9\/10\/2020<\/p>\r\n
Will someone please take the keyboard away from this guy! He just keeps typing and typing.<\/p>\r\n
Woke up this morning to windy conditions, and possible rain snow mix so we decided to hang out here in Rawlins WY for another day or two. I don\u2019t particularly like driving in the wind add in the chance of slick roads (in September) we thought is best to sit tight and let this cold front pass. The forecast seems to be a moving target even from weather app to weather app.
First up this morning is a much needed trip to a grocery store. Turns out that City Market, where we went to get groceries, is owned by Krogers, (no Big Red or hot Chips tho) and they also sell gas so I saved 10 cents a gallon, probably a good thing tooooo with the drive we took to day.<\/p>\r\n
Boy what a drive it turned out to be, if your wanting to read about bigfoot, you can quit reading now we didn\u2019t see any. So anyway, we started on a scenic drive, and staying in Carbon County,\u00a0according to something I read. But before I get into that let me say that the counties are gigantic in Wyoming. I mean, as in each county feels like about 1\/2 the size of Indiana. You can drive and drive and never leave the county. We used a touch over 1\/2 tank of gas and didn\u2019t leave the lower 1\/2 of the county. The reason I mentioned that is the drives they listed were mostly short, 20-30 miles long but it might be 50-60 miles to reach the starting city.<\/p>\r\n
Our drive officially started in Saratoga, 45 miles away from home. Saratoga has a free hot spring you can soak in. Let me tell you I was really temped to take our stuff with us and it was a good thing we didn\u2019t. Because it would have been just toooo tempting for me. The pools are out side and we walked back to them, it was pretty cool in the high 30\u2019s and you could just see the steam and feel heat rolling off them. It\u2019s a really a good thing we didn\u2019t have our stuff because of the COVID-19 thing the changing rooms are closed, no place to change into your stuff and it would have been a (feels like) long walk\/run back to the jeep then a 45 mile wet ride back home. Sadly we continued on our scenic drive.<\/p>\r\n
The drive so far had been open ground where you could see for miles with slight hills. We drove through some light snow flurries. Once we got into the mountains and forest the road went from straight to curvy. Driving along we noticed a Forest Service sign pointing to Kennaday peak. Scenic road trip forgotten, we hang a left and go exploring off the beaten path.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
Not far away, as the crow flies, or in western terms, is the town of Elk Mountain and Elk Mountain itself. Based on the names of the town and Mountain we were keeping an eye out for bigfoot er I mean elk.<\/p>\r\n
Up and up we go, it was gradual but always up, then following the signs we took another road and up we went, on a whim we took an off shoot, hoping to see some elk by now we were up well over 9,000 feet in elevation. The road ended in at a nice little meadow surrounded by forest we sat there a few minutes but failed to see anything moving.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
Back on the road leading to the lookout we passed one spot that had 7-8 campers in it, but didn\u2019t see any signs of life. Hunting season is either open or will be opening soon because many of the camp sights had bow hunting targets set up.<\/p>\r\n
Oh, I forgot to mention that for the most part it turned out to be a fabulous day with the wind dying down and the temps even at the peak were comfortable with just a sweatshirt on.<\/p>\r\n
Once at the peak, we were above the last of the trees, we come around a corner and there is a snow drift over the road. Now I\u2019m 97.62587% sure we could have made it the rest of the way with no problem but we were by ourselves with few if any people around for miles. I don\u2019t fancy getting stuck with nobody around to help pull us out.<\/p>\r\n
So we walked to the top, it was almost 1\/2 mile straight shot, we calculated an elevation gain of around 200 feet but, felt like a couple of miles because of he altitude, but even gimpy knee (not me) made it and it was worth it but I do wish the weather was better low clouds obscured much of the views.<\/p>\r\n
Gimpy knee, a few weeks ago now, well before we left Glaicer area, the Jeep door tried to close, on it\u2019s own, with Mary\u2019s knee in the way. The bruise has been gone for a couple of weeks now but it\u2019s still tender to the touch and sometimes uneven rocky ground causes it to hurt. She made it with no problem.<\/p>\r\n
Note to self whenever taking a scenic drive ALWAYS pack a lunch, we left home about 9:30 and got back home about 7:00. We did take some granola bars with us just in case, I\u2019m glad we did.<\/p>\r\n
What started out as a scenic drive turned out to be a terrific drive through the mountains on forest roads, most were skinny and you hoped you didn\u2019t meet anyone. \u00a0We didn\u2019t see any elk but did see some Mule Deer and a few Grouse.<\/p>\r\n