August 29-30, 2018 Lander to Pinedale, Wyoming

Chilly at this altitude 7,950 feet. It was 44 when John got up in the morning. We drove the Louis Lake scenic drive through the forest today.

The view from the scenic drive of the Wind River Range. A small lake along the way.

 Fiddler's lake. It had some nice spots in the campground by the lake.  Cool rock ridge.

Wyoming from the back of a camper, bear warning signs. We hiked 4 miles round trip up the Middle Popo Agie river to the falls. That is where the Bear- danger ahead sign was. . .

John on the bridge to the falls. The falls are a series of many falls, very pretty. 

I think the trail ended here at these falls. John on the bench watching nature TV.  

We continued up another trail to this lovely fall and pool. We tried to climb up to see the upper  60 foot fall, but there was no trail and it ended up being too hard to get too.  

On the way back we drove through Red Canyon. the description of the canyon from the brochure-An iconic and photogenic landscape replete with sweeping meadows, sagebrush grasslands, and mountain shrubs encircled by the Wind River foothills and the striking sandstone bluffs. Offers one of the classic scenic vistas of Wyoming. The road and some horses grazing near Red Canyon Creek.  

Red Canyon view. Close up of the cool falls, mushroom, butterfly and deer.  

  

Dinner in our living room. We are now parked at Rim Station RV park, 30 mile north of Pinedale for the holiday weekend. Middle of nowhere and very quiet. 8000 feet. Supposed to be a low of 37 tonight Our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Our view from camp and cool clouds this afternoon. 

Beautiful clouds reflected in the bus windows. Sunset. 

August 27-28, 2018 Lander, Wyoming

We drove to Lander. The winds were really high. It tried to unroll one of our awnings. Took out some of the stitching on the seams. 70's and sunny.

The map says this is a scenic drive. We crossed the continental divide twice. The divide goes all the way around the Great Divide basin, the water that falls in the basin just gets absorbed into the ground. It does not go either to the Mississippi or the Colorado. The route was also auto tour route and the Chief Washakie Trail and the Historic mines trail. The road closes when there is a blizzard. I drove in a few across Wyoming and is not worth it, can't even see the road. This 4 foot statue of a prairie dog is by the post office. 

Beautiful, historic downtown Lander. I wondered why there is a bicycle on top of the Purina Chow tower, then saw the Bike Mill shop on ground level. 

We are parked at the Twin Pines RV park. Nice park for a commercial.  The view to the south from our spot. 

Sun setting in our front view.  

The sun setting over the little lake next to the RV park. 

We moved to some dispersed forest service camping on South Pass. Free camping, no hookups. Our bus is self contained so we don't need hookups. Beautiful sunset. Very dark and quiet here. 

The next day we went to Atlantic City, mostly a ghost town. The sign as you enter town says there are about 57 people and elevation 7675. We had lunch at the only restaurant, general store, bar and package liquor Miners Grubstake. It is also for sale. It is about as western as you can get. Knotty pine, guns, mounted heads. Nice lunch too. 

I was puzzled about these lines of big rocks by the highway until I noticed there was a rock quarry across the street. Must be storage. Welcome to Atlantic City, wino crossing, and a real Atlantic City Miner. The ghost towns we visited today were gold rush boom towns. There were many mines as well as the towns. This one was the biggest in the area, the Carissa. You can take tours of it on weekends. But not when we were there. It looks like it is fully restored. 

Stark tree, antelope we saw on the way and the velvet painting at Miner's Grubstake. The rabbit bush are blooming a brilliant yellow. 

South Pass City is a state historic site. Many of the buildings are still standing and fully restored with exhibits inside showing how the people lived back then. People have been living there 150 years, but not very many anymore. The entrance sign says about 4 people, roughly three cats, approximately 4 dogs. They don't live in the state historic center, but around it. Yellow gum weed flowers and we are still on the Wyoming historic mine trail.  Beautiful historic downtown South Pass City. 

 Beautiful historic downtown South Pass City.  

The outhouse for the hotel and one of the rooms and kitchen from the hotel in South Pass City. 

John behind the wavy old glass. Lupine, South Pass City is on the Oregon trail. and the bars in the old jail. The cells had really thick walls, these stout bars, no heating or air conditioning. Grim place. 

Lupine and rabbit bush, a map showing the route of the Continental Divide Trail as it passes through Wyoming and South Pass City. A highway sign that says Wyoming Woman's Suffrage Pathway. Home of the women's vote. Wyoming was the first state to legalize women voting. Pine cones near camp. The bus

August 25-26, 2018 Snowy Range and Saratoga, Wyoming

We went back up to the Snowy Range for another beautiful hike on the Lake Trail.

Looking back at Lower Lookout Lake. The cliffs were beautiful. Aster and blue gentian, alpine mouse eared chickweed, field of wildflowers and a small stream with yellow flowers. 

John and I at the top of the pass with many lakes in the background. The pass behind us is where we went yesterday. John with cool clouds.

This is also us at the top of the pass with a trail marker, looking the other direction. The view back down toward Lookout Lake. The clouds were looking really cool. 

Lower down with more cool clouds. Cool clouds over The Diamond.  

 Clouds over The Diamond. Fireweed in front of Lake Marie.  

All week we have been up here in the 50 amp sites all by ourselves. It is Saturday now and the crowds have arrived. To round the evening out we went to the Bullfest tonight. 

Rodeo ambulance at the Bullfest, riding in the Wyoming and American flags, and some of the bull riders. There were 40 riders, only 8 stayed on the whole 8 seconds. This guy won the $6,000 purse and a belt buckle.  

Sunset over the parking lot. As an added treat at the end of the Bullfest the full moon rose. 

When we went to the hot springs today we ran into some friends of ours from Jackson, WY, Kim and Jon. Great to see them. We are going to get together with them when we get to Jackson soon.  Sunset tonight. Storms moving in.