Lucy Explores The Great West

[dbj216]

Bingo! Great pictures of the mooses. I sure as hope you got tags on both of them. What were their names?

10% grades is more than this flatlander likes. I drive to town on 7% grades and that's plenty for me. I surprised Fred's front wheels didn't leave the ground climbing that steep of a hill.

Lovely photos of the Tetons. You captured the reason so many people visit there. Flat, and then bang, huge mountains.

David

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in Jackson. We spent the day out in the area trying to locate some Mooses. As hard as we looked, we didn't find any.

We did see some great scenery, and did spot a baby black bear scurrying across the roadway.

We did our Moosing until dusk and headed back to Lucy for supper. We have done some packing up duties, and settled in for the night.

Tomorrow, we are going to head over to the Bighorn Mountains in northeastern Wyoming for further Moosing.

Today's pictures include:

- Tetons framed by evergreens with flawless blue sky.
- Park Service trailers used to transport bears.
- Grand Teton in all her glory.
- Picturesque stream.
- Vintage trailer on the side of the road.
- Small bear that ran out in front of us.
- Beaver eaten tree.
- Another stream.

Brian

[cabinetmaker]

Moosetags, we luv reading about your Airstream travels. The pictures too! What wonderful adventures in your Airstream. We plan to do the same in the near future!

[OilnH2o]

The "trailers for transporting bears" you posted do double-duty. They are actually bear traps. The tall frame in the picture to the left is for the slide-up door, which is raised and then a rope/cable is attached to the trigger mechanism, which is where the bait is placed. The trap can be pulled to, and located near, the place where the bear is, but not wanted. Then, it can be dropped there (unhitched), baited and set. Like a mouse trap, when the bear enters the trap and the bait is pulled or moved, that releases the door which drops pretty quickly (and has an auto-lock mechanism)! Then, the bear can be assessed, tranquilized, and even moved to a remote location, where, once the door is raised, the bear is released.

This doesn't answer all the questions that might arise, but it does give more information than the typical newspaper report that, "...the bear was trapped and relocated by Park Rangers...."

[moosetags]

Thanks for the information on the bear trailer.

Brian

[Gene]

Great shots of the moose. How close were you and what lens do you use? I assume you have a supertelephoto (or got really close). Do you use a tripod or rely on autofocus. I can hold my 500 mm lens by hand without a tripod, but sometimes the autofocus isn't enough and the shot is blurry. I'm getting better at holding the camera and lens steady if I tell myself to relax and just point it.

Gene

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Gene

Great shots of the moose. How close were you and what lens do you use? I assume you have a supertelephoto (or got really close). Do you use a tripod or rely on autofocus. I can hold my 500 mm lens by hand without a tripod, but sometimes the autofocus isn't enough and the shot is blurry. I'm getting better at holding the camera and lens steady if I tell myself to relax and just point it.

Gene

SuEllyn was about 75 feet from the moose. We use a 18 to 200mm zoom lens hand held on a Nikon D80 camera with autofocus.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp in Jackson this morning and we headed out across Wyoming. We traveled the back roads east across the state. We traveled US 191 and US 26. The terrain changed as we progressed. We started out in treed forest which gradually became arid desert land. We came through Moran, Dubois, and Riverton. We continued on to Casper, Wyoming. We had covered three hundred miles, and decided that we would stop in Casper for the night.

We got Lucy a full hook-up campsite, and made camp. We dined in Lucy and settled in for the night.

Today's pictures include:

- Lucy at Jackson campground.
- Bull Moose spotted coming out of Jackson.
- Fall colors.
- Beaver dam.
- Fred and the Girls from hill top.
- Fish on fishing pole sign in Dubois.
- Large Jackalope in Dubois.
- Main Street, Dubois, Wyoming.
- US 26.
- Herd of Pronghorn.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by cabinetmaker

Moosetags, we luv reading about your Airstream travels. The pictures too! What wonderful adventures in your Airstream. We plan to do the same in the near future!

Thank you for the kind words. We are really enjoying our Airstreaming around the country. This has been the best time of our lives.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy has decided to layover in Casper for another. We did some shopping and toured the town. Casper is the second largest city in Wyoming behind Cheyenne. We had lunch at the Club (Sam's Club) and got Fred a tank of fresh Diesel.

During our tour of Downtown Casper, we found three vintage movie theatres. This is the most we have found in any town.

We came across a lone Pronghorn in a Casper neighborhood who was not spooked by us at all. When we got back to Lucy's campsite, there was a wild turkey strutting around the campground like she owned it.

We settled in for supper in Lucy. Tomorrow we are going to head up to the Bighorn National Forest, and camp at Buffalo, Wyoming.

Today's pictures include;

- Cowgirl with spurs in Sam's Club.
- into Downtown Casper.
- America Theatre.
- Fox Theatre.
- Rialto Theatre.
- Dog bowl at jewelry store in Downtown Casper.
- Casper Railroad Depot.
- Pronghorn in Casper neighborhood.
- Turkey in campground.

Brian

[Thalweg]

Hi Brian and SuEllen,

I've heard that some moose are hanging out in the Hazelton Road area of the Bighorns. Around the Doyle campground region and Forest roads 506 and 533. Also, Gold Mine Road south of Dullknife reservoir.

Call me if you need maps or anything.
Brent (307)217-2430

[KJRitchie]

I wonder if the America theater is getting a good turn out for the current movie showing.

Do you ever catch a movie at these vintage movie theaters?

Kelvin

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Thalweg

Hi Brian and SuEllen,

I've heard that some moose are hanging out in the Hazelton Road area of the Bighorns. Around the Doyle campground region and Forest roads 506 and 533. Also, Gold Mine Road south of Dullknife reservoir.

Call me if you need maps or anything.
Brent (307)217-2430

Hi Brent,

We are in Casper this morning. We will be heading up to Buffalo later today. We are considering trying out the Bighorn Mountains Campground out on
US 16.

Thank you so much for the Moose sighting information. We will be checking it out. We will give you a call later today. Maybe we can get together and catch up.

Brian

[Silverbee]

Hi Brian,
If you do stay in Buffalo, check out the Jim Gatchell museum in downtown Buffalo. We spent about 3 hours there back in July on our trip out west, and still didn't see everything. He was a trusted friend of the Native Americans in the area and he received many items from them as gifts. He ran the local drug store and was a collector of western items.
Also check out the famous Occidental Hotel. It is a real gem and only about a two minute walk from the museum. Butch Cassidy, Teddy Roosevelt, and Calamity Jane stayed there.

Further, I would recommend Indian Campground. Are you sure Big Horn Campground is open?

Tom

[KJRitchie]

We stayed in Deer Park Campground in Buffalo in 2012. Not quite as close to the interstate as Indian Campground.

Kelvin

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

We stayed in Deer Park Campground in Buffalo in 2012. Not quite as close to the interstate as Indian Campground.

Kelvin

We have have stayed at Indian Campground in Buffalo at least a half dozen times over the past seven or eight years. This time we are trying out Big Horn Mountains Campground. Their rate is the best in town. They are located on
US 16 on the far west side of town. This works our good for us as you start up the mountain as soon as you pull out of the campground. It is full hook-ups and seem good so far. Lucy has just made camp.

Brian

[KJRitchie]

Rvparkrevies didn't give them a good rating but the posts are from 2008. Tripadvisor was more kind.

Kelvin

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Rvparkrevies didn't give them a good rating but the posts are from 2008. Tripadvisor was more kind.

Kelvin

It isn't great, but the hook-ups are good and the price is right. I'll take some pictures in the morning.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp in Casper this morning, and we headed up to Buffalo, Wyoming. We arrived this afternoon and got Lucy settled into a campground.

We headed up into the Bighorn National Forest late this afternoon. We traveled deep into the Forest looking for Mooses. We didn't have much luck until we were headed back to the campground. Along the dirt road on the way back to the main highway.we spotted two Cow Mooses, and a Bull. We were able to stop and watch them for a few minutes before they retreated into the forest. We shot a couple of pictures that were somewhat blurry as to the impending darkness.

We continued down the mountain back to Lucy in Buffalo. It was well after dark when we arrived.

Today's pictures include:

- Traffic on I-25
- Exit 248 exits to a dirt road.
- Weather gates to close I-25 during severe winter weather.
- Livestock Exercise Area at I-25 Rest Area.
- Bighorn National Forest back road.
- Blurry Moose pictures.

Brian

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

We stayed in Deer Park Campground in Buffalo in 2012. Not quite as close to the interstate as Indian Campground.

Kelvin

Deer RV Park is our favorite stopover traveling north and south. But you do have to scoot deer and turkey out of your site from time to time. I like to bicycle out to UCross and back from there.