Lucy's Great Excursion

[moosetags]

More photos in Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming

[Mac1]

Great pictures up there on top of the Big Horn Range. It looks like alot of the snow has melted since we went through there a couple of weeks ago. The mooses must have been hiding when we went through, we did't see one.
It looks like you guys are having a great time.
Happy belated birthday SuEllyn.

Mac and Linda

[Boondocker]

One of my favorite places to go! Dont forget to see the southern end, there are lots of cool things to do there. Ten Sleep Canyon, Crazy Woman Creek, ect. There is some prime boondocking in the Big Horns as well.



Just a couple of things to see while you are there. If memory serves me, there is an old hotel (the Occidental?) in Buffalo that is supposed to be kinda neat also.

[Fyrzowt]

Moose(s)tags, you guys are giving me the travel itch. Great photos.
Dave

[Condoluminum]

Wow.. We too enjoy re-living several great trips in that area, in the Airstream (2004) and the prior Nomad "Casa de Cardboard..".. The drive from Shell to Burgess Junction over US 14 through Shell Canyon was a little more exciting than we bargained for, but the drive back down the eastern side into Sheridan is spectacular.. The high meadows reminded us a lot of "Heidi Country.." Very green when snow is gone..

Enjoy the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore.. Try to imagine 100,000 visitors in Sturgis on motorcycles (coming in July) as you drive through town...

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Gen Disarray

One of my favorite places to go! Dont forget to see the southern end, there are lots of cool things to do there. Ten Sleep Canyon, Crazy Woman Creek, ect. There is some prime boondocking in the Big Horns as well.



Just a couple of things to see while you are there. If memory serves me, there is an old hotel (the Occidental?) in Buffalo that is supposed to be kinda neat also.

Your second photo looks a lot like this one that we took yesterday at Shell Falls in the Bighorn N.F.

[moosetags]

Day 27 - June 9, 2007

Lucy is still camping in Ranchester, Wyoming. Today we rode the the section of Bighorn National Forest out west on Alternate US 14. The west side of the Forest is quite a bit different that the east side. It is very beautiful, but somewhat arid. We drove completely through the Forest to Lovell, Wyoming, south to Graybull, and back east through the Forest on US14. US 14 cosses Observation Point at a 9430 foot elevation (that's exactly 9400 feet above where we live in Florida). We stopped there for a picnic lunch and noticed a quite large face sculpture in the snow.

We continued east on US 14 and checked out some National Forest Campgrounds for future use. We stopped at Shell Creek Campground. This is a primitive campground about 2 miles down a dirt road. While checking out the campsites, we found Marvin J. Moose roaming freely among the campers. We were told that Marvin stops by to visit about every day. We were able to get within about 40' of him to take some pictures. This is the closest thay we have ever been able to get to a moose in the wild.

We continued west through the Forest and had several additional sightings of Mooses right along the road. We didn't get back to Lucyuntil 10:30 PM. It was, indeed, a great day of Moose hunting.

[maxandgeorgia]

Like Moosetags and Gen Disarray, we too love the Big Horns. Maybe they lose attention because many tourists have their sights on the Rockies on to the west, but these are magnificent mountains with water and rock and vistas to thrill you. We have not yet gone the northern route through the range, but we did our first trailer pull through the southern route, and Ten Sleep and Crazy Woman became part of our family stories. Great trip and photos. Thanks all for sharing. ~G

[moosetags]

After going through all of yesterday's photos from both cameras, I just have to post some more pictures of Marvin J. Moose and his associates. We are headed back out into the Bighorn National Forest this morning. We will be checking out some more campgrounds and do further moose hunting.

The Bighorn National Forest has turned out to be more interesting than the National Parks that we have visited on this trip. The scenery is spectacular and the moose haunting is way better. Also, the Forest is very uncrowded. Apparently not many tourists know about this place. Most of the people that we have met are from Wyoming or Montana.

[moosetags]

When we arrived back at Lucy late last night, we noticed that two additional Airstreams were camped with Lucy. One of these was camped right next to Lucy, and the other one was about five sites down.

I got up early this morning to get some pictures. The Airstream next to Lucy is from New Hampshire, and the other one down the line is from Alberta.

This campground only has about 20 sites, so it is pretty amazing that three Airstreams should be here at the same time.

[Sugarfoot]

SuEllyn, A (very ) belated Happy Birthyday, to you! What could be better than celebrating a birthday on the road in such beautiful places.

Brian, the moose photos are great. I'm glad you had the opportunity for such awesome shots.

Originally Posted by moosetags

. . . This campground only has about 20 sites, so it is pretty amazing that three Airstreams should be here at the same time.

Supporting evidence that aluminum attacts more aluminum.

[Tincrew]

I am using your trip journal to plan my own! We were planning on taking the interstates from W.Yellowstone (89 & 90) to end up in Sheridan, but it looks like 14 may be a better route for beauty and that Ranchester is a nicer place to stay (how can so many Airstreams be wrong?) Is this an OK route thru Yellowstone in July?

Now that you've "captured" all your mooses, you'll have to start looking for some jackalope, I hear they're real hard to photograph!

Thanks for your wonderful pictures.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Tincrew

I am using your trip journal to plan my own! We were planning on taking the interstates from W.Yellowstone (89 & 90) to end up in Sheridan, but it looks like 14 may be a better route for beauty and that Ranchester is a nicer place to stay (how can so many Airstreams be wrong?) Is this an OK route thru Yellowstone in July?

Now that you've "captured" all your mooses, you'll have to start looking for some jackalope, I hear they're real hard to photograph!

Thanks for your wonderful pictures.

You can come out the east gate at Yellowstone to Cody on US 14, then on to Graybull, Shell, and into the Bighorn National Forest. I'm not sure about the July time factor. If you have a chance, see the Bighorn N.F. We enjoyed it more than Yellowstone. The best campgrounds in the Forest are Prune Creek (no hook-ups) and Sibley Lake (electric only). We are not set up to boondock, and stayed at the Lazy "R" RV Park (652 US Highway 14, Ranchester, Wyoming 82839, 307-655-9284 or 888-655-9248). If you decide to camp there, I would recommend site #10 which is right next to the owner's house. It is a really nice pull-thru with great wifi reception. They have full hook-ups and cable TV for $27.00 including tax. This campground is close to the National Forest, and about 15 miles west of Sheridan on I-90.

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by Tincrew

I am using your trip journal to plan my own!

Tincrew has a great idea. I wonder if there is any way to download this entire thread to a CD to keep until we plan our trip in a couple of years. Your experience is invaluable.

Originally Posted by moosetags

You can come out the east gate at Yellowstone to Cody on US 14, then on to Graybull, Shell, and into the Bighorn National Forest. I'm not sure about the July time factor. If you have a chance, see the Bighorn N.F. We enjoyed it more than Yellowstone. The best campgrounds in the Forest are Prune Creek (no hook-ups) and Sibley Lake (electric only). We are not set up to boondock, and stayed at the Lazy "R" RV Park (652 US Highway 14, Ranchester, Wyoming 82839, 307-655-9284 or 888-655-9248). If you decide to camp there, I would recommend site #10 which is right next to the owner's house. It is a really nice pull-thru with great wifi reception. They have full hook-ups and cable TV for $27.00 including tax. This campground is close to the National Forest, and about 15 miles west of Sheridan on I-90.

This is an example of the kind of first hand tips that would make planning the trip so much more successful.
Thanks again for taking us along. Your photos really bring your trip journal to life.

BTW, have you considered transferring your entries to a travel blog on the net? This, and future trip journals like it, would be a great resource for all of us.

[SilverCabin]

Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate

Tincrew has a great idea. I wonder if there is any way to download this entire thread to a CD to keep until we plan our trip in a couple of years. Your experience is invaluable.
This is an example of the kind of first hand tips that would make planning the trip so much more successful.
Thanks again for taking us along. Your photos really bring your trip journal to life.

BTW, have you considered transferring your entries to a travel blog on the net? This, and future trip journals like it, would be a great resource for all of us.

I have been messing around with Google Earth lately, and there seems to be away to put your track on the globe, upload photos to their Picassa site, then link them with comments to the geographic locations. The whole thing can then be saved in a kml file that anyone can open. I don't have this figured out yet. Maybe someone with a little more Web 2.0 knowledge has this figured out and will post for all to see.

Randy

[moosetags]

Day 28 - June 10, 2007

We were back into Bighorn National Forest today. We checked out many of the campgrounds within the Forest, and road some of the back roads. These campgrounds are all for boondocking except Sibley Lake which has electric. We are planning to get a generator so that we can boondock. Some of these campgrounds were just beautiful. We made a lot of notes as to which sites in which campgrounds we might want to stay at in the future. We even saw more Mooses. The one thing that we would like to see in the Forest is better cell service in case of emergency.

We are breaking camp this morning in Ranchester (this time for real), and will be headed for the Rapid City, South Dakota area.

[Aria]

What wonderful sites you have visited...and you have shared them with us.
Thanks and Thanks again. Aria

[Sugarfoot]

Again, beautiful photography. In your photo above, any idea what the "object" in the sky upper right was?

[Sky]

Originally Posted by Sugarfoot

Again, beautiful photography. In your photo above, any idea what the "object" in the sky upper right was?

Looking at the image full size, it looks like a humming bird or insect. I think I can make out 2 blurry wings, but just a guess

[thecatsandi]

Hey if you made it to the KOA on 20 you passed where I had my little accident. I am sure the roads were much clearer then!