Scouting the Bighorn Mountains

Hi Blog! Today is Thursday, September 3, 2015. We are camped near Sheridan, Wyoming in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. Located in north-central Wyoming, the Bighorn Mountains are a sister range of the Rocky Mountains. They are halfway between Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park. According to the brochure, no region in Wyoming has a more diverse landscape - from lush grasslands to alpine meadows, from crystal-clear lakes to glacially-carved valleys, from rolling hills to sheer mountain walls. After reading all this, we wanted to go up and check it our for ourselves.

There are two roads that lead up and over the mountains - Highway 14 which is north of Sheridan and Highway 16 which is south.  After looking at the Forest Service map, we decided on Highway 14 since it gave us the most access to all the scenic stuff. Here we are at the beginning of the Bighorn National Forest.

We don't have any photos from the ride up to Cutler Hill, since all the scenic views were on the other side of the road. With all the twists and turns, we decided to wait until the return trip to check out the views. As we descend from the Cutler Hill, the high alpine valley opened up before us.

We looked for wildlife, but most of the meadows were being used to graze cattle. As we crossed the valley, we approached Granite Pass, the highest point on Highway 14. Here is a look at the granite cliffs for which the pass was named.

We began to descend into Shell Canyon, which is named for the shell fossils found in the sedimentary canyon walls. As we begin our descent, we look back over our shoulder and there was Cedar Mountain.

Our destination and turnaround point was the Shell Falls Interpretive Site. We had a great chat with a couple of Forest Services Rangers. We explained that while we are full-time RVers, our RV is too big to bring up into the mountains. We plan to change to a smaller RV and pull a Jeep. They were very helpful giving us all kinds of ideas of where to camp and hike when we come back to the Bighorn Mountains in a couple years.

After talking with the rangers, we took a stroll on the nature trail over looking Shell Creek. Over the past million years, Shell Creek has incised a deep chasm through the sedimentary stone and ancient granite. The water of Shell Falls, dropping at a rate of 3,600 gallons per second, follows fractures in the granite.

Bit by bit, the daily grind of water rippling over rock wears the mountain away. In a more dramatic fashion at Shell Falls, run-off from melting snow during May and June creates a massive force capable of muscling huge boulders downstream. Here we look down on the boulder strewn creek.

The Interpretive Center doesn't have a picnic area. Great White graciously agreed to provide a comfy place to sit while we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and scoured the landscape for signs of wildlife. Here Kathy demonstrates the proper technique for eating and scouring.

We took our time on the way back and made a number of scenic stops. Here we got a chance to get up close and personal with Shell Creek as it tumbled down a series of small waterfalls.

To get the full effect, click on the link to the video of Shell Creek.  (Note how Great White photobombs the video at the beginning, and Kathy jumps into it at the end.)  As we began to climb out of the canyon, Shell Creek gets further and further away. Here the granite cliffs show some of their true colors.

Before long, we reached the summit of Granite Pass. Great White wanted it documented that he climbed to 9,033 feet!

As we drove back through the valley, we noticed a number of aspen stands that are already showing the first signs of fall color.

Our next stop was Sibley Lake. Sibley Lake was constructed by Camp #853 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1937. The lake was named for Lieutenant Sibley, leader of a cavalry scouting party which was attacked by Sioux Indians. He did survive the attack.

Here is Steamboat Point, so named because it resembles the bow of a steamboat. We would have loved to hike to the top for those 360 degree views of the Bighorns and surrounding valleys, but we just didn't have enough time. Maybe later.

We stopped at several scenic overlooks on the way back down, but the haze from the fires out west made getting good photos difficult. The green belt you see below is the Tongue Creek watershed, as it flows through the town of Dayton, which is where we turned out to Tongue Creek Canyon later in the day to take a hike.

More on that hiking adventure in the next blog.