24 July 2023 Peaks and Shows

 Leslie read in one of the magazines that there was a herd of 120 wild horses on some BLM land about 20 miles east of where we are, in the McCullough Peaks. Buffalo Bill used to pasture his show horses there in between shows. Including some horse that were given to him by Queen Victoria of England after his performance at here Golden Jubilee.  So we drove out to the turn off of US20 and took the dirt and gravel McCullough Peaks Road back into the peaks. The road was in great shape and aside from a few really steep climbs and descents where we dropped into 4 wheel drive for added traction, it was pretty smooth. We took our time moving along the road keeping an eye out for the horses. The last few miles we went a little faster as rain was moving in and we did not want to get caught on a dirt road in the rain. Although we looked hard for them, we never did spot any of the horses. But the scenery was beautiful! We arrived back at the Wanderer just before heavy rain hit. Later this evening we drove back into town to the downtown theater to see the Wild West Spectacular the musical, at the historic Cody theater. The show is put on by the Rocky Mountain Dance Theater and was about Buffalo Bill’s life as a showman. It had a local theater feel to the performance and we enjoyed the show. 

Looking back toward Cody from McCullough Peaks

Rain Moving In!

Historic Cody Theater

 We did a half day float trip on the North Fork of the Shoshone River this morning. Our guide was Nolan, from Wyoming Trout Guides ($579 including fishing license). We drove up the north fork from Cody until just before the national forest boundary where we put in. We then floated down the north fork of the Shoshone for 4.5 hours to Buffalo Bill Lake. We landed 8 large rainbow trout during that time (we released them all), but missed a couple of dozen hits because we did not set the hooks fast enough. The rig had a purple spider about 12 inches down from the bobber with a wet fly (Nolan tied himself) another foot down the leader. The fly did not have a barb on the hook, so we had to be fast to hook them. I think Nolan was more upset about the misses than we were. It was a beautiful day to be on the river and we enjoyed scenery and the chance to work on our casting technique on a boat. Leslie hook poor Nolan in the neck on one cast but luckily it was with the fly, so it pulled right out. We were surprised to learn that there was walleye in the river and lake and that the fishermen are required to keep any they caught (there is a fine if you threw them back) because they are eating the indigenous cutthroat trout. By the time we hit the takeout, we were tired of casting and I think Nolan was ready to be rid of us. But we had a great day!

Preparing to board the boat

Leslie with a fish

David with a fish

20 July 2023 Center of the West

 With rain threatening, we decided to stay close to home. We drove out to the original location of old Cody. Through a private agency, they have moved old log homes and businesses from around Wyoming and Montana to the site. Three of the cabins are reputed to have been hide outs of the Sundance Kid. The history and stories surrounding the buildings was fun to read. They also moved the grave sites of 5 pioneers of this area from the open prairies to the old town. As we are wrapping up our exploration of the Old Trail Town, it started to drizzle. Following the Old Trail Town exhibit, we headed over to Center of The West museum complex. There we watched a Raptor exhibition and then toured the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. 

19 July 2023 North Fork

 Today we drove straight west of town along the North Fork of the Shoshoni River all the way to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone NP. The canyon along the river is very scenic and rough. It was a pretty drive each way. Along the way we spied some property that interested us. The scenery is gorgeous but the prices are crazy. 

18 July 2023 Heart Mountain and Rodeo

 David finished work early, so we headed out to the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp National Historic Place to the north east of town. The Heart Mountain camp was built in 1942 to house up to 11,000 Japanese American internees. This is the third interment camp we have visited and it definitely had the best exhibits and a good film. The exhibits cover the lives of Japanese Americans before during and after their interment during World War 2. The only surviving buildings are two barracks and a boiler building from the camp hospital. The barracks were hastily thrown together  (a barrack was boasted to be built in 58 minutes)…between February 1942 and August 1942 when the first internees arrived by train. The Internees quickly organized themselves in this desolate country, completed an irrigation canal to allow them to farm, a fire brigade, a police force, and crews to work on construction. They grew their own vegetables, chickens and hogs to feed themselves and other camps. It’s amazing under the conditions they were living. Can’t imagine surviving a Wyoming winter with -40F temperatures in a building with tar paper walls and no insulation especially with nothing more than California clothing. There were ten interment camps for Japanese and Japanese Americans and more camps built for other nationalities (German, Italian, and other axis countries). 

 

Following our visit to Heart Mountain, we went to the rodeo in town. The invocation at the start of the rodeo was a real heart swelling speech. This is real God and Country part of the US and we loved it! The rodeo was fun to watch. They had bronco riding, bull riding, cow roping, barrel racing and a fun event for the kids. We had taken the free bus from the KOA to the arena and when we made our way out of the stadium, we were surprised to find out the bus had taken off without us! Fortunately, some of the Rodeo clowns were still around and suggested we call the Cody Taxi company. We waited around of thirty minutes for the taxi to pick us up. But folks hung around to make sure we would not be stranded. Got to love small towns in God’s country!

Memorial to Internees that served in the Military

Hospital Barracks from original camp

Mother original hospital barracks

Hospital Boiler Building

Guard Tower

The Cody Rodeo

Rodeo Announcer

Openning Flag Cerimony

Ride em cowboy

Oops!

Round that barrel

16 July 2023 Joseph and Beartooth

 Today we drove the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway up into the Absaroka Mountains to the intersection with the Beartooth Scenic Highway. The weather was perfect, but there was a fair amount of haze from smoke drifting down from fires in Canada. The Chief Joseph Highway follows the path of the Nez Peirce as they ran from the US Army. The road goes up through Dead Indian Pass before dropping into the Shoshone National Forest. The views of the mountains from the top of Dead Indian Pass are amazing. When we intersected Beartooth Highway, we headed west to Cooke City, just outside the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone NP for lunch. Then we headed east through the Beartooth Mountains to Red Lodge. Absolutely gorgeous!! The top of Beartooth Pass is 10970 feet, well above the tree line. The drive reminded us of the Going To The Sun Road in Glacier NP. Simply beautiful! We even stumbled along a large herd of mountain goats not too far off the road.  Near the top of the pass, we pulled off and just sat there soaking up the incredible views of mountains, alpine lakes, glaciers, and rugged mountain peaks as far as we could see. 

Absaroka Mountains  from Dead Indian Pass

Absaroka Mountains 

Looking for a snack at Dead Indian Pass

Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River canyon Looking East

Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River canyon Looking West

Lunch in Cooke City

The greeter

Snow blower on the roof!!

Water Fall along Beartooth Highway

Absaroka Mountains from Beartooth Highway

Beartooth Lake

View North from Beartooth Pass

Mountain Goats in Beartooth Pass

Mountain Goats in Beartooth Pass

This is actually a ski resort that is open most summers but closed in the winter

Marmot