Day 75. July 20,2019. Muddy Creek Switchback...in Wyoming

It's Day 75...It's also July 20th, 2019....and we are in Wyoming...on a road called Muddy Creek Switchback

Yesterday I had decided that the day would be all about driving. Since Leaving BTown we’ve barely gained a couple hundred miles a day. So much stopping and looking to do. So many diversions…Historical Markers, Landmarks, Scenic byways, and gravel roads to check out....A gravel road....even a dirt road that looks like it might go somewhere....well ya gotta check that out...oh...and FYI....if there's cattle guard....and no gate.....devoid of "No Trespassing" or Private Property signs....I can almost guarantee that there is amazing stuff to see up ....or down....that dirt road. It was fun to learn early on.....as I started to see all across eastern Oregon....throughout Idaho and now especially in the wide open spaces of this southwest corner of Wyoming....there is soooo much more....space....out here. See...back home....everybody owns everything. Nearly everywhere you go....even a dirt logging road on BLM land....sooner or later...more often sooner....your gonna come to a gate...with a big No Trespassing sign....even BLM land....isn't necessarily public anymore...seems a logging company can sign a lease....gate it off...and tell me...I"m not allowed to explore....to hike....to look...at those amazing central and southern Oregon Forests and Mountains.....all the while....they trek in and out of those public lands with truck loads of money every day....in the form of logs. Everyone's gotta have a house right?? Or do we??

But out here....it's different....driving through the rolling hills....each time we crest a mountain.....a whole bunch more of nothing...as far as we can see...

From Craters of the Moon we drove down through Pocatello Idaho where we stopped in for a check up on the RV...tires, brakes, oil change...

From there we continued east, then south, then east, then south again. Passing through towns like Cokeville, Big Piney, La Barge, Kemmerer, and Diamondville...each giving us just a sample of what Wyoming is all about. No shortage of random entertainment either....stopped for a Burger at a truckstop outside Cokeville...and while waiting for the Burger I got to listen to a pretty animated debate between a high energy...and very loud trucker....and an almost louder 13 year old girl on her way home from a Rodeo with the family...ya see....I know all this because during the course of their friendly midwestern banter the trucker pondered out loud what a 10 year old girl might know about anything....and she quickly set him straight with I'm 13...and I prolly know more than you old man...I won't try to do her Wyoming accent. But the focus of their conversation began when the trucker guy announced to his waitress at the bar that he loved the burgers here at the Cokeville stop....that's when rodeo girl chimed in....it's cookville sir....What? he grinned back at her...and it was on. Just as entertaining ... was watching the rest of that rambunctious 13 year olds family as they grinned, giggled and elbowed one another as if to egg her on....it was pretty clear that in their world....exchanges just like this one were common....considered entertainment even....I was sure entertained. I drove into the area reading a sign and thinking Cokeville....but leaving the area...likely just in memory of that Rambunctious midwestern cowgirl...boots hat wranglers buckle and all....that place just might always be cookville for me.

A little further down the road and Just before I-80, and as the sun was beginning to set... we spotted one of those roads cutting off the main road and headed out into what appeared to be the middle of nowhere...the sign read Muddy Creek Switchback.

A mile or so down that road.....a driveway....complete with cattle guard to our left. It was an electricity sub station....the substation itself all safely fenced off but surrounded by a large leveled out area...plenty of space to pull in...turn around and shut off the motor for the night.

A perfect spot to level up...fire up the generator and spend the and spend an evening in these high mountains of Wyoming...parked alongside a trail called Muddy Creek Switchback.

Our night here would be spent in the deep darkness of an early summer night in Wyoming. Nothing but the hum of a generator, the volume low on the television as I attempted to watch a movie…but found myself much more interested in the lack of noise, the far off glow of headlights indicating that perhaps a piece of civilization was not as far away as it felt…and even the subtle creak from the snow fence 20 yards behind us.

Dougie and I were out for our last walk of the evening..when....something happened......that creepy tingly feeling that runs up your spine as you suddenly feel like your being watched? It's even more odd when combined with the fact that the space was wide open and...it was nearly dark...but I could still see forever in every direction....and nothing....but...that tingly feeling....was suggesting other wise....strongly suggesting other wise... I shrugged it off as we hopped back up into the motorhome...locking the door and reminding myself where the gun was stashed...

I'd spend the remainder of the evening reading about Wyoming....and this trail called Muddy Creek Switchback. At one point...I reached over and hit the kill switch on the generator....and shut the TV off....somehow....it was just better....to listen to the silence as I read....the occasional wind that would pass thru quietly....the glow of the laptop screen lighting my face as I read and learned....the occasional flicker of light through the blinds as one of those semi's on the main hiway....far off in the distance crested a hill and trekked on by in the night.

Didn't much keep track of time as I was learning that Wyoming....was a relative youngin on the list of states...joining the union as the 44th state in July of 1890. In joining...Wyoming would bring along with it....some of the oldest Archean Rocks on the North American continent. What's an Archean Rock....they are also called Pre Cambrian rocks....and they are literally...the oldest rocks found on the earths crust. Which means that deep within these rocks....todays technology allows geologist to study exactly what was happening on the earths surface...and deep below it....BILLIONS of years ago. I would also learn that Wyoming, along with Montana...and area's of Minnesota....are three of only a handful of places on the planet...where these rocks can be studied.

It was easy to get overwhelmed with all the different scientific and geological debates over fossilized discoveries deep within these rocks....but some argue that human presence in the area could potentially date back some 30,000 years....originating somewhere in New Mexico as shifting ice formations changed how humans traversed up and down what was becoming the west coast of the United States and migrated into the interior...and eventually trekking across places like right here in Wyoming.

From billions of years ago....to tens of thousands of years ago....to more recent history....when like much of this side of the country....European explorers would begin discovering and trekking through Wyoming in the early 1800's...some couple of decades or so before the more prominent Lewis and Clarke...and Oregon Trails would eventually be established...opening up the area for what would take place here...and on the west coast leading up to the turn of the century.

And...as I had begun to learn in Idaho....Wyoming would prove to be an area in which we would pass through the history of conflict between the Native Americans of the area... early settlers...and the US Army. Just one example significant conflicts would be that of Red Clouds war...in which the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapaho....and other Native American tribes would face off with the US Army in a war that would last two years. The signing of the second Laramie Treaty in the late 1800's would bring the conflict to an end. Included in the treaty would be the Powder River Country being completely closed to whites. This would ensure tens of thousands of acres of land spanning vast areas of the great plains would belong to the Native Americans. It would be in reading about this particular treaty when I would begin to read about how poorly these treaties were enforced....in many cases...simply not honored by the white man. Continued settler encroachment into these areas would lead to future conflicts. A significant example of this would be the Battle of Little Bighorn in the late 1800's. This Battle was the direct result of broken promises and land disputes. The battle took place in Montana, not far from the Wyoming border, and would immortalize names like Custer, and Sitting Bull in American History.

Wyoming might be young in it's statehood compared to others....but that doesn't mean it comes without a pretty impressive list of accomplishments...and history of it's own.

The state is the 10th largest in the nation in land area....and at the same time is the least populated state in the nation with just under 600,000 residents. In my entire life...I had never been in a state that did not have at least one city....that had more residents....than the entire state of Wyoming.

The name Wyoming comes from a Native American expression meaning "at the big plains" referring the the high elevation prairies the region is known for.

The area known as the Red Desert in south central Wyoming lacks normal drainage and is home to the Killpecker Sand Dunes....which is the largest active dune system in the US and the second largest in the world. Wyoming's continental divide splits around the dune leaving it with no typical forms of drainage. An active dune? A bit more reading would tell me that an active dune is a dune area currently, and constantly moving and changing shape. Being devoid of typical drainage systems...rivers...creeks....even oceans....the area is subject to shape shifting via winds and erosion causing continuous change ... even examples of mountainous sized dunes shifting in location and size.....making the area an extremely unique landscape.

Some of the nations largest and most popular National Parks also call Wyoming home....including even Yellowstone....which spans across Montana and Idaho...in addition to Wyoming. And don't forget the Grand Tetons and Devils Peak.

In addition to all the natural beauty.... Wyoming is at the top of this list in the natural resources department and is a major player in helping to meet the nations energy requirements.

And...Wyoming would be granted the nickname The equality state when it became the first state in the union to grant women the right to vote.

The list keeps going....Hollywood's been here too....The Oscar winning film Rocky 5 had its training scenes shot in Jackson Hole Wyoming and when they needed scenes depicting a frozen Russian landscape....they looked to the Grand Teton National park...which pulled it off pretty nicely.

And what about this trail just behind us....Muddy Creek Switchback? I just knew....with a name like that there had to be some history involved....and there is....

When reading....the terminology quickly shifts from Muddy Creek Switchback to "Muddy Creek Historic Backway".

A designated route that spans 25 miles of back roads taking you from a real western ghost town called Piedmont...to Muddy Creek. The Piedmont Charcoal Kilns State Historic Site is a great place to view the remnants and what early settler life in the area looked like. The charcoal kilns were built to make charcoal and supply the pioneer smelters in the Utah Valley. Charcoal was crucial to the iron smelting industry of the time....which made these 30 foot wide, by 30 foot tall kilns over here in Piedmont invaluable to the areas early stages of industrialization. I found A video on the Wyoming State parks Youtube channel.....lets have a quick look/listen to what Wyoming State Parks has to say about these kilns in Piedmont....

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Muddy Creek would become one of the most famous and frequently used camping areas for early settlers during their migration west. It is estimated that some 70,000 or more Mormon pioneers, US Army Troops...and even the folks working on the original Transcontinental Railroad would pass through and or camp here. At one point the area would even be a designated stop for the Muddy Creek Overland Stagecoach line...and a Pony Express Station.

Quite a lot going on in this 25 mile stretch of Wyoming.

Closing the laptop and settling for the night....the deep darkness of an early summer night in Wyoming is pretty all consuming. Immersing myself in the vastness of this place....and the history of it all at once. The occasional glow of those headlights off in the distance would be the only reminder that there was indeed civilization out there....somewhere....

Eventually, sleep would win out, and before I knew it I awoke to the early Wyoming sun peeking through the blinds.

Didn't much feel like breaking the silence with the sound of the generator....so coffee brewing on the stove, dressed for the day and pondering what breakfast might be…Dougie and I stepped out into the morning air for our first walk of the day.

He ran off to take care of the mornings business and and I pulled out the camera for some beautiful shots of the Wyoming sun...still low in the sky...gleaming through those snow fences. It was fun to learn what a snow fence was by the way....I didn't even know what they were called as I studied them last night....another piece of human ingenuity as folks in these parts figured out ways to protect roadways....and other things....like electrical substations....from the harsh and driving winter snows that blow across the area during the winter months....nothin worse I spose than having to clear a 15 ft snow drift in the icy winds of winter. Also fun to learn just one more thing about Wyoming....while snow fences in general have an ancient history with one of the earliest examples being their use around Stonehenge....but here in the US....it was right here in this part of Wyoming where the nations first snow fences would be installed as early as the 1920's. The fences ability to slow the harsh winter winds coming down out of the higher elevations and blowing across the prairie....reducing snow drift activity dramatically.....which in turn reduces maintenance costs of clearing roadways...and even improving driving safety in the winter....by reducing blizzard activity...and increasing visibility. And in more recent years the Wyoming Department of Transportation has fully implemented a Living Snow Fence program. Their strategically placed plantings along the interstate system have effectively created snow catchment areas...keeping even more of that white stuff off the more heavily traversed roadways. Here's a quick look at a video shared by the Wyoming Department of Transportation in relation to the states use of snow fences...showing how seriously the folks in Wyoming take making these roads safer during winters that most of us would find unbearable....These folks....they just call it winter

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A big thanks again to both the Wyoming State Parks, and Wyoming's Department of transportation for sharing.

Anyway....back to that beautiful summer morning....Dougie was trotting back down from one of those snow fences....towards me when I glanced down and instantly focused on a massive paw print in the dirt....not 10 feet from where we hop in and out of our big metal box on wheels. Ugg...that tingly feeling again.....

A quick spin around...glancing in all directions...you know...just to make sure....I then returned to studying that paw print...and the ones that followed ....trailing off the dirt and gravel we were parked on....and into the grassy hillside just below the snow fences. Were those there last night....I kept wondering....but I didn't know....I didn't see them....but...it was getting pretty dark when we got here. I'm no pawprint expert for sure ...... so I have no idea what it could have been...What I did know is that Dougie's prints were less than half the size of these....

But...did this thing...come and go before we were here......or did this thing...whatever it was....come and go....while we were here....sleeping

The truth is....we'll never know....but what I did know...now...for sure....

Was that if our aim was to stay off the beaten path.....get as far out into the middle of nowhere as the RV would allow....that I needed to be way more aware of our surroundings....at that in many cases throughout this unfenced wilderness....it would likely be as much about WHERE we were visiting....as it is WHO....or WHAT we are visiting.

And I most certainly realized that we weren't in Tacoma anymore…we are in a very different kind of place...and I liked it…