We had a somewhat uneasy night, after seeing a mouse scoot into the bedroom closet and disappearing, but we got up and on our way early to Buffalo Bill State Park, in Cody, Wyoming. Our friend, Ryan, had told us how beautiful the country is, so we decided to see for ourselves. Just beyond Casper, WY, we began seeing signs warning about road closures ahead due to rock slides. Upon checking online I found the road we needed to take was one of those closed. We stopped on the roadside to regroup and while we were there, a Wyoming Wildlife truck stopped and two young women came back to see if we needed help. They came up with a couple of alternate camping possibilities, Rich called the Wyoming parks office and they confirmed that we couldn't get to Buffalo Bill and that our reservation could be moved from to Boysen State Park in the Wind River Canyon. We turned around and headed back a ways to get to the road we needed and headed toward Shoshone. By this time, we were tired and hungry, so found a little place called Mimi's and went in for lunch. The outside isn't particular inviting, but the interior had been redone in '50's diner style and the prices were surprisingly high. We ordered burgers, fries and a milkshake and were treated to one of the best lunches we've had this trip. There we learned from the waitress that the road to Boysen State Park was closed due to – a rock slide. Frustrated, Rich called the Wyoming parks office again and after some waiting while the woman made some phone calls, found that the road was indeed closed, but all we needed to do was tell the man on the gate that we had reservations at Boysen and he would let us through, since the slide was just beyond the campground. That was excellent news.
Our bad luck once again turned to good, and Boysen was a place to remember with pleasure. Boyson State Park is at the south end of the Owl Creek Mountains, a subrange of the Rockies and adjacent to the Wind River Indian Reservation at the mouth of the Wind River. As we drove into the park the land was flat and the reservoir was a beautiful blue. As we drove a bit farther, we were in the midst of what looked like big, colorful piles of sand, then suddenly, we were surrounded by craggy mountains. The Wind River runs beside the campground and the reservation lies on the other side. Most archaeologists believe people lived here at least 12,000 years during which time the area was rich with both plants and animals. These people may have been distant ancestors of Native Americans, but didn't have a tribal name. Prior to building the dam on the Wind River and flooding the area, archaeological surveys were performed and many sites were found, but unfortunately nearly all sites were inundated by the reservoir. Twelve petroglyph sites were recorded by the Smithsonian Institution in the late 1940's and early 1950's and ten of these sites were relocated. There were artifacts and hearths found over an area of 1764 square feet. In 1990, the petroglyph sites were reevaluated for their research potential and significance, but most of the cliff sites comprising eight of the sites have been destroyed by the reservoir wave action, inundation, and erosion.
In the photo of the petroglyph with the bear-like creature: there were five panels of petroglyphs recorded at this site with between 40 and 50 individual figures. In the photo with the family the petroglyphs in which these figures were found consisted of four panels at least 17 to 20 feet along a west-facing sandstone cliff. These figures were all lightly pecked onto an unprepared surface. I want to go back to the area and learn more about the petroglyphs as well as taking a hike to view some of those remaining.
The park was nearly deserted when we arrived – there were three units there one of which was deserted and the other two were out of sites and waiting in a day use parking lot. Turns out, they needed to go to Thermopolous, which was on the other side o the slide unless you drove 7 hours around to come in from a different direction. The deserted unit belonged to some folks who had been in Thermopolous when the slide happened and they stayed in town a couple of nights until the road was cleared.
Although we were told big horn sheep were often sighted in the mountains surrounding the campground and in the evening down by the river, near which we were camped, we weren't lucky enough to sight any sheep. Birds, however, were plentiful, we saw marmots playing in the rocks, and we had two men come in to camp next to us who liked to catch fish but didn't eat them! They went fishing every morning, camp back to camp with their limit, cleaned them, bagged them up, and brought a couple over to us. We had brown and rainbow trout for dinner and the next night, they were over to offer us a couple more fish, which we happily accepted. The morning they left, Rhubarb (so-named because as a younger man he loved to fight) brought us a couple more that they had just caught. I wish I knew their names so I could tell them how much we enjoyed their catches.
The weather was between 40 and 80 degrees during our time there and for the most part, rainy – we were hoping there would be no more rock slides. We drove to Riverton to do laundry, get truck tires, an oil and fuel filter change, lunch at Fulmer's Fat Boy (note to self: decent lunch but about $10 a plate overpriced – two little pieces of fish, a huge mound of French fries, and some so-so coleslaw), and groceries.
Two days later, the road had been opened, there had been no new rain, so we took a drive to Thermopolous, which meant driving through the canyon where some of rock slides happened. One of the main attractions in town is the city park which boasts hot springs and a bison herd. We didn't visit the hot springs (we'd probably have spent the whole day there!) and in spite of driving for miles through the bison acreage, we failed to see a single one. But the park was beautiful and next time we're there, I may be able to talk Rich into trying out the hot springs... While in Thermop (as the locals shorten it) we visited the dinosaur museum, which was amazing and well worth the small entrance fee as well as several hours of or time. After our visit with the dinosaur we had lunch at Las Fuentes. Perhaps I should say, we dined at Las Fuentes, because our lunch was what dreams are made of. Rich had a great chimichanga and I had a chicken breast with corn aiole and raspberry chipotle sauce . It was one of the best meals I've ever been lucky enough to eat (and that includes a couple of four-star restaurants).
We had two sunny days, and then we left for another try at our stay at Buffalo Bill. We were glad to have the dry spell since we had to drive through the canyon again and more rain could have meant more slides. I really don't want to be beneath a big pile of rocks and mud!
