West 2016 WYOMING Rockdocking Adventure(s)

[Ray Eklund]

Here it is... Caravanner issue April 1965 "7000 Caravanners Expected to Attend Rally at Laramie" June 29, 1965. Volume 11, Number 4, April 1965 & May 1965

http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/me...caravanner.pdf

It would be interesting to find the Laramie Boomerang newspaper's accounting of the gathering. Imagine this... Alaskan Caravan to Offer More Adventure.... No doubt the AlCan Highway offered a lot more adventure than today's paved road. Back then, you were guaranteed a broken windshield if you did not have the plastic shield over it. Headlights also were victims on the gravel road through Canada.

We will not be needing a "parking committee of ten members nor installing thousands of feet of water pipe, or loud speaker, or power poles"...

Enjoy the 8th Wally Byam Caravan Club material for 1965.

We will really be Boondocking. All that is provided is weather and wind on this trip.

[Ray Eklund]

If you get snowed in at home, do some background of where we will be camping... we will be in these areas on the Wyoming Boondocking Adventure.

I am searching Beaver Rim Stage Coach Route, which connected Rock Springs and Lander/Riverton. We will be camped on top of their... 'dump'.

http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs...ails_tour.html
http://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-t...s-spook-route/

I was trying to find references to the Beaver Rim campsite... our second day while on the road.

Find 'Beaver Rim and Wind River Range'... this could be the best starting place:
http://wyshpo.uwyo.edu/mmdatabase/Default.aspx

Beaver Rim campsite is in Fremont County, County #10, Lander County Seat... where our winner, Mas Tierra, of the Wyoming County quiz gets the view of the Wind River Mountains. In default, of course. No good deed goes without a reward. ... or in most cases 'Be kind and good natured and you'll always get your reward'.

There is a video on youtube on a Google search: Top of Beaver Rim to the Bottom at Beaver Creek on Highway 287 Wyoming. 5 minutes 44 seconds. YOU will be on that road in the video... but that is nothing compared to where we will be camped along the stage route, before taking the easy way to Lander.

When camped... imagine this guy on his motorcycle doing the drop down Beaver Rim where we will be! No comparison. We can do it with our tow vehicles... but leaving the trailers... on the DUMP.

These ideas are to get you prepared in advance of what to expect. Camped at a Territorial Prison, one day, at a DUMP the second day and camped at some of the most beautiful mountain valley views... all in ten, maybe eleven days.

Our last stop is Oregon Buttes. Look up Pacific Springs, Mormon Trail, Pony Express, A & W Root Beer.... You get the idea. Something for everyone... if you last that long.

[Thalweg]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Here it is... Caravanner issue April 1965 "7000 Caravanners Expected to Attend Rally at Laramie" June 29, 1965. Volume 11, Number 4, April 1965 & May 1965

My Airstream was there:

[Ray Eklund]

Originally Posted by Thalweg

My Airstream was there:

The "51 Year Laramie Reunion" for Thalweg's trailer!

[Ray Eklund]

I have thought this out for some time and it will benefit everyone who has driven long hours to make it to Laramie, WY. The drive from Laramie to Beaver Divide to campsite is 186 miles. We will then be able to slow down to visit Bone Cabin (Como Bluffs cabin built with Dinosaur bones), Medicine Bow (Virginian Hotel) and have plenty of daylight to setup at the Boondocking site.

Can everyone make it to Laramie by Saturday, take the Territorial Prison tour during opening hours or arrive Saturday PM and be ready to depart Sunday 9AM?

Beaver Rim aka Beaver Divide is an area that an extra day to explore, warrants saving Sunday for the entire day. It would be a shame to come all this way, get just some afternoon exploring before leaving for our "near" Lander camp. This location I rate as "excellent" and at 6813' elevation, the views of the Wind River Mountains are your first look of an area where we will be for a week.

I will expect that everyone will be ready to depart Sunday, August 14, 2016 from Laramie, WY to Beaver Rim.

Anyone who cannot, please email me at: boondockingairstream@gmail.com

This is just a tweak to the schedule to make the best use of our time.

[nvestysly]

We plan to arrive at the prison on Saturday. We will be there in time for the prison tour. Leaving at 9:00 on Sunday is okay with us.

[Gearheart]

Ray, Based on your post, #39 roll out was set to be 14, Aug. @ 09:00 I adjusted my schedule accordingly and that is why I'll be in Laramie on Saturday 13. I thought that Sunday AM departure was a given.

[Thalweg]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

I have thought this out for some time and it will benefit everyone who has driven long hours to make it to Laramie, WY. The drive from Laramie to Beaver Divide to campsite is 186 miles. We will then be able to slow down to visit Bone Cabin (Como Bluffs cabin built with Dinosaur bones), Medicine Bow (Virginian Hotel) and have plenty of daylight to setup at the Boondocking site.

Can everyone make it to Laramie by Saturday, take the Territorial Prison tour during opening hours or arrive Saturday PM and be ready to depart Sunday 9AM?

Beaver Rim aka Beaver Divide is an area that an extra day to explore, warrants saving Sunday for the entire day. It would be a shame to come all this way, get just some afternoon exploring before leaving for our "near" Lander camp. This location I rate as "excellent" and at 6813' elevation, the views of the Wind River Mountains are your first look of an area where we will be for a week.

I will expect that everyone will be ready to depart Sunday, August 14, 2016 from Laramie, WY to Beaver Rim.

Anyone who cannot, please email me at: boondockingairstream@gmail.com

This is just a tweak to the schedule to make the best use of our time.

I wondered about this as well. I went back and found in post #84 (page 6) that we've been leaving Laramie on Sunday morning all along. So, as I see it, the question is: do we just add an extra day to the overall schedule to explore Beaver Rim a little more? I'm okay with that.

[unifreck]

WHATEVER you all want to do is great. Coming from Boulder Colorado, after visiting daughter and grands.

Just remember THE BEST DAY EVER IS THE BEST DAY EVER. AEW

[Ray Eklund]

My original Day Itinerary for the trip only had the departure date from Laramie, departing August 14th at 9AM. Now I find that is Sunday. Surprise.

Also phases of the Moon. New Moon on August 2nd and Full Moon on August 18th.

Good that some have been following the thread.

The date is the same, and for me, now the day of the week. Once we are on the road, days of the week and dates become less important. Sometimes the month and year can become a bit... fuzzy.

(Thalweg, unifrek and I agree that we will be in Wyoming the entire trip.)

Aug 13, Arrive in Laramie
Aug 14, Leave Laramie, travel to Beaver Rim
Aug 15, Stay at Beaver Rim
Aug 16, Leave Beaver Rim, travel to Sawmill Creek near Lander
Aug 17, Leave Sawmill Creek, travel to Double Cabin near Dubois
Aug 18, Stay at Double Cabin
Aug 19, Stay at Double Cabin
Aug 20, Leave Double Cabin, travel to Granite Creek near Jackson
Aug 21, Leave Granite Creek, travel to Greys River (Sheep Creek) near Alpine
Aug 22, Leave Grey's River, travel to Pinedale
Aug 23, Leave Pinedale, travel to Oregon Buttes
Aug 24, Leave Oregon Buttes, travel to points unknown.

Anything is subject to change, other than the departing date of August 14th at 9AM from Laramie, Wyoming.

One year we just missed the Rainbow Family east of Pinedale and the thousands of "interesting folk". Some members were there in their tents waiting for someone to pick them up... We wished them the "best of luck".

[Ray Eklund]

I have to thank Thalweg for the Concentrated Edited Itinerary used in my last post.

Some of you might think the original Itinerary I wrote up would not take up the two pages of dirty details. If I had to fill in the minor details as how I am going to fit everyone onto a mesa, or among dispersed campsites along the Forest Service Road at another Base Camp... some would be afraid to show up.

THAT is my point. An 'Adventure' requires little if any planning- 'an unusual or bold experience'. You are given a date to gather in August, a time to depart and the guy leading you into the wilds of Wyoming does not know a Sunday from a Monday. Day's look, take up the same space on a calendar and actually contain the same 24 hours as the other. So... who cares? We just have to be... close.

The afternoon before we leave one Base Camp to move to another, we will actually have face to face contact as a group, no matter how disturbing some members may appear after a couple days. We will be "equally disturbing" so it is not a problem.

I will identify, as a professional courtesy, any stray rocks anyone brings into the campsite. Some may be the elusive leaverite in Wyoming. Some could be agate, petrifried wood, a part off someone's ATV.

[Ray Eklund]

Giant Opal Deposit Discovery Along Highway
wy-opal.blogspot.com/
Mar 25, 2010 - Cedar Rim Opal Deposit, Granite Mountains, Wyoming ... in one of the largest claim staking rushes in Wyoming during the past few decades.
*******
This is in the Beaver Rim area. We are staying there an extra full day and you will need it.

When this was reported on Denver television, everyone with a shovel and a checkbook rushed up there to stake claims.

Search 'Wyoming Opal' on Google and load your shovel, pick axe, rock pick and collecting bucket. This is the best Wyoming Leaverite you can find... or maybe not.

If you get tired of Opal Prospecting... google Wyoming Jade... same general area.

... and you do not have to share anything you find with those on our "wagon train".

[Ray Eklund]

Am getting down to Forest Service roads and routes in the process of making adjustments as I develop the 'Itinerary'. Most of the dispersed camp sites and Base Camps are pretty routine. When I get to Pinedale, WY and the area where the Rainbow Family invaded Sandy Creek/Boulder, my notes mention lots of mosquitos at the end of June in the area. August could be safe, but the area is only a temporary rest area. It would place us in a large grassy area surrounded by pine forests without a view. Not that exciting. We Base Camped at the end of the road, which ends up with a lot of Pack Horses on multiple day trips, temporary stables set up and possibly detached horse haulers. A Forest Service pit toilet was a big focal feature with some picnic tables.

The FINAL Itinerary will have an overload of Forest Service, BLM, State and any other excuse for a name and number on a gravel or asphalt road prepared in August. Not all maps use the SAME names or numbers depending on the source of the map. Even your GPS can vary... so be prepared.

Here are the latest tweaks I have made, with the day of the week added... this time. I will post after this one to explain WHY August 22 has an option of routes.

2016 Wyoming Adventure:

August 13: Saturday- Arriving at the Wyoming Territorial Prison for tours and overnight camp.

August 14 Sunday to August 23 Tuesday (Ten days)

August 14: Sunday- Depart Laramie 9AM to Beaver Divide for dispersed camping Base Camp
August 15: Monday- Beaver Divide exploring at Base Camp
August 16: Tuesday- Depart Beaver Divide 9AM to Lander to Sawmill Creek dispersed camping in the Shoshone National Forest

August 16: Tuesday- Arrive to Sawmill Creek area for dispersed camping along FR 300 Louis Lake Road
August 17: Wednesday- Depart Sawmill Creek to Lander to DuBois to Double Cabin Base Camp

August 17: Wednesday- Arrive at Double Cabin Base Camp
August 18: Thursday- Double Cabin exploring
August 19: Friday- Double Cabin exploring
August 20: Saturday- Depart Double Cabin Base Camp to Jackson to Granite Creek Hot Springs

August 20: Saturday- Granite Creek Hot Springs dispersed camping
August 21: Sunday- Depart Granite Creek 9AM to Alpine to Grey’s River dispersed camping
August 21: Sunday- Grey’s River dispersed camp along river to Sheep Creek

*August 22: Monday- Depart Grey’s River 9AM to Daniel Junction to Pinedale to Boulder to Lander Cutoff to Oregon Buttes Road to dispersed campsite north of Oregon Buttes
(possible dispersed camp if it is getting too late to make it too Oregon Butte dispersed camp until the next day)
August 23: Tuesday- Oregon Buttes dispersed camp on mesa

August 24: Wednesday- Depart Oregon Buttes

*******
*Option for those who do not want to do the Lander Cutoff to Oregon Buttes Road and crossing the Wind River Mountain Range, Bridger Teton National Forest and Shoshone National Forest in one day.

*August 22: Monday- Depart Grey’s River 9AM to Daniel Junction to Pinedale to Boulder to Farson to Oregon Buttes Road. Both groups will meet at Oregon Buttes Base Camp.

[Ray Eklund]

*August 22, Monday.

From Grey's River and the Base Camp at Sheep Creek and dispersed campsites along Grey's River to Sheep Creek... we will be cutting an 'up and over' some interesting topography to Daniel Junction to Pinedale. We will top off our fuel at Pinedale. Those members that are pale looking and knuckles drained of blood... may opt to take the asphalt highway to Farson and back north towards South Pass City, which is north of the next stop at Oregon Buttes.

There is a route doing another 'up and over' from Boulder called the Lander Cutoff via the Big Sandy Elkhorn Road to the Lander Cutoff and to Highway 28 where the Oregon Buttes Road is on the East side of the Highway.

Nancy and I have come onto the Lander Cutoff Road from the East side off of Highway 28. It is decent improved gravel. But, not the entire route to Boulder, Wyoming. We were camped at Oregon Buttes with another couple and their trailer some years ago. It is beautiful country and historical in the sense that wagons used this route in the 1850's and later.

Those who want to follow me on the 'up and over' are welcome to do so. It will be all new to ALL of us. If we get slowed down, there is a possibility that we would do dispersed camping if it is getting late. I do not want to catch Oregon Buttes after dark.

Those who opt to take the Highways will know where the Oregon Butte Base Camp and dispersed camping is located and can work together to enter the camp site. The Lander Cutoff crowd, if any, will either beat you to the area, or you will beat us. I have no idea. Eventually we will arrive.

I will crunch the mileage for the Lander Cutoff 'up and over'. I want a cushion of fuel of at least 1/4 tank. We can detach and get fuel in Farson, as Lander is still a ways north.

For those who are taking this casually... get onto the internet and Google the area and see these roads and follow them around from point A to point B. Some routes connect among a number of options and it can be easy to take the wrong... option and end up Base Camped at a newly discovered site! It happens.

Some understand what I am saying. If you are uncomfortable eating dust, having to think about where we will end up when crossing unfamiliar territory... you will understand the 'adventure' aspect of this trip.

Before we leave Beaver Rim... you will understand that with a number of trailers in route... you DO NOT have to be tail gating so you do not get lost. I will help you understand how to avoid eating dust... by knowing wind directions and laying back a city block of distance behind the trailer in front of you. The only member not eating dust... well, is me. But I will be doing all of the sweating and Nancy catching the minute road change notices as we go.

THIS is why you wanted to jump into this Adventure. To do what you may have never wanted to do yourself. The Grey's River to Pinedale 'up and over', and the Lander Cutoff 'up and over' WILL test your stress level.

I will admit that the Grey's River to Pinedale is the most complicated route. IF you are not faint and dehydrated on that route... you just might make it to another one of these Adventures. Nothing is certain, until we arrive at what we hope to be the... town where its name matches where we thought we were going.

[Mas Tierra]

Hey Human Bean,
In response to post #202 and included links. This is great background information and the motor cycle go pro video of the road we will be on was great. Thank you for taking the time to accumulate this local knowledge and share it. It wound seem this was once the Wild Wild West that we think of when we think of the era of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Hey I read this stuff and am camping in Gold Head Branch State Park in Keystone Heights Florida and believe me there is no snow storm here. This is our second trip (first trip no errors) and I only forgot the 30 amp dog bone connector. I guess my mind is on rock docking with no 30 or 50 amp hook ups.
My wife nearly killed me (84F temps) but SHE found a RV store in Starke Fl who had one. The AC unit in our airstream is quite and works great.
Thanks again for the info.
Regards, Picks

[Mas Tierra]

Hey Ray, In regards to post #214.
Thalweg told me not to let you scare me off this ADVENTURE. If you are doing all the sweating let me just thank you in advance. I have a siphon and a 60 gallon fuel tank and I will be glad to sell you a gallon of gas if you run out. HaHa
RCW

[Ray Eklund]

Mas Tierra... I have special places for special people on this... adventure. The two 'up and over' trips from Alpine, east to Oregon Buttes, will make Boondockers out of anyone wanting to go that route. If we are running out of daylight, a temporary dispersed campsite(s) will be found before making it to Oregon Buttes.

At one spot along the Lander Cutoff Road I found an 1850's-1860's tin can that was tossed into some granite formations along a creek bed. The ranch must hay the area as it would have made a great campsite for hundreds of wagons and forage for their 'towing vehicles'. Four to eight horses, cattle, reindeer, whatever.

Another five or more inches of snow today and more coming and the weather people were going to write this March off as a snow disappointment season. Winter Full Timers... you really ought to think that one over.

I finished the last draft of the Itinerary, today. It is three dense pages and two additional pages to confirm they are the one and same Adventure. I will have to review some of the road names and numbers that I take off my Wyoming DeLorme Atlas. Some numbers are in such fine small print I needed my binocular scope to read them... So if we get lost, it is not my fault.

Thalweg had computed distances on the first outline with mileages. I will check these against my current travel plan and post them for all to see in the near future. The 'travel distances'... to each Base Camp / Dispersed Campsites from the previous.

As it was as we tow total: 786 miles and this is just a small piece of Wyoming!

[Ray Eklund]

Just... one, tiny little extra detail to add some whipped cream and strawberries on this soon to be finished cake.

Go to: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3751.../data=!3m1!1e3

Start at Boulder, Wyoming and travel east on Highway 353 to Big Sandy Elkhorn Road to Lander Cutoff Road all the way to Highway 28. That is the second and easiest 'up and over' for that one day.

Then back up, go to Boulder, Wyoming and follow the roads to the south... and now you understand why there are so many potential places to Boondock just in this piece of Wyoming.

Now with these aerial views, I can count dispersed camps and even sometimes see trailers parked among trees in the forest. No secrets left.

[47WeeWind]

Ray and all:

The second largest gathering of Airstreams in Wyoming occurred in 1969, when 2,175 Airstreams gathered for the 12th Annual WBCC International Rally. Here is a photo taken from the north looking south over the Rally site at the University of Wyoming:




The horizontal road near the top of the photo is I-80. heading east towards the left and west towards the right. The largest gathering of Airstreams in Wyoming occurred in 1965, when 2,592 appeared for the 8th Annual WBCCC Rally in Laramie. We will be hard pressed to come close to either number. Enjoy!

[Mas Tierra]

47WeeWind: WOW WOW WOW. That is one incredible aerial photo. I dare say that record will not be broken in my lifetime.
Mas Tierra