The family and I completed our first trip to Wyoming and back on Friday the 3rd of August, 2012.
This was the first time any of us had been to the region, and what an experience it was. We have been reading and researching about the redoubt lands for some time, and after serious consideration, decided that Wyoming was the first state we needed to recon. A lot of influence for that decision was due to the FSW project, and the people who are associated with this forum. You see, to make a move to a totally new region, and uproot all ties with our current lives, is not something to take lightly. We could spend all our time winnowing down potential destinations on line, but until one actually sets foot on the soil, you will never know what you are in for.
I would like to share my experience with anyone that is willing to read through this. Hopefully prospective future newbies like me can learn from my story, and build on it, so that their first or second trip can be better than ours.
Like I said before, a lot of time was spent planning this trip so that we could get the most out of it. Our goal was to see as much of Wyoming as we could, and focus primarily on the NE corner, while also doing the “tourist” thing. We came from the east on I-90, dropped into the Black Hills to see Rushmore and Crazy Horse, through Newcastle, Four Corners, Sundance, Aladdin, Hulett, Devils Tower, and Gillett. Whew… off we went to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Jackson
Hell Hole, over the southern pass of the Big Horns and over past Lander to see Independence Rock. From there through Casper on our way to Guernsey to see the Oregon Trail Ruts. After that we went back up to the NE Corner to get an in depth feeling for Weston and Crook Counties. We gave ourselves two weeks to make the trip, with a four day buffer in NE WY at the end of the trip prior to the 1,300 mile run home.
It is said that the best laid plan…is only a plan. Had the writers for National Lampoon been following us they would have had a script for a new movie. Aside from the natural beauty of Wyoming and the terrific companionship from the FSW members that we met, the trip was loaded with self-made pitfalls that were otherwise unforeseen. We knew the trip would be difficult, but not insurmountable. I have a 21 year old RV that was carrying me, my wife, mother in-law, sister, and three small children.
I will mention a few “lessons learned” so as not to distract from the review.
-30’ RV’s are heavy, use 1st gear to descend mountains like the Big Horns, not 2nd. It does not matter how slow you travel down a
hill mountain, you will want your breaks cold when you approach the switchback in Ten Sleep Canyon. Repair bills are hefty on the side of the road; I can’t imagine the worst case scenario.
-If you Google map your route, the estimated time of travel does NOT account for elevation, just speed limits. Add about 50-70% time when crossing mountain ranges.
-Wyomingites believe for some reason that the land between the Black Hills and the Big Horns is flat!?! It is baron, sure, but flat it is not.
-Open carry is not only permitted in Wyoming, but in my experience, greatly accepted and appreciated. See my OC Experience review in another thread.
http://www.fundamentalsoffreedom.com/fswforum/index.php?topic=3119.msg118880#msg118880 -If you spend some time getting to know the folks here on the forum before your trip, you will not only know who you want to meet when you get there, they will want to meet you too. (For those of you that I did not get a chance to meet up with, please take no offense in that fact. Once the “schedule” was full…well I guess that means we’ll have to come back!
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-If traveling by RV, tow a vehicle you can detach to do your “off the highway” property scouting. If the road is on the state map, it does NOT mean that it is paved! Most two digit highways are though.
I guess I have already begun, so before I really get rolling, keep in mind that this was our experience and opinion of the areas that we visited. I want to be honest, so feel free to defend anything I say that opposes your points of view, you live there, and we only visited. This is also the tail end of a bad drought season, with remnants of recent forest fires. We also left the region a week prior to the official start of HD Sturgis, so the traffic was heavy on the motorcycle side.
Aladdin (in alphabetical order)
Pop: 15 Ele: 3740
This was a nice little town tucked in a beautiful valley. We did not stop at the general store/gas station/antique shop, but we did head north about 12 miles to look at some property there. Once over the hills, it gets pretty flat by Wyoming standards, with some real nice ranches. Most rivers were dry, but the reservoirs were at least muddy.
Alva Pop: 50 Ele: 3995
Blip on the map would be a good description. That or RHodges recent description. I look forward to RaisedByWolves assessment. We only spent the 30-40 seconds it took to drive through a couple of times. We did not see anything besides the Post Office. One plus I’ll note is that the river running through it was flowing good.
Ayres Natural Bridge ParkI feel like I am letting the cat out of the bag talking about this place, but I have to mention this little diversion we took. On I-25 at Exit 151, go south exactly 5 miles and you will find this awesome little oasis down in a little canyon. There is camping there and a cool natural bridge with a river flowing under it that you can easily walk through, or climb up on top of. I would have scheduled one of our overnights there had I know about this place.
Buffalo Pop: 4,585 Ele: 4,646 (Just under the “Population should not exceed the Elevation” rule!)
Did not stay long, the Ag Co-op had some great folks hanging out and I topped off the propane tank there. Pretty looking town but could tell it was a bit weathered. Windy and overcast that evening.
Cody Pop: 9,520 Ele: 4,997
Cool little tourist town. Great place to pick up your souvenirs and any supplies before entering Yellowstone’s East entrance. My highlight there was the “Gun’s, Gold & Silver” store. Not really a pawn shop, just very focused. For example, it’s not too often you see an AR-30 on display. My wife enjoyed her visit to the Natural Food Store, I can’t remember the name of it, but she said it was very well stocked.
Gillette Pop: 29,087 Ele: 4,554
In two words, Urban Sprawl. They really have everything you would need from big city America, but the suburbs were scary to me (Because they were too new and the same as the next one, not because I was afraid!). I was told that many of the Gillette residents are oil field workers, two weeks on/two weeks off, and nowhere else to spend their money. If Wyoming is twenty years “behind the times”; then Gillette is only ten, as in pre-housing market crash. If you need a city to move into, this could be it. Passing through though, for eleven bucks per family, the County Pool is a nice break from the near 100 degree weather. They have big slides and a “lazy river” to float around in. Like I said though, if you live within a half a tank of gas of this city, a day trip will garner all your shopping list needs.
GuernseyPop: 1,147 Ele: 4,354
This was a very nice little town that had just the right amenities. Within the town limits are the sandstone Oregon Trail ruts. That was an awesome experience to walk the exact path the early pioneers did. Unfortunately we did not give ourselves enough time to check out the register cliff, next time. We stayed at the State Park, which had just experienced a fire, not sure how long ago though. Be sure to pre-register to save yourself a little headache. Hook-up sites were only available to those who pre-registered.
Hulett Pop: 383 Ele: 3,747
This was a very nice little town. We stopped here on our first pass through for lunch at the diner and a visit to the Indian museum. The next time through we stopped at the antique shop which is run by a great family. The husband is an awesome artist whose studio is on site. He does rodeo posters which they sell prints of that make great souvenirs. Spend some time there and you will gather a good feel for the town, and Wyoming. We also meet a couple FSW folks for dinner at the Ponderosa. They were good company to be with, and provided personal information about the region and people, which was all good. The grocery store is well stocked for such a small town, which also serves the outlying ranches. There is a real nice feed store and hardware store which doubles as a gun broker/FFL. The Belle Fourche River runs through Hulett, and as I had been told by Will from Crazy Woman Reality, has not been dry in the four generations his family has been there. (There are a couple realtors in the town, but I really think these guys are on the ball, and understand/respect the needs of those looking to “get off the grid”. They service most of the redoubt and are willing to travel.) All around, a nice off the beaten path town.
Independence Rock Ok, this is not a town, but how awesome it was as an easterner to climb on this hulking piece of history. We even found a 6’ long snake skin! This is a great place to take a timeout on your journey.
NewcastlePop: 3,532 Ele: 4,327
I liked Newcastle on the whole; there are a lot of things going on in this town and I think it holds the embodiment of what Wyoming is all about. The “downtown” street is loaded with businesses that cater to all kinds of desires and needs. While the town is on what I would call the dry side of the Black Hills, it is not far from those wooded hills. There is some very cool history there too. Unfortunately I think the railroad and mid-town refinery are pretty big draw backs, in my book anyway. With 85 and 16 intersecting just outside of town you have a lot of shopping options in multiple directions.
Sundance Pop: 1,182 Ele: 4,738
We did not spend too much time here, but could tell that it had a lot of character. The buildings in town were all well-kept, and the businesses that we saw passing through appeared to be enough to maintain day to day living. Being on both sides of I-90, pretty much centered between Gillette and Rapid City, bigger needs are not too far away.
Ten Sleep Pop: 260 Ele: 4206
What a diamond in the rough! Another small, green, town with shallow artesian water springs. There are a couple bars, a nice souvenir shop (that is actually for sale by private owner with an attached house, $200k. Dirty Sally’s, yes namesake from Gunsmoke). As there are only a couple passes through the Big Horns, 14 & 16, I imagine tourist traffic is pretty heavy. We would love to have stayed a couple days there, and may do so in the future. If camping, I recommend the Ten Broek Campground.
Yellowstone (as a whole)
Pop: 0ish Ele: a lot, but mostly high up there, which the weather reflected (nice mid 70’s!).
There are a lot of tourist things to do here. We basically did it in a day, and had to skip the upper half to get back on schedule. This is a beautiful part of the country and we took a lot of pictures. While linearly the route is not very long, in reality, in a 30’ RV, it takes a long time to get from point A to B. If you have the time, and are incorporating Yellowstone into your trip, give it a couple of days. Don’t rush it, or you’ll not really enjoy it.
Depending on what you are looking for, Wyoming really does have it all. If you want to live among the masses, there are many options. If you want to have nothing but wild life for neighbors, there are even more options. Like they say, In Wyoming there is room to spread your arms, two’s a crowd, and three’s a town. The only real sacrifice I see one making by relocating here is the amount of driving you will need to do if you get yourself too far removed. Compared to the endless gains though, we’ll see you there soon!
