain landscape has provided renewal for Native Americans, homesteaders and
modern day explorers creating a human connection with this spectacular place. Viewing
scenery and wildlife is what I am hoping for!
This route is also called the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway.
The designated 47-mile stretch of US 16, shares its boundaries with the
National Forest. The road is a paved two-lane highway that crests at the
9,666-foot Powder River Pass. Cloud Peak Skyway is a road marked by history. The events of
the famed Johnson County Cattle War unfolded just south of the Byway in April
1892. A range war between wealthy cattle ranchers and small farmers, the final
standoff saw 50 hired killers from the Wyoming Stock Growers Association holed
up at the TA Ranch. Outside a posse of 200 men, led by the sheriff of Johnson
County, lay siege. The stalemate finally ended with the intervention of
President Benjamin Harrison and the Sixth Cavalry of Fort McKinney.
If impressive geology is your thing, Cloud Peak Skyway is
the right road to drive. The route provides the only view of Cloud Peak, the
highest peak in the Big Horn Mountains, standing at 13,167 feet.
Believe it or not, this route offers the least grade toward
Yellowstone National Park!
We saw an Elk crossing sign as well as a portable sign that flashed the number of incidents with wildlife.
From these numbers, I would have to agree that there is wildlife out here!
On this trip, we pasted Crazy Woman Canyon, Route 33. We had
talked about doing this scenic drive, but it was too far from our campground. I
will tell you about it and you will see why we were tempted to take the drive.
It takes you out on a single lane dirt road into the mountains through a
spectacular canyon. There are pull offs along the banks of Crazy Woman Creek.
As travelers descend, the canyon narrows and steep, craggy cliff walls offer
ample shade and waterfalls. One legend holds that the canyon was named for an
Indian Woman who, left to live alone in her tipi here, went insane. The other
tells a tragic and violent tale of a settler who, after witnessing the scalping
of her husband, was driven to insanity.
Cattle in the High Country for the summer.
We had a few deer cross our path this morning. But these two
guys were satisfied to munch on their breakfast along the side of the road.
Powder Peak 9,666 feet, the highest point on the road we are traveling.
On the west side of the Big Horns, we traversed switchbacks
and hairpins between the majestic limestone walls of Ten Sleep Canyon. A
favorite among rock climbers for the diversity of its challenges, climbers have
gifted several of its rock faces with wonderfully descriptive nicknames such as
"Home Alone," "Plea Bargain," and "The Wall of
Denial."
Across the canyon, on the point, the Leigh Creek Monument
topped with the cross was erected in 1889 in memory of an English nobleman who
fell 200 feet to his death over the canyon wall, while in pursuit of mountain
sheep. The monument was laid up of native stone in dry mortar and is
approximately ten feet square at the base. It contains a marble slab facing
west with the inscription. Gilbert E. Leigh died October 23rd, 1884. He was the
guest of the Bar X Bar cattle company a remittance man, and had spent most of
his adult life as a big game hunter.
In the small town of town of Ten Sleep, hippies, hunters, cowboys
and climbers, mingle in harmony here. Ten Sleep, “a little western town with a
big western heart.” Rich in history, this ranching town was the halfway point,
or ten “sleeps,” between two major Sioux Indian camps. Surrounded by working
sheep and cattle ranches, today’s Ten Sleep’s population is 260.
Ten Sleep sits
so close to the Bighorn Mountains that you can’t see them from most places in
town, because the striking reddish-hued foothills block the view.
We turned onto Lower Norwood Road, this is supposed to cut
45 minutes off the drive. This road is lined with those sheep and cattle
ranches I spoke of. In fact, it is an open range area, as you can tell from
this sign!
Also along this open range road, was the remnants of a plains
fire that must have started road side or at least burned to the road side. From
here we turned west onto highway 31, heading toward Manderson WY. In Manderson,
we picked up US 16 & US 20 again.
We made a quick pit stop at the Big Horn Fairgrounds in
Basin WY. You know how Charlie & I are attracted to fairgrounds and their activities.
Across from the parking lot, I saw this purple demo car and
had to grab the picture!
We passed through Greybull WY. If we were alone, we would
have stopped in this small town America town and visited the Museum of Flight
and aerial Firefighting. The planes were spectacular from the road, I am sure
they were even better close up!
After leaving Greybull, the scenery was very barren and
flat. You could see the mountains in the distance. Along the way, we found Whistle
Creek Road, a wild horse area. It would be a neat place to drive in with your
car and see if you could see any wild horses!
We arrived in Cody WY, where we made a pit stop at Park
County RV for A/C repair or replacement. Praise God, and Marty (the owner of
Park County) … they had one A/C in stock and it was the exact model we needed …
they installed it today. 2 hours from start to finish!
We arrived at Cody Ponderosa Campground, after the main body
of the caravan arrive. This is our home for the next four nights.
We relaxed a bit and then we had a Yankee supper at the
local Chinese Restaurant and then back to the campground to get gussied up for
the Rodeo.
Then onto the Cody Rodeo! Cody is the "Rodeo Capitol of
the World." From the turn of the century, rodeos and parades have been
part of the 4th of July here in Cody, Wyoming. Officially starting in 1919, the
Cody Stampede rodeo has been held every summer this event established Cody as
not only one of the longest running successful professional rodeos, but also
the only place in the country that has a rodeo performance nightly. The
Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association named the Cody Stampede "Best
Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year" several times.
Night after night, Cody proves that we are rodeo, all summer
long! With our two distinct rodeos, the Cody Night Rodeo every night from June
1st - August 31st, and the Cody Stampede July 1st - 4th, they continue to make their
mark in the rodeo world. Rodeo's history in Cody started over one hundred years
ago with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show. Buffalo Bill was quick to
recognize the fascination the public had for the Wild West and the need to preserve
a part of what was soon to become civilized. Tryouts for the Wild West Show
were held right behind the Irma in what is now the parking lot. Theses rodeos,
tryouts and parades were common although the Wild West show itself was never
formally held in Cody.
In 1913 Buffalo Bill closed his Wild West Show for the last
time. That summer he hosted one last parade and rodeo in Cody for the prince of
Monaco. Buffalo Bill passed away in 1917, ending a fascinating chapter in the
story of the American West. In 1919 Clarence Williams spear headed the effort
to establish a rodeo celebration to Cody to commemorate Buffalo Bill Cody and
the "Old West" he personified. Williams timed the event to coincide
with the day the East Gate opened into Yellowstone Park running from June 23 to
June 25, 1919.
In 1938, Carly Downing a former Wild West show performer,
started the Cody Night Rodeo, or Pup rodeo, as it was called then. The Night
Rodeo quickly became an important part of the Stampede and the Cody community.
It provided income for the Stampede and brought cowboys from all over the
country to compete and show the "Wild West" to travelers all summer
long. Many of the rodeos top bucking stock and famous cowboys come from Cody
Rodeo. Cody is, and always will be, Rodeo!
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