Day 14: Bighorn Mountains (Wyoming)

Two posts at the same time today - scroll down to read about our visit to Devil's Tower.

We left our campsite early and began the drive West. We had two options: Route 14, a steep, twisty road that would bring us back down from the 9000 feet we were at, or Route 14A, an even steeper, twistier road that would do the same. We decided on 14, in part because there was a well known water fall along this route. The drive was incredible, with sights like this:

On our way Sharon spotted a creek that looked to be a good fit for gold panning. We pulled over, and dug up sediment from the bottom of the ice cold water looking for flakes of gold. We think we found a couple tiny flakes.

Retirement savings: check!

Next, we arrived at the Shell Falls.

We had lunch at "Lisa's" in Greybull, WY. Here we spent almost two hours catching up on work, the blog, and planning our next destination since we finally had wireless service again.

For the afternoon, we decided to inaugurate our inflatable raft by heading to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, a large man-made lake in a canyon just West of the Bighorn Mountains.

Inflating the raft took about 20 minutes - the hard part was rowing. Everywhere we went the current and wind seemed to be going against us.

We headed straight to the dramatic red canyon walls, and once there started climbing. The rock crumbles in your hands, so sitting in a boat underneath a vertical tower of disintegrating rock was probably not the best idea, but still very fun.

Like pieces of a puzzle...

...pieces that hopefully won't move today.

This area reminds me a lot of Lake Powell in Utah, except Lake Powell has many more side-canyons and features to explore.

Once back to shore, we packed up the boat and headed toward Cody, Wyoming - a famous Western town named after Buffalo Bill Cody. We arrived in the early evening and after wedging into the last (and tiny) site a campground near downtown had left, we sped over to the Cody Stampede Grounds where Cody hosts a nightly rodeo.

That about covers today - tomorrow we'll explore Cody some more.

Random Fact of the Day: Wyoming is the least densely populated state in the continental U.S. and it shows as you're driving through it.