An Amazing Trip

July 8, 2018

Last Sunday morning the two rigs rolled down the driveway, stopping in Big Timber for a few groceries and to say goodbye to Nat.  In Columbus we fed ourselves and continued on down the road to Horseshoe Bend BLM Campground on Big Horn Lake in the Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area near Lovell, Wyoming.  We had hoped by timing our arrival for Sunday evening we might score electric hookups–and we were lucky!!  And it’s a good thing–with highs in the triple digits and a heavy layer of smoke we wouldn’t have been able to stay there without the benefit of air conditioning!

Monday morning we started early trying to beat the heat but by days end the heat caught up with us!  Our Montana ATVing friends always lead a trip to the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in late May or early June–there’s definitely a reason for that!  We saw lots of horses–

Notice the stripe just above his tail and the stripes on his legs–distinct characteristics of the mustangs on the wild horse range.

Notice the hazy background–that wasn’t camera skill, it’s smoke, probably from Colorado.  The flies and other annoying insects were tormenting the horses as well as us.  It was almost impossible to eat our lunch for fear we would ingest a fly with our sandwiches!! UGH! At the higher elevations it was much cooler but we still had bugs.

Throughout the Pryor Mountains you can find ice caves–this one is the Large Ice Cave located on the wild horse range.  It was cold enough inside to see our breath–amazing!

 That’s ice on the cave floor which is frozen all year long.

Our drive home led us along a huge, deep canyon with vividly colored walls and rocks.  Photos would have been much better without the smoke!  By the time we returned to the rigs on Monday afternoon it was 100 degrees–miserable!  We had left the air conditioning set on low so it was at least tolerable in our rigs–this campground is run by a concessionaire which does not discount their fees–we couldn’t use our Senior Pass.  So, we ran the air conditioners.

Tuesday morning we were again on the road early–stay tuned for more spectacular photos of scenery and wildlife!