The Overland Trail

We crossed over into Wyoming and it didn't disappoint.  

Wyoming must be the Native American word for "windy".  

Every time I've been in Wyoming the wind is relentless and the scenery spectacular. 

I found this on a roadside point of interest. 

It is worth reading especially for the time factor of travel.

(click on the image to enlarge and easier reading)

I looked long and hard and saw nothing. 

After over a hundred and fifty years the wagon tracks probably are pretty much no more.

Pronghorn were plentiful though through here.  Being the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere I wondered if the pioneers had any luck in hunting them for food.

A mile further up the road we crossed the continental divide at 7004 feet.

With the wind, cold, altitude and elusive game this land sure was no picnic for the pioneers.

A Change in Plans

not that I ever really have a plan.

A big change in the weather was in the forecast with rain, wind and a thirty degree drop in temperature (that turned out to be a forty degree drop) that would go on for a couple of days.  If we were to be confined inside for that long I'd like to have some Wi-Fi for entertainment to pass away the long hours.  So as much as I didn't want to leave Rio Blanco, I did anyway moving north to Craig, Colorado.  I planned for the Walmart "campground" there then moved up the road to check out the McDonald Wi-Fi prospect for day time use.  There I found an abandoned K-Mart or other big store.  This would be better than the Walmart parking lot and so there we stayed, for two days.

Two very long days.

I don't care for McDonald's food...

...so I walked across the way to Wendy's.  Very disappointing.  I had forgotten I don't care for Wendy's food either.  I really need to make a list of the fast food places I don't care for.  

Perhaps the list should be of the places that are okay.  It'd be a shorter list.

The only thing of interest I saw those two days was this.  I wondered if these were little shelters dropped off on the range for the cowboys to use.

Boy I was glad when this was over with although it was still cold.

Life at Rio Blanco

Waters from the White River (Rio Blanco) are diverted to keep the lake topped off.

Right now everything is at flood stage and no diversion is needed.

I couldn't direct Beans' attention to the frog. She was onto something else.

This bird (Osprey I believe) gets a fish every morning.  I'm surprised this photo came out as well as it did for I used the iPhone, zoomed in to the max and had a cat yanking on her lead.

The weather can change in an instant.  Rain and hail, then sunshine.

Exciting stuff.

After a rain I went for a walk and rescued this little fellow who was treading water in a big mud puddle. He rode on my hiking stick for the rest of the way, recovering from his near-death experience.

Rio Blanco Lake State Wildlife Area

So I was breaking one of my most important road travel rules: Never move on a weekend.

It was a Saturday and I really didn't know what we would find but was pleasantly surprise to see only a couple campers in the camp area and a couple more beyond were the boat ramp was.

This looks promising Beans.

And we found our own isolated spot on around the lake.

See the white speck?  That's us.

No room for anyone to move in on us 

although the lake doesn't seem to have that many visitors in the first place.

I was hoping to be able to go for a swim but the water is very shallow here and mucky.  

And probably cold too.

But it is peaceful and quiet and we like that.

Canyon Pintado

Coming down from Douglas Pass on scenic 139 we drove through the Canyon Pintado (Spanish for painted canyon) Historical Conservation Area.  This area was the home to Native Americans from 0 to 1300 AD.  Several stops along the way provided access to various features.  This one I wanted to hike in and see for it had pictographs (painted symbols) rather than petroglyphs (etched in the rock). 

I don't get to see many pictographs. 

I found it amazing how well the colors have held up for all this time. 

It was situated under a ledge so I doubt rain ever gets it wet.

The key word here is "theorized".  They don't know.  

You already know what I think from previous postings of Native American doodling.

Douglas Pass

Leaving Rabbit Valley (way off on the distant horizon) we did a short two hour drive to the top of Douglas Pass 8268 feet (2520 meters)

It was a hard pull for The Little House on the Highway but she did well.

At the top stood a road maintenance facility it was cool and comfortable.

Don't know why the blurry photo.  

Wind?

At times the wind was really whippin' coming up from the valley. 

 I had to move the RV over to the other side and aim the front towards the wind. 

We had some interesting weather that afternoon and evening.

Good Bye Rabbit Valley

It was time to finally move on from our home in Rabbit Valley, Colorado.

Colorado doesn't provide the sunsets as well as does Arizona

 but we aren't complaining.

Colorful shaded lichen outside our door.

Only one of these I saw.

One of those fifty-plus year archaeological artifacts.

Cans of condensed milk were the most to be seen.

I suppose graffiti over fifty years of age too is now considered of archaeological significance?

May 11, 1955.  

Just made the cut-off it did.

Lucky for TBS.

 And Beans got herself on more lizard.

The lizard lives on, with a shorter tail though.

We'll be back Rabbit Valley.

We Made It!

Rabbit Valley, Colorado

It was getting close to when we would leave Rabbit Valley.  I decided to take one last ride, maybe retrace our tracks from the first ride weeks earlier.

This time Gracie and I pressed on even further and finally, there it was, the Colorado River.

This is the longer route from before that we had turned back on before reaching the end.

I think we were way over there around the bend in that other post when we accidentally found the Colorado River a week earlier.

I parked the bike and walked on down the slope to the edge of the canyon.

What a grand scene to take a train ride through.

Believe me, it took a lot for me to stand here and get these pictures.

Fifty years ago I wouldn't have given it a care in the world.

Not today!  Strange how we change with age.

That's my security bush.  It was the only way I could stand there, by having that bush close by so I could hold onto a branch.  

Back up the slope were several camp sites.  No one was there, anywhere.

You need a high clearance four wheel drive vehicle to get back in here.  Oh if I still had my Land Rover.  It was so quiet here.  I could hear the sound from the rapids in the river below and birds calling from the trees along the flooded river banks.  Their calls would echo up the canyon wall, hauntingly beautiful to listen to.

Trail Through Time part 4

Rabbit Valley, Colorado

The amazing thing here was they hadn't been vandalized.

Perhaps they didn't know what they were standing on.

Then I came up to this one and was right back to where I was at the beginning,

not seeing it.

Finally I could just make out the pelvis bone.

I guess in time you develop an eye for these fossils as I would just pass them on by.

On the way back to the parking lot was a fine view of the valley.  I found out it got its name by the fact there were a lot of rabbits here at one time.  I never saw one rabbit the three weeks we were here. 

What happened to all the rabbits?

Someone lost their water bottle.

It reminded me of mom and pop and their daughter.  I looked back up on the hillside where I could see most of the trail.  They weren't to be seen.  It was now even hotter.

As I neared the parking lot up ahead was a young lady coming my way.  She stopped, bent over to look at something then continued on towards me.  We exchanged hellos in passing then I wondered what she was looking at.  When I reached the rock there poised was a collard lizard.  She evidently wasn't all that impressed for she just gave it a glance and didn't even take a photo.

People.  I'll never understand them.