Moving up into the Bighorn Mountains

After three days in Sheridan, Wyoming, at a full hook-up campground, it was time to move up into the mountains. While Sheridan was lovely with rolling green hills, we could see the Bighorn Mountains to the west. We were sitting at 3,700 feet in elevation in Sheridan, and the motor home had to power its way up an additional 5,300 feet to get over Granite Pass in just 30 miles. 

We knew it was going to be a steep drive, and seeing road signs that say "CAUTION Possible Runaway Trucks Next 12 Miles" didn't make us feel any better. We had enough problems getting up this road without worrying about the crazy runaway trucks that might be heading straight at us.

Much of the highway had a 30 mph speed limit because it was a spiral of curves. The GPS in the motor home looked like someone had sprayed silly-string on the screen as we headed up.

We were driving the Bighorn Scenic Byway, and we did have very scenic views as we headed into the mountains. We made it over the pass at 9,033 feet, and then coasted down to our reserved spot at Bear Lodge Resort. We drove by some forest service campgrounds that got great reviews. But most of them were already full because we were arriving on the Friday before the Fourth of July. (Yes, we are way behind in getting blogs published!) We were too nervous to hope for one of the three first-come-first-served camping spots at Sibley Lake. So we made reservations at a private campground that still had some spots for the holiday weekend. After arriving we knew why they weren't full. The road from the lodge into the campground was the worst road the motor home had ever been driven on.

Our spot was reasonably level, but very narrow and very muddy. It was a tight spot between the pine trees that surrounded us. We didn't put out the slides while we were camping here, because there wasn't room for them.

Mark backed into that tight spot like a pro, but we could tell from the damage on the trees that other campers were not as accurate.

We had electricity and water here for the next five days, but we recognized that the forest service campgrounds were prettier. There was no cell phone service and no television signal anywhere on this mountain. So we were glad that the lodge had free wifi so we could text and publish a couple blogs over the next five days.

After fixing and eating lunch, we were ready to explore. The ranger information center was just two miles away, and we wanted to run our hiking plans by a ranger. We had ten different hikes already downloaded on Alltrails. We found out that some of the roads to some of our trail heads were closed because of all the mud from the snow and June's daily rains. In fact, they had run out of saw horses and "road closed" signs, so we hoped we wouldn't accidentally get on a road that was closed. All the locals were telling us that this was the most spring rain and cool weather that they had ever seen.

Our first hike started at Sibley Lake. We would have to come back on a calm wind day to put the kayak in the water here. This was the only forest service campground with any electric hook-ups. We had to drive by to see that they were all full, so our decision to make a reservation at a private campground was the right one after all. Then we took off on the Sibley Lake Trail that runs beside the creek that feeds the lake.

Just like the roads were muddy, so were the trails. We dodged puddles and tip-toed through marshy areas. We finally had to turn around at the warming hut when the valley ahead was covered with water. It was a pretty walk in the forest, and we got 2.7 miles of exercise.

Our shortened Sibley Lake hike left us with time for another hike on our moving day. We headed seven miles down the Bighorn Scenic Byway to the trail head for Steamboat Point. This unusual rock has always been a landmark along this scenic byway. We think that it is another of God's wonders.

It's less than a mile hike to the top, so this shouldn't have taken long. But this was a very steep trail, and we found we needed lots of stops to take pictures of flowers and catch our breath. Fueled by all the extra moisture, the wildflowers in the Bighorn Mountains were just stunning!

It's hard to take a picture that shows steepness, but we tried. Even though Denisa had made it up a long way from the parking lot, she still had a very long way to go to the top.

After that very steep approach, the trail finally leveled off and continued in front of the rocks to the far edge of Steamboat Point. 

In the picture below, you can see Mark sitting on the white rocks of Steamboat Point as he looked over the valleys around us. We thought they looked like green velvet. The entire mountain-side in front of us was like a manicured golf green.

Denisa loved her view from her perch at the end of Steamboat Point. She was content that we had completed the trail and that it was time to head back to the pickup. 

But Mark was pretty sure that he could find a way to get on top of Steamboat Point. Denisa was not surprised to see that he made his way to the top. He was standing on the edge with his hands up in the air just so the camera could see him against that bright blue sky.

In most of Denisa's pictures, he was just a tiny dot. He raised his arms so the tiny dot looked bigger.

For the above picture, he was on the tallest rock on the left hand side of the picture. Do you see the tiny dot on top of that giant column of rock on the left?

He was actually standing beside a post that once had a sign attached to it. Denisa was pretty sure that the sign once said, "Your wife thinks you shouldn't be here!" But the views from that very top were quite beautiful.

Once on top, he found that there was a pretty flat path that took him most of the length of Steamboat Point. Denisa took pictures of Mark as he peeked over the edge of Steamboat Point occasionally. But when he walked out on the point that didn't have any rock supporting it, she yelled at him to get off! Someone had to have sense around here, and it was obviously not Mark. 

Actually, from where he was standing, he had no idea that he was out on a ledge with nothing under it. He was just snapping pictures of the views from the top with reckless abandon.

After Mark finished playing on top of Steamboat Point, we made the steep trek back down to the pickup. A couple guys riding their motorcycles across North America were watching our hike from the parking lot. They were pretty impressed with a couple of old retired people making that hike--especially when they found out that one of those old people was standing on the top just a few minutes before they arrived.

We drove back to our new campground slowly, hoping to see some wildlife this evening. Mark spotted a moose some distance from the highway. The picture wasn't great, but we had to document our first moose on the Bighorn Scenic Byway.

Back at Bear Lodge, we stopped in to check emails and texts. It would have been a long five days without a little communication from the outside world. We had also read about the Bear Lodge Restaurant's reputation for good home-made pie. We decided to start a tradition of having a different slice of pie every evening. So we end this blog with coconut cream pie. Stay tuned as our Bighorn Mountains and pie adventures continue.