Moose on the Loose in the Bighorns

We left Montana for the last time via US 310 into Wyoming. At Cowley, we picked up the Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Byway (US 14A East). We hadn't gone too far before Ray said, "There's something crossing the road ahead." Being used to free range country, I figured it would be a cow. He thought it was a moose, but I had given up "shooting" a moose, not having seen a single one since we'd started the trip.

But as I rounded the curve, sure enough, it was a MOOSE! As it came to the road, it stopped and looked in our direction. I was driving, but reached for the camera and got off three shots.

Another car approached it from the other side.

And one more before it sauntered into the woods.

While I drove, Ray snapped some photos of the passing landscape through the passenger window and windshield. In the early 1960s, Ray and his parents had driven west and came eastward through the Bighorn Mountains. But it didn't look the same as they had seen it in the early summer, with snow and wildflowers. Now it was dry and arid. If not for the evergreens, it would have been a barren-looking landscape.

We didn't really see much snow in the Bighorns. Perhaps it was on the northern sides of the slopes and we were on the southern sides. If we'd gone to the Medicine Wheel Passage, we probably would have found snow. But it was getting late and we were trying to get to Sheridan, Wyo., for the night. So we just kept driving.


We pulled over at a rest stop, where a fellow traveler with an accent asked us if there were any hotels on the road ahead. I asked where he was from, and he said Sweden. He was driving through the mountains and planning to end up in Salt Lake City before flying home. Ray mentioned that his cousin married a man with recent roots in Sweden, but we couldn't remember where they were from.

These rocks look small until you realize that the green spiky vegetation are tall evergreens. And the lighter-colored trees dotting the landscape are aspens. They're turning lighter, but not the brilliant yellow they soon will be.

The upthrust of the mountains is clear jutting out among the evergreens.

You can see yet another winding road ahead of us. The populated area in the upper-lefthand side of the photo is the town of Dayton, Wyoming. We're about the leave the Bighorn Mountains. As we drove down the mountain, the rock formations were labeled, showing the various time periods in which they were formed, including the Pennsylvanian Era. (Ray was born in Pennsylvania, which is why it caught my eye.)

Speaking of Ray, here he is!

Before we headed for Sheridan, I snapped one more shot of this interesting looking tree skeleton.

Next up, we get to use Ray's National Parks senior pass one last time (for this trip, at least)--Devils Tower, a National Monument in northeast Wyoming, near Hulett.