Monday, August 12 Laramie, Tim & Buca

 Monday, August 12

The coffee maker acts strange this morning, spraying water about.  We are hoping it is just the altitude! Cereal and fruit for a quick breakfast.

We do a short walk this beautiful morning and then continue driving up #100 for a while - it is called Sand Lake Rd on the map, but we don't find a lake.   A few deer along the way and pretty Rock Creek.

We turn around at Deep Creek campground which is empty - apparently where to go to get away from everything! It is heavily wooded and a tad muddy from the recent rains.   A few sites do have reservation signs for later in the week...

Back through Centennial again and spy some shy pronghorns before reaching Laramie, where we stop to buy a ball for Buca and a bottle of wine for Tim.  Tim helped us out big time when our transmission went out in the old Trek.  He is a friend of Tom and Sue and has a downstairs apartment where he let us stay for a few days during repairs.  Terrific guy and we love his dog, Buca too! 

Tim is still working, but graciously left the apartment door open, so we are able to take showers and relax a bit before he arrives home.

We catch up a bit, play with Buca and Tim gives us some ideas for places to visit in Wyoming.  He cooks some killer burgers while I make guacamole and we catch up.  His grandkids are really getting big!  Nice, relaxing evening with a fun call from Tom and Sue too. 

 He lives just across the street from the University of Wyoming and they are building two huge new dormitories catty-corner from his house.

We will head out tomorrow, having changed our plans a bit after talking with Tim....they are nothing if not fluid!  Our friend in Montana reports that Glacier is a bit hazy from the fires west of there in Idaho and Oregon so we will save that for another trip.

 

Sunday, August 11 Snowy Range, Wyoming

Sunday, August 11

42 degrees this morning and a beautiful sunrise.  We enjoy a nice breakfast of ham & egg tacos and bananas and coffee.

We decide to drive into part of the Snowy Range we haven't seen, on a good gravel road #100, to Turpin Reservoir.  Nice drive through mostly forested land, though the early part was also open range.

 The smell of pine was lovely.  Noted several occupied boondocking spots.  

Looks like the reservoir is another good spot for fishing.

On the return trip we came upon two young moose who quickly took off to find their Mom, who was no doubt not far away.  They looked like darling stuffed animals, brown and furry and bounded away rather ungracefully as they are mostly gangly legs!  Too quick for a camera shot.  I remember that most moose give birth to two calves and am glad to see that these two are doing well.

Back to paved 130 and we head east, stopping at Marie Lake again.  No rain this time as we drink in the scenery. 

The Summer wildflowers are lingering here at high altitude.

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 A couple of fisherman at the lake and at the stream below.  Much quieter today.

A self-guided walking tour of stromatolites - layered sedimentary rock is next.  We had to park on a #130 pullout, and walk in on Forest Service road 332 (too rough for our low clearance vehicle).  

We followed directions in a handout we'd gotten, past Jeep Lake to an "abandoned but still visible" two track road leading off to the north.  The two track soon dwindles, then disappears.  There is no trail to follow and we decided to backtrack rather than risk getting truly lost.  Oh well.  There were some interesting rocks and flowers,  though we'll never know whether they were stromatolites!  

Mid-afternoon, so we decided to check out two campgrounds off of Forest Service road 110.  First was Nash Fork Campground, which had several openings.  Nicely leveled sites, but hardly any trees (the bark beetles struck again), so we continued to Brooklyn Lake campground. 

We pass St. Alban's Chapel where Beth's brother Tom married Sue - about 50 years ago!!  Wish we had known they have a Sunday service (Episcopalian, Brett!).

Brooklyn Lake is a prettier campground and there are a few sites open.

 

We walk a trail next to the lake.

Many wildflowers.

We meet the nice camp ground hosts who are spending their 4th summer here.  They are from Cheyenne.  He mentions a trail to East Glacier Lakes, so we decide to try this.  It is all uphill and rocky, but not too steep.  Beautiful lake with a fair amount of snow on the mountain tops here.

Greg jokes about the "giant shark" in the lake.

Super clear water - and we bet it is very cold as well.

Really rocky in areas with ground squirrels and chipmunks.

A couple of fly fishermen arrive while we are enjoying the scenery.  

Back at the campsite, we discover that the fridge has frozen things on the bottom shelf, so we have sloppy joe's and frozen carrots for dinner!  Nice cool evening for a good sleep.

Saturday, August 10, Garden of the Gods, into Wyoming and Moose

 Saturday, August 10

We decided to re-visit Garden of the Gods this morning, hoping that it will be less crowded and less rainy.   It is both.

It began a little misty, but cleared up as we walked a few trails.  Already a good number of people, biking, hiking - and even getting married!

These deer were munching away fairly unconcerned with our presence.  We hiked to the Siamese Twins formation.

Later, spotted this doe with her fawn - spots fading, so probably about three months old.

 The Visitor's Center was still closed, so we guess it just wasn't meant to be visited!

Back to highway 25 through Denver with lots of traffic, and then off toward the Snowy Range.  Tim in Laramie said Monday would be a better day to visit, so we will spend some time in one of my favorite places - the Snowy Range.

Nasty storm when we were part way there included a few minutes of hail, followed in short order by glorious sunshine!  The wind in this part of the country is almost always strong, so the clouds move quickly.

We stopped in Laramie for gas and then headed west on WY130.  It goes through 20 miles or so of golden prairie and ranch land before reaching the small town of Centennial.  We saw quite a few pronghorns, but none close enough for pictures.

Stopped in Centennial at the Nici Self museum. Nici was a local women who put the museum together.  Dorothy, the volunteer there, was friendly and sweet.

Quite a variety of local historical pieces.  I had always read about buffalo coats, but this is the first one I'd seen!  Farming, ranching, mining, railroad and other equipment all tied to this area's history.

Next, we stopped at the Medicine Bow National Forest ranger station and got a good map of the area and some suggestions as to camping. (Caught the final minutes of the Olympic Men's Bball final, courtesy of a ranger who had it on his lap top!)

With all the wide open spaces, we can see rain coming.  Shortly after Libby Flats, we spot several bull moose munching away in a meadow.  Four of them! All their antlers are in velvet.  We take a few (dozen haha!) pictures in the wind and drizzle, and watch for a while before moving on. 

Pull into the parking at Lake Marie - very crowded but many folks are probably out on trails.  It pours hard for a while as we sit in the parking lot.  Beth notices three shivering young men hanging out and asks if they are stranded.  Turns out they were and so we offered to take them back to Centennial.  They were from the Chicago area and said they'd been coming here every year for several years, as they have a friend in Centennial. Three were in college and one just graduated.  A few miles into the drive, they spot their ride (which was very late at this point), so we turn around and take them back to Lake Marie where they re-unite with their friend.  Nice, polite young guys.

This area is just gorgeous - and the rain was short-lived. We decide to try Silver Lake Campground ( a national forest campground) and find a primo spot that is open. $10 with our Sr Pass!  We hike down to the lake and find some nice rocks to add to our collection at home.

I love the reflections, and look at that BLUE sky!

 Lots of chipmunks and birds around the campsite.  We  put out a little (all natural) trail mix and the chipmunk seems to love almonds.

 

 We find out later that they are going to close and completely re-do this campground next year.  Unfortunately there are lots of stumps amid a scattering of trees that survived the bark beetle epidemic of the early 2010's.   It gets very cold and snowy here, with a short growing season, so it takes quite a while for the area to recover.

Hot dogs and beans for dinner and definitely jacket time!