Camping In Wyoming; Hiking In Montana

Colleen and Pete live on the east side of the Big Horn Mountains. I needed to get to the west side. There are several ways to get across the mountains. One of them is what the locals call the 'Oh My God Hill'. There are many long miles of 10% grade,with switchback curves and cliffs which is definitely not something you want to do in a big RV. I have heard some of the locals say that it is even scary to do in a car. My choice was to go around the southern end of the Big Horn mountains but even then I had to go down some hefty hills and hairpin turns. The scenery was pretty impressive, what I could see out of the corner of my eye. I am actually pretty proud of myself for getting over the mountain

I got to Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area. Big Horn Canyon is between the Pryor Mountains on the west and the Big Horn Mountains on the east. Part of the Recreation Area is in Wyoming and part of it is in Montana.  The walls of the canyon rise over a thousand feet above the Big Horn River. Most people come here to play on the 71 mile long lake created by the Yellowtail Dam. I had come for the hiking and the rocks.

The Pryor Mountains are home to the first National Wild Horse Range which was established in 1968. There are about 90-120 wild horses that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. I saw a small herd but they were just sort of hanging out. Not very exciting.

I stayed in the campground in the park and my views were outstanding. The first night I was there, the winds were so ferocious that you could hardly stand upright. I had never felt the RV shake so much. Miko and I drove out to do some hiking from the campground. Big Horn Canyon is one of the few national sites that allow dogs on the trails. While Miko seem to enjoy being out and about, I think the rocks were a little hard on her feet. This is one rocky place.

View out the front of the RV

Looking another direction in the campground

Here is the campground - not too busy at all - see my rig on the right side

One evening, I took the Mouth of the Canyon trail that left from the campground. All of sudden, as I approached the edge of the canyon, two golden eagles flew up right in front of me. They had been perched on a ledge right below the trail. They were no more than twenty feet away from me. These eagles are huge, their wing span in bigger than a human's wing span and they were so close. I have never seen golden eagles before - what a way to see them. One of them even came back and flew over me again, either mad at me for disturbing them or checking out if Miko and I might be possible meals. 

Following are pictures of the canyon from various hikes. Where ever you looked, there was something different to see. Too bad that it was so cloudy out.  

On the Sullivan's Knob hike looking back at my poor lonely little car

You always have to close with a sunset