After breakfast this morning at the hotel, we filled the SUV
with gas and headed out on our next adventure. We had the three things we’ve
found to be essential to start our day on this trip: a full tank of gas, a full
belly, and an empty bladder. We had just gotten started when Phillip questioned
whether he had actually plugged in the cooler in the back of the SUV. As we
discussed whether he had or not, a sign came up for the Fort Steele State
Historic Site. So, since we needed to stop and check the cooler, we went to
Fort Steele. Fort Fred Steele was established in 1868 as one of a group of
forts placed along the route of the Trans-Continental Railway to protect the
railway construction. It was only in use until 1886, then abandoned. We saw a
decent batch of ruins, but nothing else. Workers were present who appeared to
be reconstructing a cabin, so the State of Wyoming may be turning this rather
dismal site into a real destination. On the way out, however, we did see
something fun, pronghorn antelope fairly close to us. In fact, Phillip had to
stop the car as three of them crossed the road in front of us, one at a time.
We’ve had deer cross in front, but this was our first antelope crossing. FYI,
Phillip had plugged in the cooler.
We only had to drive on the interstate highway for about twenty
miles from Rawlins before we headed south again. Our next stop was the hot
spring in Saratoga. It is a free public hot spring, so it is called the “Hobo
Pool.” We walked around it and I went down the steps and tested the
temperature. It was quite warm, hot in fact. The travel websites reported that
the hottest water was right at the steps. I hope the rest of the pool was
indeed cooler, because the water I felt was uncomfortably warm. As we walked
around the pool, we could see the bubbles coming from the rocks on the bottom
where the spring was feeding the pool. We didn’t see any hobos in the pool,
though! Actually no one was in the main pool, although a family from out of
town arrived to take a dip as we were leaving.
From Saratoga, we headed east onto the Snowy Range Scenic Biway
through the Medicine Bow National Forest. Glistening white remnants of the winter’s
blizzards lingered in basins along the side of the 12,000-foot mountain peaks.
We could tell it wasn’t fresh snow because the road took us right to many snow
drifts, and they weren’t fresh. It was still great to think we were in snow in
mid-July. The mountainsides were covered with trees that made it difficult to
look for elk and moose. While we stopped at a lookout, we overheard a fellow
traveler talking about the bull moose he had seen just down the road.
Unfortunately, the moose had moved on and we didn’t see him. Although we didn’t
see any big critters, it was a beautiful drive. And cool. The SUV doesn’t have
a thermometer like the truck and Toyota do, so we don’t know how cool, but my
guess is mid-50s. We could hop out of the SUV for picture taking, but if we’d
taken any of the trail walks, we would have needed to break out the jackets.
From the Snowy Range, our travels took us to Laramie and a
tour of the Wyoming Territorial Prison and Old West Park. Rain storms rolled in
just as we arrived, but fortunately, most of the tour was indoors in the
prison. The prison and the grounds have been mostly restored and we saw how
prison life was in the late 1800s. Signs throughout the museum included
pictures of prisoners and described their offense, behavior at the prison, and
life after their stay here. The warden’s house had been restored on the grounds
and furnished with period furniture from the 1880s. The wallpaper had even been
matched as close as possible to what had been there originally. Outside the
prison was a prison wagon, which Phillip scampered into and posed for his
picture.
The museum had a section on Butch Cassidy, who spent a year
and a half at the prison for knowingly buying a stolen horse. Robert Leroy
Parker began his criminal career at age 13 when he stole a pair of pants from a
store and left and IOU note. The storekeeper didn’t think it was funny and
called the law. Parker began robbing banks somewhere around 1879. He changed
his name to Butch Cassidy to protect his family from his growing criminal
record. It was 1884 when Cassidy was caught with the stolen horse and sent to
this prison. He actually got out early for good behavior. That’s when he formed
the Hole in the Wall gang and really started the high profile robberies,
eventually getting the Pinkerton detectives to come after him with a vengeance.
We say displays about the photograph that was taken of the gang in Fort Worth,
and read how it was a Fort Worth police detective who recognized Cassidy in the
picture and called Pinkerton. Neat stuff!
After the tour of the prison building itself, we walked thru
the Prison Industries Building. In the 1880s, the prison didn’t get enough
money from the state and the prisoners were just sitting idle in their cells,
so the warden decided to put them to work. The most successful work program
became the Laramie Broom Company. Under the watchful eye of a prison guard, the
prisoners would use broom corn and make brooms that would them be sold at a
profit to help with the operation of the prison. A volunteer, dressed in 1880
prison garb, told us the story and gave a demonstration of the process the
prisoners used to make the brooms. Original equipment used by the prisoners was
still in the building. More neat stuff! The museum had an old west town
recreation behind it, but we did not tour it, as it was now muddy, and we’ve
been thru old west towns already on this trip.
We headed south from Laramie into Colorado. At one point, we
came across road construction. The state was widening this two lane road to
four lanes. To do this, they had to take out more of a ridge in two places. We
noticed different heavy equipment, more than just construction equipment. As we
passed one of these ridge areas, we realized that they were crushing the rock
they were removing and hauling along the construction site to provide the base
for the new lanes. Great idea! No need to haul off material to clear the route,
then haul in other material for the road.
The terrain in Colorado is much friendlier than that of
Wyoming. Sagebrush and rocks as far as the eye could see turned into native
grass fields as far as the eye could see. We also began seeing herds of cows,
something we hadn’t seen in the barren central Wyoming landscape. We still saw
the pronghorn antelope, as they appear to live off of any vegetation. On the
horizon, we saw mountain ridges, but the native grass fields filled my screen
as I took pictures on the road. We still came across interesting rock
formations as the following one that I end today’s post with. What does it look
like to you? Maybe UFO?
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