Thursday, September 21, 2023

September 20-21, 2023 Lander to Thermopolis , Wyoming

 High of 70, partly cloudy and scattered showers. 



Driving across Wyoming from Saratoga to Lander today. We are the Sleeping RV park in Lander for the night. Nice park.



View of Lander from the RV park tonight.  We stopped at Castle Garden Rock Art site outside of Riverton on our way through. 



There was a nice trail through the rocks. The rocks and clouds were stunning.



Two small arches.



Wild hoodoos. The rock art here is known for it's round shields. The  petroglyphs are incised in white rock in bright sunshine. They are hard to see. 



There was a ton of graffiti and gun bullet holes. The first three here are graffiti. The rest of the graffiti was names and dates. Asters, another larger arch, And some glyphs.



Glyphs. Big spire. The glyph panels were protected by cyclone fence. 



Duck cloud. Three shields and some glyphs.



This panel was impressive. There are 12 shields. Most larger than a foot across. It is  hard to see on the white rock with the bright sunlight. There were a couple more on the shadowed face. These shield had originally also been painted, but the paint has worn off. Turtle shield.



Two other shields that look like of like vultures and voles. Death bird? Square figure, thunderbird and a cat?



Another arch and hoo doos. Wild River Canyon.



A faded Welcome to Thermopolis-Stay, Play and Enjoy, The worlds largest hot spring. Sacajawea well is at the Fountain of Youth RV park we are at. The bus at Fountain of Youth RV park.



The fountain  of youth or Sacajawea spring. Frogs at the pools. 



This park is a little dumpy, the washer and dryers do not work and they make you pay for the showers with quarters- after paying a large campsite fee. But the hot pools are why we come. They are wonderful. We both spent the afternoon floating in the hot pools. 










Tuesday, September 19, 2023

September 19, 2023 Snowy Range, Wyoming

 Not too bad here in town, in the 70's, partly cloudy, windy and rainy. We went up into the Snowy range which is sub alpine and alpine and it was in the 50's, windy and party sunny and partly rainy.  For a few miles of hiking. I love the Snowy's and the above tree line terrain 



Lake Marie. Some flowers, seed heads of I don't know what, queens crown, fireweed, pink paint brush, seed head and dandelion?



A miners cabin and the Red Mask Mine. Lake Lewis.



Lake Lewis. John hiking ahead of me up to the pass. 



Looking down on Klondyke  Lakes and Mirror Lake. 



The vista east from the pass. John waiting in the rocks watching a marmot-and waiting for me to take photos.



A few alpine flowers and berries are still hanging on. John waiting for me by  one of the Klondyke lakes. 



High alpine wind blown trees. More alpine flowers.



Lewis Lake. A huge storm heading over the mountains. 


We had dinner at the Snowy Mountain Brewery. John with his IPA. Notice that the arm rests on the chairs are pistols. 


Monday, September 18, 2023

September 16-18, 2023 Dutch George, outside Fort Collins, Colorado

 Beautiful sunny day for hanging out. 



Afternoon light on the campground. The bus and our campsite are in the middle of the photo. Dutch George campground. We are in site 10.



Lovely afternoon light on the river and the mountain across the river from the campground. 



We hiked up Youngs Gulch on this sunny fall afternoon. John standing on a rock above a waterfall. I went up there and slipped and fell on my hip and did not break anything. Pretty sore tho. 



Waterfall. John on the trail.



Beautiful warm fall day. John on the trail higher up in the pines. 



Asters, geranium, red admiral butterfly, Paintbrush, black eyed Susan, blanket flower, and golden rod. View of Young's Creek on the way back. 



John on the trail with fall colors. Golden aster, hare bell, gentian, gumweed, hare bells and sage, white asters, red skunk bush berries and a butter and eggs. 



Cool rocks along the Poudre River on the way back. Nice clouds.



Nice sunset. Aspen near Gould, CO.



We drove through Walden, the moose capital of CO. Crossed the border into Wyoming. 



We are now parked at Saratoga Lake, Saratoga, Wyoming. Sunset on Saratoga Lake.


Had a nice soak at the free hot springs in Saratoga, Wyoming.