Happy Trails with Mike & Ellen Taylor

Since we left Cripple Creek we spent a few days at Rifle Gap State Park north of Rifle, CO, and a few in Thermopolis, WY. These two experiences were sort of at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Rifle State Park was a really nice, clean park with spacious sites and beautiful views. This part of Colorado reminds us a lot of the Texas Hill Country with no trees other than scrub cedars. Our site overlooked a beautiful lake that was the main attraction of the park. The weather was great and Mike took advantage of it to play golf one day at a nice little course just the other side of the gap.

The drive from Rifle to Thermopolis was one of the longest we've made in a single day, but the roads were good and the traffic was light so it wasn't a bad day. The route took us across the beautiful and desolate high plains of western Colorado and Wyoming. We crossed the Continental Divide four times at around 7,000 feet and saw what seemed like 100's of pronghorn antelope. As we were crossing the Great Divide Basin, Mike was glancing at the scenery and looked up to find a pronghorn standing right in the middle of the road immediately in front of us...they look so small out on the prairie but when you get them at the end of your hood they are a lot bigger! Thankfully he continued across; there wasn't any other traffic and we missed him. The drive ended with a beautiful stretch through the Wind River Canyon where the Wind River cuts through the Owl Creek Mountains. We will post some pictures of this canyon when we have a better internet connection!

Thermopolis is the home of the world's largest mineral hot springs. There is a state park with several baths that are very popular, but smelly! We stayed in the Eagle RV Park which appeared to be a former KOA; it was the tightest park we've stayed in on this trip. Some of the bigger rigs that came in could hardly maneuver into their sites! Thankfully all of our neighbors were nice, because you couldn't help but get to know them since you were camped right on top of each other.

Yesterday we moved from Thermopolis to Red Lodge, MT near the northeast corner of Yellowstone. Red Lodge is at the northern end of the Beartooth Highway, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in America; it is also near the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. We are looking forward to exploring this area over the next few days.