Finishing the Wyoming GART in Greybull & Cody
/After leaving Sitting Bull, we spent a night in Worland, Wyoming… a pleasant enough little Wyoming town, but pretty quiet. It was David’s birthday and we thought we might celebrate with a dinner out. When we asked at the front desk clerk about outdoor dining options, there were none. In fact, there were no dining options at all on Sunday evenings other than fast food. We settled on sushi from the local supermarket... and ice cream for dessert. Actually, David’s favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk and it just so happened we found some… not quite what we’d planned for the celebration, but we made do.
Riding the GART along the South Big Horn River.
We were up and out early, heading to Greybull, Wyoming where a 2-mile section of the GART waited for us. This raised railbed now a rail-trail and river walk is paved and runs alongside the South Big Horn River. Solid, steep cliffs of the Big Horn Mountains rise up on the far side of the river. We parked Blue at the middle mark of the trail for convenience sake, got out the bikes and soared along the trail and voila… in no time at all, another chunk of the GART was complete. We packed up the bikes noting that future GART experiences might not be quite as easy.
Stowing the bikes is getting easier and easier.
Next stop, Cody, Wyoming, named after William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody. The land is flat around here and the sage and scrub seem the only vegetation. There are mesas and mountains rising up all around. Yellowstone is only about 85 miles away and Cody is a gateway town to the national parks.
The day was overcast and cool, a respite from the 99F heat yesterday. The Beck Lake Park Bike Trail skirts around the two ponds of the Markham Reservoir. The raised path is paved and we were able to do a Figure 8 loop around and between the ponds totaling all of 2.6 miles.
Sunflowers and milkweed line the pleasant path. Kids were fishing off a little peninsula that jutted out into the water and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Miriam, who has permanently installed herself on Blue’s dashboard, decided to join me for the bike ride this morning. She seemed to relish the fresh air. We were done riding, packed up and back on the road well before Noon. We had completed the entire Wyoming Rail-Trail… all 17 miles of it. Whenever we see railroad tracks now, we wonder why they waste them on trains when they could all be modified and used by bicycles.
Cody is a cute, historical western town, but touristy. The Buffalo Bill Wild West Center was open for business and seemed to be attracting the crowds. We passed up all the tourist attractions including the Dug Up Gun Museum (I kid you not!). A banner stretched across the main street announcing the World Famous Cody Nite Rodeo and we considered it for a nanosecond and thought better of the idea and drove on. We realize we missed a lot in the area that would otherwise have been interesting to see. We are, however, still a bit gun-shy (or is that virus-shy) and crowded venues are just not prudent for us currently.
Cody is an historical western town. Check out some of the former residents.
Main street Cody looks like a western town just the way a western town should look like.
An evening rodeo? We wish… but probably not prudent.
Campsites around Cody were not easily found, but close by in the little town of Powell, we found a small, albeit limited park/rest area for overnight camping. Homesteader Park provided toilet facilities which were clean and spacious; the camping spots, however, are parking on the pavement alongside a grassy area with picnic tables and charcoal grills.
Homesteader Park provided an overnight camping venue.
We had noticed the small Homesteader Museum on our way into town. It didn’t look busy and we thought it might be interesting to stop. A sign on the door announced the museum was closed, however the door was open, so we ventured in. A meeting was going on and we hastily excused ourselves to leave when Brandy, the museum docent/curator, welcomed us in and suggested we tour the outside exhibits while the meeting was going on.
The Homesteader Museum wasn’t open, but Brandy, the docent, let us visit anyway.
A few historical words about Wyoming here because I doubt most people know this interesting trivia. Wyoming is home to the U.S.’s first National Park- Yellowstone (1872); the first National Monument – Devil’s Tower (1906) and the first National Forest – Shoshone. In fact, 48% of Wyoming’s land are public. More importantly, it was the first state to grant women’s suffrage… the right to vote and hold office. I might add that according to Brandy, our docent, granting women the right to vote was not magnanimous nor forward-thinking on the part of the Wyoming men, however. In order to become a state and have electoral votes and representation in Congress, the then Wyoming Territory had to have a specific number of registered voters. Allowing women to vote made statehood and representation possible.
This little regional museum was interesting and since we were the only folks there, we felt at ease to explore. We checked out an old log cabin and wandered through a building chock-a-block full of homesteader mementos and paraphernalia. Midst all the tools and implements, I found a wool carder manufactured by L.S. Watson & Co., Leicester, Massachusetts… my hometown, but never heard of the company. I wondered how this tool could have made its way from my little town in Massachusetts to this little town in Wyoming and what stories it might have to tell.
A c.1945 caboose donated to the museum by the Burlington Northern Railroad was on display and I jumped on board. Did you know that some cabooses had an upstairs area? Neither did we. Finished with the outdoor exhibits, we ventured back in to find the meeting was over and Brandy, mask in place, invited us to look around. She was fount of information and we enjoyed the insight into the area. Another interesting tidbit, homesteader plots were still being issued as late as 1950 in Wyoming.
We returned to the Homesteader Park, cooked dinner on the Coleman stove and settled in for the night. About 1AM, we were rudely awakened by what sounded like a fire hose forcefully pummeling us. Despite being parked in a designated ‘tent camping’ area, a heavy duty sprinkler system was at work. It cycled around about every 3 minutes for over an hour. Glad we weren’t in a tent! It was a long, wet trek to the toilets in the morning, but we reminded ourselves that it was a free campsite and quite generous of the people of Powell to provide it.
We’re leaving Wyoming today and heading to Montana… , the Treasure State… Big Sky Country and over the Continental Divide. Join us for more travels. Your company is always more than welcome.