Big Sky Country

We made our way north to Greybull, WY through the Wind River Canyon near Thermopolis, WY, quite a scenic drive especially through the 3 tunnels carved in the rock.  It follows the beautiful Wind River as it curves through the canyon.

One of the 3 tunnels with the one for the railroad to the left

Quite beautiful

Majestic place

We only spent 2 nights in Greybull at the KOA, one of the nicest ones we've been to.  The owners used to full time so they understand what is important in a campground and what's not.  They recommended that we drive up north to see Devil's Canyon Overlook, actually a bit into Montana, a 1000' shear cliff face eroded out by the Bighorn River.  It was something to see, at least Jan got a good look, I couldn't bring myself to go to the edge.

Long way down

It's quite a surprise to walk over and see this!

We continued on a loop that took us up into the Bighorns, and I do mean up.  We started at about 3500' and we ended up at about 10,000' and it rises quickly to say the least up onto an alpine plateau with softer rolling hills.  We took a dirt road about 22 miles that wound up and down and around the meadows, quite beautiful especially with a few storms moving in.

The hills are alive...

Even a bit of snow remaining

Now since we were up that high we obviously had to come down, and down we came through a gorgeous cut in the mountains.

Down, down we go.

And as we wound our way down it started to pour down rain.  We came around a bend, and poof we were eye to eye with a moose that was eating something along the road, maybe salt from the winter?

It looks a little blurry, but it's really the pouring rain, and of course
the Moose Drool:-)

Cute, huh?

We had an interesting day that ended up with the rain really coming down and the wind howling for a few hours.

The next morning we headed north into Montana.  It was a pretty short drive, only about 175 miles.  We rolled into an interesting campground, Spring Creek, just south of Big Timber where we stopped to repair a rock chip that we experienced on the way:(  We were able to find a glass repair shop, talk to and arrange the insurance and the appointment, and have it fixed all in about 2 hours, lucky.  That was chip number 2 on this windshield so far.

The campground had said they were putting us in a bit of an unusual spot, but we gave it no mind until they told us we had to maneuver down this very narrow grassy, gravel road between a bank and several RV's, then just park behind another and run our hookups under and out the wrong side of the coach, and we'd be fine!  Wow, a bit narrow getting in, missed a trailer by inches, but we are in our spot, with nice grass and view.  Getting out today might be interesting:-)  

Pretty pleasant once we got in

Anyway the campground sits right on the Boulder River, one of the rivers we wanted to fish, but here in the campground it is way too fast to try wading!  So off to the local fly shop to get our Montana licenses and find out where to fish.  We were given a map showing access on the Boulder and Yellowstone Rivers.  It's funny and Jan and I are having a hard time with this but the rivers both flow north.  So especially with the Yellowstone we are way, way downstream from its origins in the park, so the river is big, and still pretty fast with the spring melt, yes it's just starting to ebb.

We also, in our few days here, have found out that there isn't as much public land here in Montana and rightfully so, the Montanans are very protective of their land and waters.  Translated, there are very few places to fish that aren't posted!  We did fish for a couple days on the Boulder, but only had a little luck.  It's very fast and difficult to wade, it's not named Boulder River for its sandy bottom:-)

But it is beautiful

We drove over to one of two access points on the Yellowstone, and as I said it is big water, but we did find a spot where we were able to fish for several hours.  No fish though.

It's rolling along!

We fished along here

The only thing Jan caught was this inquisitive fox!

So this morning we are moving to another campground, a big 60 miles away, that sits directly on the Yellowstone, and their info says there is a mile of wadable water, sure hope so!

Our first float trip!

Last year Jan and I started fly fishing, her for the first time and me after 30 years.  We've really gotten into it and enjoy it very much.  I have posted several of our adventures to date.  This summer we wanted to really hit the fishing hard, and planned our route to take advantage of several of the famous western trout waters.  So one of the biggies on our list was the North Platte River, or Grey Reef as they call it.  This is big water and almost requires a float trip.  It is deep and fast so wading is difficult.  Now we had never done a float trip before.  They use a drift boat, a boat with upturned bow and stern, a flat bottom, a place for the guide to sit and row the boat, and 2 separate fishing stations forward and aft where the fisherman can either sit on a rotating chair or stand in a brace of sorts to keep your balance.

An example of a drift boat

  

We had to wait a couple days to get a trip booked so we went and did some exploring.  We were in a little, emphasis on the word little, town of Alcova, WY about 30 miles southwest of Casper, WY.  We stayed at a nice little campground behind the fly shop where we booked our trip, it only has 4 full hook up sites and 12 all together.  Pretty spartan, but it had all we needed and a view to boot.

The view from our campsite

We drove up to Casper and did a big loop back to Alcova, and found an interesting place, Fremont Canyon.  A canyon between Alcova Lake and Pathfinder Reservoir, it is carved out of solid rock with the river flowing through it.

Pretty rugged

Beautiful!

We got a good view of the Gray Reef, some colorful scenery along the way, and a nice view of Casper.  I will say though, there isn't a lot of dramatic scenery, in fact there is a whole lot of nothing up in this area of the state.

The "Gray Reef" or North Platte River

A little color along the way

That's Casper in the distance, the 2nd largest city in Wyoming

But the whole reason we came was the float trip.  We showed up at 7:30am to meet our guide, Matt, and have him brief us on what to expect, what we needed to do, and how to set the hook, and how to fight the fish.  We were a bit amused as we each had to follow his direction and he took one end of the line and pretended to be a fish that we were fighting in the parking lot.  I thought man o man, you just be careful and bring in the fish, just like we have a ton of times.  But he was real nice about it and we did listen and tried to remember his instruction.  They provide all the terminal tackle which means all we had to do was bring our fly rods and reel, and then Matt attached a leader, an indicator, a small weight and two nymphs (hooks) to our line.  This was another new thing for Jan and I.  We have only fished with dry flies, small tied flies that imitate the insects coming off the water as they hatch that trout love to eat.  You have to understand the life cycle of these aquatic insects, as flies they mate, lay eggs in the water and die.  Those eggs hatch and become nymphs, those creepy, crawly things you find in a stream or a river under or on a rock in the water, when the time comes they release from the bottom and rise to the surface where they transition to become a flying insect.  So when you dry fly fish you are trying to imitate the fly as it leaves the water to fly, but when you fish nymphs, you weigh down the two flies on your line to imitate the nymphs as they release from the bottom.  And in the warm times such as these the larger trout stay down in the water where it is cooler and eat the nymphs.  I'm sure that is probably a lot more than any of you wanted to know about trout fishing:-)  

So off we went in Matt's truck with the boat and trailer.  Understand he does everything for you, actually quite nice.  He handles the boat, offers guidance and a bit of instruction, ties all the flies, etc on the line, nets the fish, decides where in the river to go, if you lose a fly, he provides and ties on a new one, decides when to change up the flies, all of it, you are quite pampered, and to be honest, it is pretty expensive to do this so it's a nice touch.

We were on a half day morning trip, and spent about 4 hours plus on the river, covering about 8 miles.  

Where we put in the river

All set to go

We were only in the river getting situated for about 10 minutes when I caught my first trout.  And wow, his instruction came in handy, it took over 5 minutes to land a nice 17 inch fat rainbow trout!  It fought more than any trout I've ever caught before.  An absolute blast!

Fish on!

My first fish

I'll tell you, we had never caught anything like this.  We became believers and loved it!
Well, unfortunately, we went quite awhile until Jan caught her first one.  It is intense to constantly watch the indicator in the water, because Murphy's Law, the instant you look away is when a fish hits your fly.  

Jan's very nice fish!

I caught 2 more small fish, and although we each had several hits, we were getting a little discouraged, and we think so was Matt.  He changed up our flies a couple times and although we had some hits, we couldn't set the hook.  Almost near the end of our trip, Jan got into a really nice fish, she was fighting it and as it ran it was getting near my line, so I decided to pull mine out of the water to give her more room, just as I went to pull it out, bam, I got a nice fish on!  So here we are, both of us fighting fish, each one running in a different direction, Matt trying to keep the boat in the optimum position for both of us, really, really neat.  So after almost 10 minutes we both got our fish landed, a two for one!  Awesome.

A twofer!

Well we had a ball and think we are converts to this float fishing thing.  We hope to do one more this summer and are still trying to figure the best place to do it.  If you like fly fishing, this is a very cool thing to do.

Finally, finally done!

We are now in Wyoming after 9 days in Buena Vista waiting for our new AC.  Granted all the time wasn't devoted to waiting.  As I said we found out on the way to Buena Vista that the AC we were expecting on Thursday the 6th or latest Friday the 7th was not the right one and we would need to refuse it!  How the company we ordered it from learned this we don't know for sure, but luckily we found out about it and were able to order the correct one that would be there either Weds the 12th or latest Thurs the 13th.  We extended another 3 days at Buena Vista through Friday, the 14th, as we wanted to be covered for any contingency:-)  We also alerted the campground to refuse the delivery Thurs or Friday if we missed them as it was the wrong AC.  Later after reordering we find out the wrong AC wouldn't be delivered Thurs or Friday anyway!  

We weren't just twirling our thumbs all this time, just some of it.  We had left the truck in Colorado Springs to have the windshield replaced and planned to pick it up on Sat the 8th, but, good news, they called and said it was ready Thursday, the same day we dropped it!  So we spent Friday driving back, dropping the rental, and picking the truck and took a lovely alternative route back to BV through Canon City, CO along the Arkansas River.  

Now to be fair the weather wasn't cooperating too much during this week either, and an unsettled system would bring rain each day around noon and continue off and on throughout the rest of the day.  Had us a little worried as to the AC install as well, although we knew other than getting it on and off the roof, it wouldn't take too long.  After all we are experts, having replaced all 3 of our AC units 5 years ago.  

So what to do?  We had learned several years ago while at Harvey's campground in Pagosa Springs that it is legal to shoot in a National Forest as long as it isn't in hunting season and if you are at least 150 yards away from people, campsites, buildings, etc.  We do like to shoot to stay competent with our guns.  So we took a ride to find the "ideal" spot.  I should mention BV is surrounded by National Forest land.  We found a beautiful dirt road with excellent scenery which meandered in a loop through the forest land.  

Nice

And after awhile we found a perfect place, off the road, into a hillside with no one around.

In fact it worked out so well we went back another day before the rains came, and shot for awhile and then had coffee on a knoll as the storms moved in.

So we got a tracking number for the second (correct) AC, and checking it, it said delivery Tuesday!!  Wow, at least 2 days early.  So we made our plan, the biggest challenge was Jan and I alone getting the 115# unit on the roof and the bad one back down.  We decided to make a 2X4 ladder of sorts to slide it up.  We'd place it in the truck bed, put a rope around it, and I would pull and Jan would push and make sure it didn't slide off the side.  So on Monday delivery still showed Tuesday, wow, we might be ahead of schedule!  So Tuesday comes and we hear from the company we ordered it from and she says it's in Denver, and will be transferred to another smaller freight company to deliver to BV.  What?  No, no it says right here, delivery today!  Then she tells us to be careful because BOTH AC's are on the same delivery.  What, you mean the one that was supposed to be here on Thurs the 6th will now arrive with the correct one a whole week later?  Yes.  So I call the freight company, oh no she says, Tuesday means delivery to the small freight company in Denver, we have no idea when they will deliver to you, but you can call and ask.  So I call the small company and she says it will leave Denver Sunday night and go to their terminal in Salida, CO, only 30 miles from us to be put on a truck sometime and delivered to you in BV.  I ask if I can pick it up in Salida, sure, she says.  Well, all right, so Monday?  She says she thinks so, but call the terminal to make sure.

So we are getting ecstatic thinking we'll be getting it on Monday.  Not so fast.  The terminal people say it did arrive Monday morning but they are backed up and that trailer won't be unloaded until Tuesday.  Okay we can live with that.  Call us back tomorrow.  So I call Tuesday, no not today probably, still backed up.  Grrrr.  So Wednesday, yeah most likely, call at noon.  We call, not yet, call back at 2pm.  No not yet, it's not over at the dock yet, maybe later this afternoon.  At 4pm I call and she says come on down, we'll have it ready when you get here, well okay!  We are 10 miles into the journey when my phone rings and she says they don't have it, it is still in the trailer that isn't at the dock, then why did you tell me to come?  It wasn't me it was the other girl.........  Well when will it be ready then, oh maybe tomorrow, Thursday.

To say we are frustrated is an understatement.  So anyway finally they call at 11:30 the next morning and tell me both are ready.  We go down to Salida, a very cute little town, have a great lunch and go over to the tiny terminal, I walk into the office and there are the 2 women I have talked to at least 20 times over the last 3 days and when I give them my name, they both have a blank look, ask me what do I want?????  Finally she shows me the 2 boxes, the good AC and the wrong AC, I refuse the wrong one, Jan and I without any assistance, load the good one into the truck and bring it back in a torrential rainstorm that lasts the rest of the day.  So on Friday, our last day Jan and I replace the AC.  Fun, huh?

Our slide to get it up to the roof

On the roof!
Hooray!

The old dead one

The hole in the roof where it mounts

At least it's a gorgeous view and a nice day while we work!

Mounting the condensate cups

Cups mounted, gaskets ready to go

You can see where the condensate cups attach to the drain tube

A couple wires to connect

And tada, it is done!!!!

So why Colorado Springs?

Now if I step on any toes, I'm sorry.  This is what Jan and I thought period.

So why Colorado Springs, well the reasons are few actually.  We mapped out our route last winter and knew we had to zero in on the 4th of July holiday.  I have mentioned in the past that for us full timers the holidays are particularly tough.  You need to find somewhere to be, right when every other RV'er, camper, and family decide to come to the campgrounds.  We knew from past experience we did NOT want to be in a state or national park.  Again this is just for us, they are too crowded, too noisy, too busy, with tons of kids running helter-skelter, so we wanted to find a RV park that we could, even at that seemingly early date be able to make a reservation.  We played around with our itinerary and decided on Colorado Springs, specifically Garden of the Gods RV Resort.  We figured not only would it give us a spot to be over the holiday, it would also allow us to do several errands at places we could find in a city, i.e. REI, Costco, big grocery stores, Jan's birthday dinner, blazing internet, etc.  Little did we know we would also have to deal with the truck:-)  When we looked at the campground, we saw they had 6 "Executive Pull-Through sites" slightly away from the rest of the park, looked ideal, and it looked like they overlooked a trail that ran along a small stream.  Expensive, but maybe worth it?

A pretty view off Wilkerson Pass, 9,504'
halfway to Colorado Springs

As I said earlier we had parts ordered for the AC unit that we picked up there also.  So after our disappointing result with repairing the AC and ordering a new one, we had stuff to do.  

Our site was a little tighter than we expected particularly for the cost of it, but it did have a patio and some shade, and we did look out through a wire fence, thankfully, to the trail beside the mostly trashy and polluted stream.  As we were enjoying cocktails in the early evening we had the pleasure of watching either drunk or drugged out people staggering by, homeless pushing their carts full of their worldly belongings, and even had the incredible opportunity to watch several people actually defecate along the side of the trail!  Really nice.

After that experience, which was the worst for the week we were there thankfully, we were anxious to get out of there and do our thing.  Exploring around it appeared that our campground was right on the edge of the bad, and only a mile or so away was Old Colorado City that looked like it was really trying to improve their lot, many shops, restaurants, bars, a touristy place.  Another goal of Jan's was to get her Senior National Park Pass, as she says it's one good thing about turning 62.  We found a National Forest Office in south Colorado Springs which was more in a normal city like area, but they didn't have one.  The man there told us we could go over to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and he knew they had some.  We had never heard of it, but it looked interesting and only about 30 miles away.  We didn't have time that day so we ran up to REI to do some shopping.

We got our Costco fix taken care of, bought a bunch of wine and noted how expensive bourbon was in the fair state of Colorado.  We found that the blazing internet wasn't there and we even had trouble with our cell phone coverage.  Talking to others there, we all were experiencing the same problem whether AT&T or Verizon, maybe a weird pocket?

We went out for Jan's birthday dinner at Ted's Montana Grill, she had her heart set on bison short ribs.  It turned out great, the food was excellent, the waiter was excellent, the free dessert was excellent!

Jan's Birthday dinner

She didn't like it:-)

Dessert

And wow, they even gave us some of those incredible pickles to go!

Once the weekend was over we drove over the the Fossil Beds, and best of all Jan got her Senior Pass.  If you don't know about this, when you turn 62 years old you can buy this for $10, soon to be $80 for LIFE!  It gets you in to all the National Parks, Monuments, Forests, and usually gets 50% off camping!  Jan and I think the $10 is a steal, the $80 will be a steal, and even if it was $250, it would be a steal.  The fossil beds turned out to be an interesting place with exceptional hiking.  They have 15 miles of hiking trails in the monument.  Millions of years ago, unbelievably there used to be redwood trees growing there, the climate was much warmer and wetter then, oh my!  Volcanic eruptions mixed with ash and water to create mudflows which inundated the area and the redwood trees, and petrified the wood.  Many stumps remain that were not picked off by souvenir seekers in the 1800's.  It is quite strange to see the petrified enormous stumps in the middle of a meadow.

One of the enormous stumps, this tree was estimated
to be more than 230' tall and 750 years old
when buried by the mudflow

If you look close you can see two saw blades
that were broken off by souvenir seekers
trying to cut off a chunk of the stump

That part was pretty fascinating, but the hiking trails were awesome.  We decided to do a 3.8 mile loop trail.  It went out through the meadow and through the pine groves, it was quiet, peaceful, and we only saw a couple other people.

Heading out

View across the meadow

A gorgeous day!

Jan at the namesake boulders on the
Boulder Creek Trail

In fact as we were finishing up, we felt so good we continued around another 1 mile loop trail to see several of the petrified stumps.  We both remarked it was so nice we would come back the next day and do a more remote hike on the other side of the park.  Since we had a lot of time, and really weren't in any hurry to get back to the campground we took a detour over to Cripple Creek and took the Old Gold Camp Road back to Colorado Springs.  We went by a huge mine near Cripple Creek that had positioned the bed of one of the huge mining trucks to make a viewing platform.  It was amazing how big that thing was!

That is huge!
That is me up on the top

It was an interesting winding narrow dirt road with awesome scenery that finally worked around and plunged back down the mountainside into Colorado Springs.

Along the way

One of the tunnels

So we did come back early on the 4th.  We parked in a small picnic area on the other side of the park, we were the only ones there and took off on and out and back that was supposed to be 1.6 miles each way, again when we got to the turn around spot we decided to keep going.  It was wonderful, the weather was stellar, temps around 65, and again it was like we were the only people in the whole world.  We finally turned around at the 2.25 mile point and made our way back, and passed only 3 people coming in.

A meadow to ourselves

Through an aspen grove, you can see where the snow
reaches in the winter

What a view!

Our turnaround spot

Ha, little did we know, we would hit the deer in about 30 minutes....

So to sum up our time in Colorado Springs.  Jan and I just didn't like it, just felt wrong, but perhaps the majority of that feeling was generated by the location and vibe of the campground, and of course the "ambiance" of the trail.  We both felt much better up on the north side of town, and we both think that had we arrived from the north, found a campground up in that area, we would have a different take on the place, but in the meantime, we see no need to ever go back..