Some more shots of the campsite I'm presently boondocking in.
After breakfast, I rode Scarlett the 24 or so miles back into Colorado to the town of Walden.
I needed to refill the spare gas tanks and also purchase a replacement trailer brake/turn light. Once again, I'd lost one of them somewhere between home and the North Sand Hill Recreation Area just north of the town of Cowdrey, CO.
This time, it was the right side light; but luckily, the plug was not very damaged from having dragged on the ground for who knows how many miles.
NAPA P/N 60202R1
Installation was pretty easy and I re-used the OEM rubber grommet. This time, I also used some sheet metal screws to "wedge" the light assembly in place, and did the same for the left side light.
I also ordered a pair of lights from Amazon, thereby guaranteeing I'll never lose another trailer light again since I'll have spares onhand!
After leaving town, I decided to once again check out the North Sand Hills Rec Area, since I was riding the most capable of my onhand vehicles, Scarlett and her 2WD.
I didn't get very far on the trails as things got sandier than what I was comfortable with pretty fast. I did spot where I should have set up camp, in fact a couple of spots, but they weren't very secluded and were near other campsites.
I did find a small hill which Scarlett could easily climb for this shot:
This recreation area is pretty forested for the most part with deep sand in the trails winding their way among the trees. I'd say it's a haven for OHVs with wide tires and such. Not much in the way of scenic sections of sand dunes as I'd pictured beforehand. Oh well.
Returning to camp, I got the trailer light installed and then had some lunch.
After lunch, with the winds really picking up, I figured I'd forego riding in such winds and instead hike up to the top of the nearby hill where the campsite is located. The URRV is at 7960 ft (2426 m) altitude and the top was at 8530 ft (2600 m). A gain of only 570 ft in altitude but it felt much higher as the going was quite steep. (or I could be really out of shape)
Looking to the SW, that's WY Highway 230,
it becomes CO Highway 125 across the border
Looking to the NW, you can see the access road
into the Six Mile Campground. This road also acts
as access to the Platte River Wilderness Area.
The rest of the afternoon was a windy mess and I stayed close to the URRV, watching the clouds overhead racing past...their shadows mottling the valley before me as they passed overhead.
After dinner, I took a leisurely evening ride on Yagi to the rock formations on FR4A:
Returning to the main trail, I kept going northward for perhaps a mile until I stopped on top of a small ridge for these views:
Near where I stopped above, there were a couple of these box shaped objects. One white, the other rust brown. From a distance, they looked like discarded plastic containers some Schweinhund had left behind as garbage. I'd seen another pair, one white and the other blue, at a different campsite.
I walked over to take a closer look and they're actually solid blocks of some material/mineral. I think they're salt licks left out for the wildlife by the USFS Rangers? No, I didn't lick it to confirm.
One more view of Yagi staring off towards the east:
Even though the sun was still above the horizon, it was getting a bit chilly and the winds had picked up again so I returned the 3.5 miles or so back to the campsite without incident.
12 comments:
Wyoming is a great place. Have not spent near enough time there. Yes, that is a salt like, we used to put them out for our cattle when I was growing up. When I was young and dumb I did lick the salt block :)
It does look like a salt lick. Years ago, we did a lot of field work in southwest Wyoming. Cumulatively probably almost a year in the area. I remember hot & dry. Lots of sage hens and antelope (plus cattle).
I'm liking this part of Wyoming a lot OZ, miles of nice forest trails to ride, no people, but there's high winds so it's not exactly perfect. Still, I'll take it for now.
RichardM, anything you’d recommend visiting in SW Wyoming? Seen several Buckhorn Sheep around here and lots of black cows milling about. I saw what thought was a Pheasant but probably a Sage Hen.
Lovely shots and lovely country sir. The folks are right about the salt lick. We used to do just white salt versions and then started buying mineral blocks, more than just salt and reddish brown in color.
When I visited Wyoming last year, initially I planned on being in CO, east of Walden at Brown's Park off of 190 or boondocking nearby. That is until I realized that I was waaay too far from fuel for the Himalayan and each day's loop would be more about sourcing gas than it would be about exploring. So I ended up back on the east side of the Snowy's. I did make it to Encampment, the closest I came to actually being in Colorado. A goal had been to do Trail Ridge but the distance and traffic were both hindrances, enough so to keep me in WY.
I'd be happy in WY right now, close but not too close to where you are. ;)
Sorry, no suggestions as I was there for work. And we worked seven days per week. Even if the weather was marginal, we still headed out to our field areas just in case there was a break in the weather.
Thanks for the comments Coop, this is indeed lovely country....I hear Trail Ridge Road in the RMNP has become a traffic choked mess....along with the rest of the park.
That’s okay, just trying to decide where to go next week.
Wide open spaces... loving it and even more during a pandemic.
Is there free roaming cattle? That might explain the salt lick blocks.
Definitely lots of cattle roaming about.....I believe you and the others are correct!
Thermopolis is an interesting area. Also one of our old field sites. Lots of side roads and even some hot springs.
Re Thermopolis, thanks RichardM. I remember driving by or near it on the way to Beartooth Pass in Montana, so many years ago......
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