A long day on Yagi's saddle today.
Woke before the sunrise and got a few pics of the prelude:
It was a cold 32°F (0°C) as I shot these pre-sunrise pics,
so I hope you like them!
Once it got over 40°F (4.4°C), I geared up with almost all of my usual winter riding layers and went to check out the nearby trails:
The gorgeous peak on the left is Bighorn Peak, to the right is Darton Peak
This is the view of the mountains one sees as one enters the meadow
area that is used for dispersed camping.
Enroute to town, a shot of a Dolomite Rock formation on WY 16
The town of Buffalo is a cute little town of under 5000 residents. Pretty touristy with an emphasis on the Netflix Series Longmire. Martha and I liked that show and someday might even attend Longmire Days, a festival hosted by the Town of Buffalo. The town is the model in the story for what the author called Durant, Wyoming.
Johnson County, in the book, becomes Absaroka County.....though the series is shot in New Mexico, Buffalo claims the honor of being the town.
There were several murals that catch one's eyes as you cruise main street:
I like the way the artist incorporate 3D effects on parts of the mural, making it seem the subjects were entering or leaving the mural:
In case you've not seen it on Netflix, this is the Sheriff!
The sheep and sheepdog below, are a nod to the county's origins which apparently featured a heavy Basque influence:
Making sure you understand you're in Johnson County, not
Absaroka County!
Of course, you can't host Longmire Days without a place to pick up a souvenir or two:
The souvenirs were a bit pricey so pics is all I got for memories.
One more mural as I exited the town to check out the sights along WY 16:
Dispersed camping area near town, great 4G signal but very wide open to Wyoming's windy conditions:
The post's title includes the use of RVs to squat on a campsite, thereby "holding it" for whenever you wish to camp. I've since decided squatting isn't correct, so changing to "hogging" instead. There's the usual 14 day limit for camping on a site but I'm thinking it's not really enforced or as Martha read somewhere, people rotate their rigs around to stay within the limit.
To me, it's a selfish move on the part of the RV owners who are doing this. I saw so many RVs being used in this manner on several dispersed campsites that I lost count! Here's an example of three rigs, they're obviously just parked there, not in current use!
Wyoming 16 is advertised by the state as a Scenic Highway, so far all I can say is "meh". Perhaps I'm jaded but once you leave the vicinity of the below peaks, it's just pine forest and rolling hills.
I did take the detour off of WY 16 to check out Crazy Woman Canyon Road. I first rode it all the way through to the east side where one is presented with Crazy Woman Mountain:
Then I made my way back west and took time to shoot some of the more interesting rock formations lining the canyon walls:
Back on WY 16, I cruised onwards towards the west and finally got to Powder River Pass and the southern end of the Bighorn Mountain Range:
It was getting late, so I turned around and rode the 22 miles or so back to the campsite. Saw several NF campgrounds, a few dispersed camping sites and all without decent cellular signal it seems. All the dispersed sites were dotted with
squatter site hogger RVs, a disappointing and annoying site to my eyes. Oh well, it appears to be a widespread habit in this area, and I think it's spreading in Colorado as well!
Tomorrow, I plan to ride Fiona back into town to check out the museum and then see what sights there are to see north of town in the direction of Sheridan, WY.....Stay Tuned!
11 comments:
Really nice looking murals! I, for one, have never heard of Longmire.
32°F sounds too cold to hang around..,
It did warmup to 63 but tomorrow should be in low 70s . Am hoping for warmth.
You had a very interesting day, thanks for including us. Love that Crazy Woman Canyon road, would like to ride it someday.
The placeholders, so if nobody is using the RV's during the week, one could just park next to them? If the spot had good cell phone coverage... of course.
Now if you wanted to mess with them, you could start a collection of license plates to be later mailed to the DMV, anonymously of course.
As a practical matter, if the owners live in a subdivision like you do, it saves having to pay rent for an RV storage space.
Thanks CCjon for your comments. As to the squatters I got a response from Forest Service, yeah they're aware of the problem and impact on resources for visitors....they’ve formed a task force to study the problem....sigh. I’ve not seen rv storage places lately so likely you’re right in that people are using the National Forest as storage....also multiple hunting seasons have started or are ongoing so I suspect some of the squatters are hunters, wanting a spot for weekend hunting....not to mention its Labor Day weekend soon with corresponding plethora of camping and outings. It is what it is, now back to thinking perhaps owning some land isn’t such a bad idea.
Sorry to hear folks are using sites as storage for their RV's. That is very selfish. I loved the Longmire series, but did not realize Buffalo was the basis of the setting. Those murals are great.
I blew through Buffalo with things other than Longmire on my mind. However, earlier this year I was in the square in Las Vegas, NM, that served as a Longmire location. And also for No County for Old Men.
I finally found a good dispersed camping area in the Big Horns because the turnoff was very narrow with low hanging limbs. Not at all friendly to big RVs, but just fine for a van.
I would think a rash of break-ins, vandalism and such would cure the squatting. As far as RV storage goes, there aren't many suburbanites in the region. Nearly everyone either has land or friends who do where they could park several RVs.
Very selfish indeed Oz, I hope the negative karma they accrue by these acts results in lousy hunting/camping experiences for them. Thanks for the comments.
Yes I’ve seen such spots Al Christensen, makes me thinknof smaller rigs when I do. Congrats on finding the spot.
Al, and yet with all the available storage options they tie up camping spots instead.....as to your thoughts re break-ins and such.....nice thinking!
Spectacular scenery, and of course lovely pre-sunset pics, Dom. Simply awesome.
I really liked the Longmire TV show and its take on the modern Western genre. The Australian actor did a pretty good job depicting the sheriff. The books however were meh. Boring. Simply written.
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