We pretty much ran out of Wyoming today. Mostly driving.
We left the Parkside Campground at the base of the Beartooth Highway and headed south to Cody to pick up US 16 for the trip east. It is easy to understand why the population of the state of Wyoming is not much different from the city of Boston. It seems to be mostly a succession of dry, rolling plains punctuated by mountain ranges neither conducive to many people. After Cody, population 8,000, the next town was Emblem, 33 miles out in the plains, population 10.
After about 100 miles of dry sagebrush, if even that, we came to Ten Sleep and the beginning of the scenic byway through Ten Sleep Canyon and up over the Bighorn Mountains at Powder River Pass at nearly 9,700 feet. It wasn't as spectacular a road as the Beartooth Highway, but it went up through forest until it reached a high grassland plateau and then back down through forests again finishing in the rolling plains again.
At that point, we picked up Interstate 90 and sped along past Gillette to Moorcroft, passing a lot of oil and gas activity along the highway (not as much as in North Dakota, though). We then headed north along another winding road up through winding hills again to end up at Devil's Tower National Monument We arrived in the campground shortly before sunset. This is not usually a good time to get a campsite but we lucked out with a nice spot and a great view of Devil's Tower. It was next to the prairie dog town but they had all gone to bed. It was getting late so we had a quick dinner and, after stroll in the dark to see the tower in the moonlight, called it a day.
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