I had a wonderful day spent almost entirely outdoors. Got up early and headed out to the Bighorn National Recreation Area that spans the Wyoming-Montana border. At the visitor center a very helpful ranger gave me suggestions of good hikes. As I was leaving, I overheard two women talking, one of them asked where the other lived and she replied ‘I live on lane 7 in between roads 10 and 11.’ lol, I was definitely in a rural area. I headed to my first stop – the Devils Canyon overlook where there were three bighorn sheep lounging next to the parking area! I was the second car there, they were two women about my age with cameras with huge telephoto lenses and they were clicking away. I checked out the sheep, then went for a wander to see the view and was blown away – the Bighorn River lay far below in a deep cut canyon layered with color, its stark beauty was incredible. What’s gorgeous spot, I was amazed at how empty it was. My timing was good, as I was pulling out a group of about 30 college students pulled in.
I drove on to Barry’s Landing, where I was one of only a few cars amid dozens and dozens of trucks with empty boat trailers. This is the spot where all the fisherpeople and water enthusiasts put their boats in. I was headed for the 4 1/2 mile loop around Barry’s island. It was a lovely undulating hike on mostly red clay with gorgeous views of the canyon and the river. For the first half an hour walking by the water I didn’t see any boats, what a huge contrast to any of the water areas in California! After that, I only saw two boats, and heard one more during my entire almost 2 hour hike. It was a lovely amble, the twisted trees lining the trail were a very cool sight. At one point I wandered out to the edge of the canyon and happened to see a stone arch hanging off the canyon wall – that was a treat. The weather was heating up, it was just over 80 by 11:30 so I was happy to get back to my car.
Next I stopped at a historic ranch, checked out the buildings, including the schoolhouse used for a total of three students for two years back in the 1840s.
I wasn’t sure what I was going do after that as it was getting warmer and I didn’t have a lot of extra water so didn’t want to do a long trek. I pulled off on a little one-way loop, and found a nice 1 mile flat hike that led to even more spectacular views. I met up with another solo female hiker and we took photos of each other, grateful to not have to take in another selfie. We talked about what we had seen so far. She was envious that I had seen some bighorn sheep as she was on a mission to see bighorn sheep in as many states as possible. So far she had seen them in five states but not yet in Montana. We parted ways and I continued to look around the area then headed back to my car. As I was changing out of my hiking shoes, a couple drove up and asked if I had seen any of the wild horses that lived in the park. I told him I hadn’t, and they were very disappointed because apparently that was why they had come to the area. It’s too bad they missed out on the spectacular hiking all around.
I continued on my way, refilled my water bottles at the visitor center and thanked the Ranger for his assistance. The ranger station has an artist-in-residence program, so I went into the theater to look at the art displayed there. The current artist has beautiful quilted nature scenes, including quilted postcards. I was very impressed! That’s something I could see myself getting into.
I left and slowly made my way back home, passing a sign for a town that was apparently ‘closed’. I hadn’t stopped anywhere on the way up as I wanted to get out and hiking as early as possible because of the heat, so I took my time coming back. Found a few free little library‘s in Powell, including one at the local Pizza Hut! One free little library had a geocaching box in it, another one also provided free seeds. Powell seems like a cute town, lots of well taken care of houses. The Veterans Memorial building had an old post box that was converted to a receptacle for old flags, with a picture of Uncle Sam painted on it – what’s great idea. While I was there, I also saw an older couple riding tandem on their ATV tootling down the road.
Since I arrived I’ve wanted to learn more about Buffalo Bill Cody since I’m spending a month in his namesake town. Well, universe always provides – and one of the free little libraries I found a brand new book about his life with lots of great pictures. It’ll be a great way for me to learn about Cody then I can leave it at the house for all the future workawayers to check out.
In my way back I passed several large buildings with signs proclaiming ‘Don’t blame me. I voted for Trump.’ Yep, not in the Bay Area anymore. I drove through Byron, where the town welcome sign says ‘A great place to live’. Then not long after that I passed one of the yellow ‘Slow’ signs warning people to look out for kids crossing the street and under it was a homemade sign that said ‘If you hit if you hit one of my kids you won’t need a lawyer.’ Okey-dokey.
After I got back, Erin and I sat outside chatting for a couple of hours, sipping wine and eating dinner, talking about our families and different experiences we’ve had. Having this time to just hang out and get to know a new person reminds me a lot of college, especially freshman year when we spent a lot of time just sitting around and talking. I miss this sort of connection with other people and want to incorporate more of it into my life. We had another spectacular sunset. The horses came down to the irrigation canal for a drink, Erin went over and many of them greeted her like an old friend. She’s been going over to see them at least once a day, getting them used to her camp chair, her laptop bag – they’re always interested in whatever she brings over!
