BIGHORN NATIONAL FOREST (WY)

MONDAY - We exited the Cody, WY Walmart parking lot around 9:30AM to begin our 170-mile travel day.

Once we got outside of the town of Cody we began heading east on US-14 for 50-miles and traveling through much smaller towns with names like Lone Tree (pop. 49), Burlington (pop. 288) and my favorite, Emblem (pop. 10).

When we reached the larger town of Greybull (pop. 1651) we turned south on US-20 and traveled 45-miles through towns such as Basin (pop. 1337) and Manderson (pop. 88), before reaching the "big town" of Worland (pop. 4773).

At the town of Worland we once again turned east, this time on US-16. We'll be traveling on US-16 for the next 75-miles, all the way to the turnoff for Middle Fork Campground.

Shortly after passing through the town of Ten Sleep (pop. 260) the scenery took a drastic change from what we've seen so far today.

Soon we were entering the Bighorn National Forest. The 47-mile section of US-16 that crosses through the forest is known as The Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway.

THE CLOUD PEAK SKYWAY SCENIC BYWAY

SLIDE NUMBER
1OF11

Before we start our climb up over the mountains we first drove down into a canyon.
SLIDE NUMBER
2OF11

This canyon marks the beginning of the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway.
SLIDE NUMBER
3OF11

Scenic doesn't begin to describe what we're seeing.
SLIDE NUMBER
4OF11

Pretty soon we'll start climbing through the mountains instead of cutting through them.
SLIDE NUMBER
5OF11

Yep, there's a road up there.
SLIDE NUMBER
6OF11

Right around this next bend in the road is Powder River Pass Summit (elev. 9666').
We stopped there for a bathroom break and to give ROVER a breather.
SLIDE NUMBER
7OF11

We passed by this alpine lake with a campground on it's shoreline.
SLIDE NUMBER
8OF11

Now that we're up here on a plateau we're seeing lots of sheep ranches.
SLIDE NUMBER
9OF11

With all this flat land I'll bet those snow fences come in handy in the wind.
SLIDE NUMBER
10OF11

Down there somewhere is our campsite.
SLIDE NUMBER
11OF11

We are getting close now, just a few more miles down the hill.

We safely backed into our campsite, but we still have 5-miles of steep downhill forest roads to deal with when we leave here on Wednesday morning.

TUESDAY - Today we are headed out to do a 45-mile scouting of the other five campgrounds on this side of the National Forest.

We also plan to check out some of the FREE dispersed camping all along the side roads of US-16.

OUR SCOUTING EXPEDITION

SLIDE NUMBER
1OF12

This cow at the entrance of the campground gave us a look like she wanted to go for a ride.
SLIDE NUMBER
2OF12

This is the campgound road that takes us back to US-16.
SLIDE NUMBER
3OF12

This was an interesting rock formation with some orange coloring.
SLIDE NUMBER
4OF12

Believe it or not, 2-miles further down this road is a FREE campsite.
SLIDE NUMBER
5OF12

We stopped in at the Loft Mountain Lookout Observation Site to see what there was to see.
SLIDE NUMBER
6OF12

This is how you go from 9666' down to 5136' over just 30-miles of roadway.
SLIDE NUMBER
7OF12

No wonder we were smelling the brakes burning when we arrived at camp.
SLIDE NUMBER
8OF12

There's a creek in there somewhere, plus a lot of willow trees, perfect place to spot moose.
SLIDE NUMBER
9OF12

A whole family of cows were waiting when we returned to camp.
SLIDE NUMBER
10OF12

I think by the look we're getting this might be the one we left behind earlier.
SLIDE NUMBER
11OF12

These two young ones knew to get away from the road.
SLIDE NUMBER
12OF12

Middle Clear Creek flows right behind our campsite, but we can't see it from inside THE POD.

Looking for our Visited States Map and Data?
How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List?
If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.

Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?

Labels: