Sibley, WY

After a brief stay at Grandview RV Park in Hardin, MT (a necessity for showers and laundry), we headed to Billings for tires on Rosalita, since they were starting to dry rot, thank you Tire Rama.  The smoke was heavy in the air all the way; our eyes felt like they had sharp objects sticking in them, and I was having trouble with my lungs.

Our adventure then turned East and South through the Crow Nation and into WY once again.  Patti had seen a lake on the map just across the border (WY)  and wanted to check it out.  We stopped at the Welcome Center in Ranchester, WY to ask about nice camping areas.    The gentleman was very helpful and said just down the street was Conner Battlefield Park and we could camp there, which was right on the Tongue River, or we could head up to Sibley Lake about 20 miles up Highway 14 on the top of the pass.  We drove by Conner Battlefield and it was an historic park with lots of shade trees and, indeed, right on the river.  The temperature was in the 90’s so we decided to head on up the pass to check out Sibley Lake.  The grade was 8% and we took it nice and easy and wound our way to the top.  We found Sibley Lake just as we were beginning to think we had somehow missed it.  The campground is nice; there is space between the sites, and lots of pines to shade our site.

We pulled into the last campsite available.  We have knick-named ourselves ‘The Lucky Last-Campsite Gals’ because we keep on getting the last site available, time and again.

The lake is smaller than the two other lakes we had recently stayed at, yet I believe this is a natural lake, not dammed like a reservoir.  The lake is nestled in tall pines with squirrels, chipmunks and ducks running amuck.  The water is sky blue, the trees velvety green and the earth rust red.  Beautiful!

After setting up the RV, we took a walk down to the lake and enjoyed the quiet and coolness of the late afternoon.  We had an early dinner, a campfire and turned in since we had been up early to drive to Billings and then double back to WY.

Saturday late morning we drove to Shell Canyon.  We had not wanted to pull Rosalita through this canyon because of the switchbacks and the 10% grade.  So without Rosalita we checked it out.  A marvelous canyon with an incredible history of water, wind and time etching away the earth and rocks to form this canyon.  It was still a bit hazy from the fires but not too bad today.  Our eyes were just dry, and my lungs were back to normal.  We did have some rain early this morning, which, certainly, must have helped getting some of the smoke out of the air.

Shell Falls

The sky looked hazy further west in the canyon so we decided to turn east and return to Sibley.  GOOD CHOICE!!!

About 5 miles east of Shell Canyon I saw a dark shadow in the willows, then 2 dark shadows; I exclaimed, “Those are Moose…!”  We pulled over and Patti said, “there are THREE Bull Moose!” They were quite close to the road, as close as one would like to be to a moose… or three! I, of course, got out my camera and we watched and took pictures for 10-15 minutes.  We were the first to ‘sight’ the moose and pretty soon, it looked like a ‘Moose-jam’ in Yellowstone.  One truck, pulling a horse trailer, just stopped in the middle of the road.  At one point the Moose started to move closer to the road, so I got back inside Gypsy and we moved on.  We were sooooo excited to see them in their natural element; they seemed to be in good health and in the process of fattening up for winter.  The high temperature for the day was 45 degrees on top of the pass, so fall is ‘in-the-air’.

I took lots of photos, yet a lot of the pics were just of the antlers for just as I would press the shutter, they would bend their heads down to eat.  That’s the way of photography.

Being elated, we traveled a few miles up the road and had lunch at Elk View Inn.  The owner said that about 4 miles away on 14A there are usually a lot of Moose around dusk in the swampy willows.  We made a plan to drive to this site at dusk and check it out.

We ventured out a little before dusk and sat around waiting for the ‘lots’ of Moose that were supposed to hang out there; just about ready to give up, a Mama Moose and her baby stepped out of the woods for us to see.  They moved quickly into the thickets of the willows, that were at least 7 feet tall, and we lost sight of them.  That was all the Moose sightings that evening.

Awoke to our neighbors (Wyoming couple) hoisting a confederate flag, along with his already swaying American flag.  So today is the day we hoist our Tibetan Prayer Flags on Rosalita, and later, when it warms a bit, I will do my Yoga.  It’s a multi-ethnic campground, today.

Drove to Dayton, WY today about 20 miles towards I-90, to make a few calls, as there is no phone reception at the campground.  It is a small town that Patti has fallen in love with, the energy it exudes.  We went to the Mercantile, had ice cream at a small stand and visited the town park.  The park was lovely with a river that skirts the boundary with a sign that reads ‘watch out for Moose’.  We did not see any Moose, that would be way too close.  We ate lunch in the park, walked around the path, and sat by the Tongue River.  As we drove around the town to check out the houses and people, we stumbled upon the local cemetery.  The cemetery was nicely mowed and edged and we spent some time reading the tombstones.  We might spend some time in this small town come Spring 2016; winters can be a bear, the locals inform us.

Back at camp we waited for dusk and after dinner proceeded back out to track down Moose, no luck though.  It was a lovely evening and a great drive; lots of deer along side the road.

I took a long walk and hike this AM and we decided to spend the day at the campsite and by the lake just hangin’ out.

We are staying at Sibley till the 27th and then heading back South to be in Lathrop by the 3rd of Sept. (we got the last campsite available over Labor Day)!   We will stay at Lathrop till the 8th, when we shall venture further South, where, the wind only knows?  So if you’ve a mind to see us before we head out, you know where we’ll be.

We wanted to have a time and space to meet anyone who would like to catch up with us and we with you… so we wanted to invite you to the Restaurant at the Golf Course by Lathrop on Sunday the 6th, from 3pm to 5pm or so.  If we have it at the Golf Course, no one has to buy a park day-pass.  So come join us!