Strolling Amok

Green River, Wyoming

Driving in Wyoming can visually be as good as it gets.

I was a little iffy on stopping at Wild Horse Canyon Road in Green River, Wyoming because the description I’d read was, “Steep but manageable climb. IT IS MUDDY AND SLIPPERY WHEN WET!!!” I’d been driving through intermittent rain all the way there today, naturally. I can tell you, it doesn’t take much of a grade with a 7,000-pound trailer to make a pickup truck’s rear tires get unhappy as they try to move a combined 16,000 pounds on sand or gravel. If conditions looked bad, I had a rather boring Plan B stop in Little America’s parking lot.

This is near Sweetwater, Wy. It’s hard for me to take these traveling views for granted.

Fortunately for me, the last 20 miles seemed to clear away the rain. The exit I needed was closed for a rebuild, so I got off early and the GPS easily got me to Wild Horse Canyon Road. It’s mostly hardpack dirt, with some areas graveled over. The dirt looked like clay, which really would be greasy when wet. The few gravel spots were washboard and a bit loose, which made it a bad idea to come to a full stop on the long incline. The Ford’s Continentals spun a bit, but I didn’t need to put it in 4WD. Would have been smarter to, though. Those poor tires are ripped up enough as it is from all the gravel climbs I make. My Ford dealer back in Woodstock hadn’t noticed that, but did point out that the remaining tread was on the thin side. The carcasses are solid though, and they hold their air and run cool. All I want is one more year from them. Just one! Oh please!

There were numerous places along the road to pull aside, but nowhere to turn around. After a couple of miles, I made it to these coordinates, which was a fairly level pull-off and a good place to camp. 7,100′ elevation, which meant more cool air. Spore of wild mustangs abounded along the road, and my first glimpse of the campsite was greeted with a couple of wild horses in the distance, too. Grab the telephoto!

Horsies! These two were on the other side of a very deep gorge, and just wandered slowly about, grazing.

The view south of my campsite shows I-80 itself, along with a railroad track. The town of Green River is split in half by a large railroad yard.

Wouldn’t you like to camp here if you had the chance? Me too.

Look! Horse sign! I ran over some, too!

I still can’t get over being able to see the sky, uninterrupted, from horizon to horizon in all directions. It is humbling at times.