May 23, 2017

Wow, another amazing day. Ok part of it got a bit scary. We drove up into the Bighorn mountains today. Highest elevation so far at 9666 ft. Wyoming posts what rock formations you are see and their time in history. It was great to know when you changed throughout each deposit layer. We even saw an actual fault line. We never knew when we got out of the car if we would need winter coats or hats and sunscreen. After our first pass over the mountain we found a dirt road that lead to red gulch where there are dinosaur foot prints. The entire road was 35 miles. After looking at the tracks we decided to drive the remaining 30 miles. It seemed short however the road became less and less traveled with mud holes and crater like tracks.  As we drove along without civilization in sight I started to think we made a big mistake. After a couple of hours we knew we were close to pavement again when a truck passed us. We were so shocked at what we were seeing we didn’t get a picture. A white truck was coming down the road toward us with dogs everywhere. They were hanging out of the truck bed, windows and there was even a dog standing on the top of the cab. Could have been a dog driving for all we know because we never saw the driver. The truck was moving faster than we were.  Shorty after, we ran into a cattle drive and had to wait while the riders herded the cattle around us. When we reached pavement again we traveled back over the Bighorn mountains via another road. Truly beautiful. Leighton was in photo heaven He was able to shoot sand hill cranes, chipmunks, marmots, deer, antelope, rabbit, moose and a wolf. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

On the way up the mountain we stopped to look at this syncline thrust fault.

View of the road going up the mountain.

Marmots on the side of the road.

Mountain view.

Dino track on Red Gulch road.

Cottontail rabbit hoping to leave permanent tracks like the dinosaurs did.

The Red Gulch road less traveled – it became more rutted the further we went.

Pronghorn that didn’t want to be photographed.

Flowers seen along the way.

Hawk taking off.

The cattle drive.

Shell creek.

Shell canyon.

Still partially frozen lake.

Chipmunk with an itch.

Area known as the fallen city.

Sandhill crane.

Our first moose – looking forward to more.

A distant wolf.