Eastern Wyoming -A Two Hour Vacation

When I tell people I live in Wyoming, I often hear, “Oh, Yellowstone, I love Wyoming.”

 Well I love Yellowstone myself, the most beautiful place on earth. But I have to explain that I live on the other side of the state, eastern Wyoming. Specifically, Guernsey Wyoming, south of Casper, north of Cheyenne. If that’s not enough I try, “two hundred miles north of Denver."

Then I sometimes here, “Is there anything out there?”

“Well yes, yes there is.”

My wife and I think eastern Wyoming is the greatest place to live on earth, we have mountains and plains, rivers, trees, wildlife and cows. Not too many places to shop and that makes it just about perfect. Monday afternoon we took a two hour ride out west of town and back—so here it is a quick glimpse of eastern Wyoming, just west of Guernsey.

Eastern Wyoming – A Two Hour Vacation.

A nice Texas cow in Wyoming, still like seeing these old Longhorns around, even if this one is not sure which way to let the horns grow.

 

A little history lesson – this is the Oregon Trail crossing at the Bitter Cottonwood. Hasn’t changed much since the trail was the best way west. Actually it hasn’t changed at all. It was a long day, at 17 miles, but this could be done from Fort Laramie in one good day. Travelers liked this camp site because there was an abundance of fire wood.

 

Not the wild herds of trail days, but this is open range, still no fences in site.

 

 

And we do have mountains in Eastern Wyoming, this is the Laramie Range

 

Laramie Peak through the boulders

 

Mountain pasture buffalo

This is Cottonwood Creek about 20 miles upstream from the crossing at the Bitter Cottonwood. Yes, I know, pretty spectacular.

 

Why do kids always want to race, I declined, 55 miles per hour seemed a bit too fast for me.

 

Still seems to be a good number of horses in the area. I know nothing about horses, other than I have fell off, been bucked off and been both bitten and kicked, but still really like them, not sure why. This appears to be some type of draft (work) horse, maybe a Morgan.

Sun is setting I’m ready to go home – ahh, home sweet home.

 

 

Maybe I will grill and enjoy the view from the back 40 this evening.

Depending on when you read this post, goodnight or good-day.

 

 

 

Fort Laramie and the Trail West

Fort Laramie changed the trail for many travelers.  For years the Oregon Trail passed along on the south side of the North Platte River. Especially after Fort Laramie, the north side was considered too difficult.



Fort Laramie a mile in the past



 But in later years, on the trail, the north side was utilized as a good alternative to the south.  North of Guernsey, Wyoming is a very big hill, Immigrant Hill, might be a small mountain, that should have deterred even the most fool hardy of travelers, but it did not. 

 

 



The Trail west between Fort Laramie and Guernsey, WY

Often wagons had to be towed up the hill, but the same was happening a few miles earlier on the south side of the river, as wagons needed to be towed up Mexican Hill. Finding good graze was a constant problem on trails west. Paths on both sides of the river made a chance to find good grass a possibility – as long as you were not the last train west for the year.

Standing on the Oregon Trail one mile west of Fort Laramie, looking west.

The trip to Fort Laramie was pretty flat, just drive I-80 across Nebraska and you will see what I mean. It does rise about 3,000 feet from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie but it takes 500 miles to do it.  Once the travelers left Fort Laramie, trail hardships became a reality.

 The trail now would rise a thousand feet in a hundred miles which was not too bad. But getting up and down some of the smaller chains of mountains that start to transverse the country at this point was a problem.

 

Life was good for the travelers, and then they left Fort Laramie.  The tough climb up and down all the way to the Continental Divide became, lighten the wagon miles.



Fort Laramie Today



 

Photos from March 2014