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| Black Mountain Fire Lookout |
Yay for long weekends! Thursday morning found us leaving town instead of heading to work. Ever since we tent-camped in the Big Horn Mountains a couple of years ago, we have been wanting to get back and explore more thoroughly. This was our weekend to do that! Despite a "check engine" light and a slight delay, we got the camper set up by mid-afternoon. We had spotted a fire lookout on the way in, and we just happened to be camped on the road that led up to it! Wow! Black Mountain Lookout Road was a baptism by fire! Is this what I can expect on every ORV trail in the Big Horns?!? I was very glad for my independent suspension, power steering, and high clearance (all the reasons that we chose the Polaris machines in the first place), as well as any experience that I have gained over the last two years of riding! I finally cried "Uncle!" and we set out on foot to finish the climb. I didn't feel quite so bad about chickening out when we came to the ATV parking area just a tenth of a mile further up the road. But the view from the top made all the effort worthwhile!
Friday was all about the riding. We rode over the mountains, among the trees, and through the river. We rode main roads, jeep roads, and ORV trails. We saw lots of cool scenery, but I wanted animals. I was especially eager to see moose. We were nearly back to camp late in the afternoon before I finally spied one. She was, however, rather shy and didn't hang around for pictures. Fortunately, we came across a second one a couple of miles later, and this one cared not one little bit how long we wanted to stand watching her and taking photos. After a while, we decided to head back to camp and get supper. With dinner over, I wanted a campfire. I stepped out of the camper and found myself nearly face-to-face with a young mule deer doe. She paid us no mind as she went around the back of the camper to graze in the little meadow behind us. I thought at one point, she might just join us at the fire!
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| Peek-a-boo |
The trail that we rode on Saturday might well have been my favorite of all three days' riding. It was mostly easy riding without being boring, it followed a river most of the way (always a plus), and it led us to a photogenic young bull moose. Since we wanted to get an earlier start for home than we sometimes do, we limited our miles for the day, and by 4:30, we were pulling out for home.
Because of the trouble with the truck on the way in, Dan was carefully watching gauges on the way out. Everything was fine until after we got gas in Greybull. Not more than a couple of miles out of town, the engine started to chug and the light came back on. So we pulled over and prepared to wait it out. (Hey, it worked the first time.) After a while, we tried again, only to stop again just a few miles later. So we waited again, even longer. Third time's the charm, right? WRONG! Time to call in the Lone Ranger! We put out a distress call to our good friend Rick, who came to our aid. So much for our early start ~ we pulled into Laurel just after 2 am. And, of course, wouldn't you know it, we had to wait for a train. At that point, we just had to laugh. How else could this story end?
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| Ummm... where's the bridge? |
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A bit of history: This structure is called a splash dam.
Loggers would hold back the water until conditions were right to "flush"
the logs down the river to sawmills in the towns below. c1905
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| Smiling rock :) |
Yay for long weekends! Thursday morning found us leaving town instead of heading to work. Ever since we tent-camped in the Big Horn Mountains a couple of years ago, we have been wanting to get back and explore more thoroughly. This was our weekend to do that! Despite a "check engine" light and a slight delay, we got the camper set up by mid-afternoon. We had spotted a fire lookout on the way in, and we just happened to be camped on the road that led up to it! Wow! Black Mountain Lookout Road was a baptism by fire! Is this what I can expect on every ORV trail in the Big Horns?!? I was very glad for my independent suspension, power steering, and high clearance (all the reasons that we chose the Polaris machines in the first place), as well as any experience that I have gained over the last two years of riding! I finally cried "Uncle!" and we set out on foot to finish the climb. I didn't feel quite so bad about chickening out when we came to the ATV parking area just a tenth of a mile further up the road. But the view from the top made all the effort worthwhile! 
Friday was all about the riding. We rode over the mountains, among the trees, and through the river. We rode main roads, jeep roads, and ORV trails. We saw lots of cool scenery, but I wanted animals. I was especially eager to see moose. We were nearly back to camp late in the afternoon before I finally spied one. She was, however, rather shy and didn't hang around for pictures. Fortunately, we came across a second one a couple of miles later, and this one cared not one little bit how long we wanted to stand watching her and taking photos. After a while, we decided to head back to camp and get supper. With dinner over, I wanted a campfire. I stepped out of the camper and found myself nearly face-to-face with a young mule deer doe. She paid us no mind as she went around the back of the camper to graze in the little meadow behind us. I thought at one point, she might just join us at the fire! 
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