One last hike

One last hike up Turtle Rock Trail in the Park. Can see forever from up here. You look down on endless agriculture fields, forests, pastures, and a park Bison herd.

Prickly Poppies.  They look like a cross between a thistle and a poppie.  We have them in Arizona, too.

I don't know if they are a wild herd or not but I don't see any fences around here.

More of the Fort and NE Nebraska

The Ogallala National Grassland is an endless sea of grass. With this year's rains it is green and lush and goes on forever. Can't imagine what pioneers thought crossing this "desolate" land! That's a long coal train coming across the prairie in the distance.

Then the Grassland gives way to Toadstool Geologic Park. It's a "Badlands" type landscape. It's barren hills and rock strewn gullies disguise the abundant life it once supported--30 million years ago. Fossils, bits of bone imbedded in the rock, and dinosaur tracks can be found here. We both had a hard time picking out what we were suppose to be seeing but guess a trained eye can find a treasure trove to study. We are situated directly south of the Black Hills of South Dakota and it's Badlands so similar topography here in Nebraska.

Birding has been amazing here. Here is a cooperative pair of Northern Shrike. I was confused, seems our Arizona Shrikes are darker grey, not so white.

Prairie Cemetery on edge of Grassland that is still being used. Old and new graves. Long family legacies.

We drove down a dirt road, opened a gate and followed a track through the field to get close to this monument. Marks a Battlefield and tribute to Indian Chiefs, Yellow Hair and War Bonnet. Sad (I think sick) story of place where Wild Bill Cody killed, and scalped Yellow Hair. He also portrayed that act to his audience delight in his Wild West Show across the country and Europe.

The Meadow Lark is always singing, to our delight.

Fort Robinson State Park

Here we are near Crawford, Nebraska at Fort Robinson State Park. I have told so many people about this place--we go out of our way to stop here if we are anywhere near northwest Nebraska.  Campground is great, we are parked under this humongous old Cottonwood Tree.

Sandstone Bluffs, grasslands, Pine forests another amazing landscape.

Fort Robinson has such a varied and interesting history. Has always been a Military Fort from mid 1800's and Indian Wars all the way through WWII, was a German prisoner of war camp, trained dogs for use in WWII, amoung other things. Now a grand state park with all the amenities. All the old officer's quarters have been converted into lodging facilities, old barracks repurposed. Plaques all over the grounds telling of incidents in history that happened here.

Bison herd in the park

We rode a haywagon out into the forest where staff prepared a huge breakfast of pancakes, eggs, ham and cowboy coffee.

As you can imagine endless trails.  We hiked a couple miles in "Mexican Canyon" and thought we were on top of the world. 

Wildflowers abound

Later we took a drive to find the semi-ghost town of Belmont to find an abandoned rail  tunnel built 1880's and used until 1982 and replaced by a huge cut through the hills. Apparently the rail route through this area was especially steep and to this day trains use "assistance engines" to make it up the "Crawford Hill."

Ended with ice cream cones at local  dairy stand in Crawford.

Cheyenne

We really enjoyed Cheyenne. Lots of city pride, lots of history, nice town--even easy to navigate, at least where we wanted to go. Came in with some rain, had one really windy day, (surely glad we were not on the road) and now hopefully we will have some dry sunny days.  Cheyenne is a railroad town, that's what put it on the map, and this old restored depot and plaza around it is ground zero in Cheyenne.

We did a self guided tour of the historic Governor's Mansion. Wyoming had the nations first women Governor back in 1927.  Also first women's Justice of the Peace back in it's territorial days. A leader in women's suffrage movement. 

I love going through these old homes. This one is especially nice.

We went out to the Terry Bison Ranch for an afternoon. It was a tad "hoky"--and needed some TLC, but great for families with all the ranch animals and petting zoo. They have a creaky little train that takes you out on tour of ranch and out to their bison herd, where you can feed them prepared pellets from the train. It was the closest I have ever been to a bull bison, for sure. Besides the tourism, this ranch produces bison meat for wholesale so they do have a huge herd of bison--besides the very docile small herd that we were taken to see. We had a good time.

Made up of horse shoes in a nice walking park.

A bit of nostalgia--old US hiway 30 goes through Cheyenne on its way to West coast. If you went East, you would eventually end up in my hometown in Iowa. One of the early transcontinental hiways that went from coast to coast, well before interstate hiway system.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

We moved up the road about 100 miles to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Impressive RV park just south of historic downtown. This is Wyoming state Capitol and we wondered into the capitol building. It went through an extensive restoration project that was completed on 2019.  Obviously legislature not in session as visitors were able to peruse the building at will. It is grand, restored to it's glory, right down to the gold leaf on it's dome.

looking up in rotunda.

Legislature chambers

An original spindle in the staircase was installed upside down, so the story goes, because the original craftsmen felt that only God could make something perfect. I have heard that before--always an intentional flaw in cathedrals and church's.

Found this behemoth steam engine in a park. It's "Big Boy #4004" that is one of 8 remaining giants built by Union Pacific Railroad in 1941. This one retired in mid 1950's when diesel technology replaced steam as more efficient, safer, more economic.  He pulled huge loads over mountains on his route from Cheyenne to Ogden, Utah.  Cheyenne owes it's history to being a western crossroads for the railroads.

There is still one that is in running order that the Union Pacific runs for special occasions, just for historic purposes. Apparently in Omaha at the moment and will return to Cheyenne July 3rd.

Back to Rocky Mountain NP

Back to the Park for a few areas we missed yesterday. An added bonus is the drive to the Park thru the Big Thompson River Canyon. We are camped about 25 miles from Park entrance and the route there takes us through this incredibly rugged canyon. It's also the site of a disastrous flash flood in 1976 that ended with the loss of over 200 people and unfathomable property damage. I actually remember the incident for some reason--plus another flood in 2013 where 8 people died. 

A perfect day.  Yesterday started out cloudy, cold and windy and then cleared off by noon--but remained windy.  Today started off clear and sunny and warm--even at high altitude.  And then clouds came up later in the day.

We spent a long time at the highest point along the road and hiked a nature trail across the Tundra at 12,000 ft. So interesting to witness--not only do you feel like you are on top of the world but to see how things survive up here! 

Not only a very short growing season but plants survive by growing in miniature. Marmots hibernate for up to 9 months.

We did get just a glimpse of a moose laying in the grass along the road where it was impossible to stop. Only a tease of a look, just enough to know what it was!

  Back to camp by mid-afternoon. Packed up laundry and headed for a laundromat in town. Time for a bit of house cleaning.