Still Searching for Sheep

**SIGH** My favorite holiday is history for another year. But why waste today wishing for yesterday? With Dan's brother Barry leaving to go home to Cheyenne, we left his sister Tamsen to enjoy some rare solo downtime and took our nephew Paul with us to the Bighorn Recreational Area. 

We were still on the hunt for big horn rams butting heads, and since we didn't find any sheep up on Syke's Ridge a couple of weeks ago, we decided to stay lower. We paid our entry fee and made our way to Devil's Overlook. This was Paul's first trip to the Bighorn Canyon, but not ours. So while Paul was photographing the river and cliffs, we were scanning the surrounding terrain with binoculars looking for sheep. We did not spot any sheep, but Dan did spy an arch that we have never noticed before. After a few pictures, we returned to the road and to the hunt. 

And finally...!! A mile or two down the road, the guys spotted a young ram with a little herd. Unfortunately, the other ram in the bunch was no match for him (probably too young, also), so there was no head-butting. But they were still fun to watch.

Family photo time. C'mon, Dad, look at the camera!

Then we were on to the next destination. We have visited the Ewing-Snell Ranch before (see Starting the New Year Off Right, Jan. 1, 2016), but on that day, we didn't have time to hike. The hike was, however, today's destination. We discovered before too long that we actually could have driven halfway, but if we had, we would have missed something really interesting. As we were walking, Paul stopped abruptly and said, "What was that noise?" Dan assured him that it was too cold for rattlers, but now we heard the noise, too. The sound was coming from a pin-size hole in a mostly-buried black plastic water pipe. The misty spray had created a miniature ice-sculpture garden. So pretty! 

We soon came to the point where we could have left the car. We forded a little creek and set off into a box canyon. Before too long, though, we decided to save the rest of the hike for another day and go back to sheep hunting. (Although if Dan would have turned on the GPS a little sooner, and we had realized that we were less than half a mile from the end of the trail, we probably would have finished it.)

We traveled on to another historic ranch in the area - the Lockhart Ranch. Again, this was a first for Paul and a return visit for us. Paul was taken enough with the old buildings to take pictures of his own, and we expanded upon our first visit. The buildings were unlocked this time, so we checked out the interiors. The weather was also nicer this time, so we wandered the grounds a bit more. 

Knowing that the daylight was going to run out on us, we started for home. We took a quick detour out to Barry's Landing and discovered another trailhead to another historic ranch. But that one will have to wait for another day. I guess it just gives us another reason to come back. 

This sunset would be even prettier if it were at
9:30 rather than 4:30!

Campers Last Stand

Forget politics... I'm going camping!

Knowing that this was going to be our last camping trip in 2016, I was especially eager to get out there! Therefore, we left Thursday night right after work (yes, that is 11 pm). 

Intriguing...

Friday morning could have come just a few short hours later when we were awakened by a four-wheeler being unloaded across the road from our camper. Fortunately, we went back to sleep, so it was late morning when we set off for Sykes Ridge. Our purpose was singular ~ we were after pictures of big horn sheep in rut. We didn't get very far up the road, though, before I got distracted. There was an opening in the rock and a true arch just begging to be explored. Yes, I was the one suggesting that we climb up to it. The ascent wasn't too bad, and it was worth the effort. We found a big nest of some sort, cool crevices in the rocks, and a track in a sandy spot that was left by either a large coyote or a young mountain lion.

Whatever calls this nest home was not there. 

We eventually returned to the machines and resumed our search for the sheep. We reached "sheep territory" but found not a one. We ate our lunch while scanning the surrounding meadows and cliffs hoping to spot them, but without success. Unfortunately, fall days are short, and long before we were ready, we turned back toward the camper. On the way down the mountain, we did find some photogenic horses.

We got off to a much earlier start on Saturday morning. We had an energetic route planned for the day. Our first wildlife spot of the day was a beautiful doe. As two other deer appeared, we concluded that they were probably her fawns from last spring. As we rode up Red Pryor Mountain Road, down the switchbacks, and across Dry Head Vista, we saw more does and a dozen or so horses. By late afternoon, we were back on Sykes Ridge Road. We have seen sheep here multiple times, but not today. Despite hiking out to points and walking ledges, peering hopefully down into the valleys, we saw no sheep.

No, he's not big... yet.
Of course, if he doesn't get a little smarter about staring
at humans wearing orange vests, well...

Again, daylight ran short and we had to go. We weren't too disappointed, though, as we had enjoyed another great ride and wrapped up another successful camping season. 

Growing up, I loved the book The Black Stallion.
Well, I found him!