Shoshone National Forest

Yesterday we made our first trip to the Shoshone National Forest (and it won't be our last). What a fantastic place! You are allowed to go anywhere in the forest that you see a path and allowed to camp anywhere except where they have a sign that tells you you can't.

Most of our travel through the forest was 70+ miles on a gravel road through very pristine and beautiful places. It's too bad I don't camp since this would be a great place to do so! Since this was an unplanned trip for us, we have decided to come back and spend an entire day here exploring it again. It may be next year since we consider this "pre-exploring" and have other places to check out before the winter sets in for this year.The Shoshone National Forest was set aside in 1891 as part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, making the Shoshone the first national forest in the United States. It consists of some 2.4 million acres of varied terrain ranging from sagebrush flats to rugged mountains. The higher mountains are snow-clad most of the year. Immense areas of exposed rock are interspersed with meadows and forests. With Yellowstone National Park on its western border, the Shoshone encompasses the area from the Montana state line south to Lander, Wyoming which includes portions of the Absaroka, Wind River and Beartooth Ranges. It remains a cornerstone in the Rocky Mountain wilds - the mountain men and Native cultures of its past and the huge swaths of roadless and untrammeled wildlife habitat.

We were on the road at the bottom of this picture and kept going even higher.

This was one of the "small" boulders we saw. Joe is showing how big it is based on his size.

Another view of the already traveled road below.
Yes, there was still snow on the mountains even during the middle of July. And look at the beautiful summer flowers scattered out on the meadows.

Doesn't this just make you want to set up your folding chair and pull out a good book and just chill for awhile?My favorite kind of trees out here...the Quaking Aspen. They are absolutely beautiful when the breeze blows them. They begin to look as though they are shimmering and they make a lovely sound too.

Most of the roads were one-laned dirt/gravel roads with turnouts every one in awhile. The road was complete with lots of high dropoffs too.