Day 81 of travels was pretty much a driving day as we tried to make some headway through some flat parts of Wyoming and get closer to Yellowstone, which both of us were excited to see. It would be a first for both Zack attack and me. We found a campsite outside of Riverton, Wyoming. Lake Cameahwait was a quiet, mostly deserted spot after a long day’s driving. We camped next to a picnic area gazebo structure which seemed to be in the process of being reclaimed by wildlife. Small bats had nestled into a niche in the rafters and birds’ nests were so abundant that the picnic tables were nearly unusable as they were covered in droppings. The lake was beautiful though and seemed like it might be a good fishing spot if we were not just stopping for the night.
The next day we decided to stop in Cody, Wyoming to continue our tour of all things Buffalo Bill. We ended up camping on Spirit Mountain Road just on the west side of town. The little, dirt road takes you quickly up a hillside where you are treated to a lovely view of Cody. We went to the rodeo that night. The rodeo runs every night in Cody and it bills itself as a rodeo town so it seemed like a must. We weren’t super impressed though. So, after grossing ourselves out by consuming some purplish huckleberry flavored popcorn, we headed into town to check out Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel. Like all things selling themselves as ‘wild west’ taxidermied animals were displayed proudly and prominently. The dining area of the restaurant with the long wood bar and tin ceilings fell somewhere on the spectrum between garish and historic, but somehow seemed just right for a hotel that Buffalo Bill had opened. Of course, we had a cocktail there.
The next day we explored Pioneer Town which I originally thought was a reproduction of the original town site, but really was collection of old cabins they’d moved into one walkable area and filled with pioneer memorabilia. If it was known who the cabin originally belonged to you got a snippet of its history. Many of the cabins also display either really poorly done taxidermy, or taxidermy that has just deteriorated over the years, so some of the poor critters on display are quite laughable ghoulish, especially the 2 headed calf and the lamb with an extra limb protruding from its side. Its biggest claim to fame seems to be that the real Jeremiah Johnson (whose story a Robert Redford movie is loosely based on) is buried there. He wasn’t buried there originally mind you, but was reburied at a ceremony Robert Redford himself attended. Much like pictures of the pope at the Catholic Chapel, pictures of Robert Redford were prominently displayed as evidence of one of the shining moments in Pioneer town history. Several old west figures were reburied there in fact, including a lady of the night and 2 men that were murdered in a tangled old west love story that is documented in letters and other memorabilia displayed. Pioneer town was cheesy for sure, but also a fun look at the old west.
After Pioneer town, and before heading out of town for Yosemite we headed out to the Spirit Mountain Cave. A short hike a couple more miles up the road we were camping on leads you to a little visited cave. A quick stop at the BLM office in town gets you the key so you can visit this little gem. We came a little ill prepared as our lights barely penetrated the depths of the cave and to explore it more thoroughly would have required some serious scrambling, but we crawled around a bit before hitting the road.
We took the Chief Joseph Scenic byway toward the northeastern side of Yellowstone. There are lots of views on this road that build your anticipation for Yellowstone itself. Once we got close to Yellowstone we wandered around looking for a campspot for a while. We first went up a very steep 4 wheel drive road and found no spots. There was an established campground on the other side Beartooth Highway that we checked out. We got a glimpse of a fox there with a mouthful of rodents. We ultimately found spot on another dirt road that seemed to be frequented by atvs. It was just 10 miles or so from the northwest entrance of Yellowstone so we decided it was a good spot. Just an fyi for those thinking of camping near Yellowstone – a lot of camp spots there don’t allow tents or soft-sided campers because of the bears. There are some in the park, but many on the outside of the park are hardsided camping only. We had a fire that night and plotted how best to tackle our first day of Yellowstone the next day.
