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We had a long’ steep 10 mile journey with grades of 10%. Tomorrow we bring the trailer down them! Once at the bottom we made a stop in the small town of Lovell for some lunch before heading north through the Bighorn Canyon.

The landscape along the canyon changed and became more colourful. The Bighorn River flows through the canyon and is used for lots of water activities. There were lots of boaters out, especially being a weekend. We turned around at a point known as Devil Canyon Overlook. It gave us spectacular views!

Next we are heading for the Shell Canyon Scenic Byway. A beautiful drive through the mountains. The highlight was the falls where we got out and we were able to walk to a number of spectacular viewing sites.

By the time we got back to our campsite it was getting pretty chilly. We saw a few moose across the fields as we got close to our campground, but they were too far away for pictures. Tomorrow is a move day – we head over to another National Forest about 30 miles west of Cody for 5 nights. Lots more driving of sites ahead!

Yesterday was a travel day but we were able to get into our campsite by early afternoon. Lots of switchbacks as we travelled from Sheridan (elevation 3743’) to our campsite at Bald Mountain (elevation 9200’).

Our campground is small – only 15 sites. With the elevation it’s at, the temperature dropped significantly- from 24 degrees C to about 15 C. However, Paul found a sunny spot to do a bit of work on the solar and was quite comfortable in his shorts and long sleeved shirt.

Paul observed a lard herd of elk on the clearing above our campground in the evening but they were a long way away. This morning several mule deer went theough our campground, grazing in the empty campsites. They were obviously comfortable around people and cars as they just looked up and then returned to their grazing.

Our day today is a sightseeing day, mostly through the Bighorn National Forest. Our first stop was close to our campground – the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark. The road took us up to over 9600’ elevation. This is sacred lands of the many indigenous people in the area. It is made of local white limestone laid upon a bedrock of limestone, 80 feet in diameter. It has 28 spokes and 7 stone cairns inside, the centre one being the largest at about 10’ in diameter. It is still used today by area Indigenous people for ceremonial and traditional uses. Many “gifts” are left attached to the fence surrounding it.

Our journey today continues in the next post.