When Ally and Ryan Came For a Visit

Over the 4th of July weekend, Ally and Ryan came to visit us.  Since this was their first trip to Wyoming, we planned on taking them on a couple of "daycations" and see some of our "local" sights.

We saw a lot of sights - 382 miles of sights on Saturday.  Our first stop was heading through the Wind River Canyon to Thermopolis and the state park.  We were going to have a picnic lunch there, but went looking for the buffalo in the park first.  We found them, but didn't get close since they were lunching away from the road.

While looking for the buffalo, we discovered this sign on the top of a ridge.  Note  Ed's last name.

Picnic in the park.

This is one of those things that make you go hmmmmm.  It's a church in Thermopolis and the sign on the side says "Open Sundays".  Wow, that's a relief to know that the church is open on Sundays.

After lunch, we got the gate key and headed out to see Legend Rock which is a few miles northwest of Thermopolis.  Joe and I had visited this place not long after our move to Wyoming and thought the kids might enjoy seeing this.  (Read out blog dated Sunday, July 26, 2009 entitled "Legend Rock State Petroglyphs" for our adventure).

Ryan and Ally unlocking the gate.

Standing in front of some of the petroglyphs.

This whole area was covered in petroglyphs.

Then we headed to Castle Gardens (Sunday, July 19, 2009 Castle Gardens, Wyoming).  While we traveled the 28 miles one way down a dirt road, we encountered several cows standing in or near the road...

We've arrived at Castle Gardens.

I love what appears to be an Indian with his bow and arrow.  I missed seeing this area of rock during my first visit.  All of the drawings are protected behind chain link fences.

Then it was on to Hell's Half Acre (Sunday, July 12, 2009 Hell's Half Acre).

Castle Gardens, Wyoming

The Castle Gardens Petroglyph Site is located in central Wyoming down some incredibly long, deserted gravel roads out in the middle of nowhere!!! We saw no vehicles, people and only cows for approximately 65 miles!!! It was not a place you'd go to as it's not off the beaten path. The name of the area comes from the outcropping of sandstone which the wind has eroded into fanciful shapes resembling the turrets and towers of castle. This unusual formation has been luring visitors for thousands of years, and many of them left their mark in the soft sandstone--the area holds a treasure of Native American rock art, or petroglyphs. The most famous petroglyphs were done in the Castle Gardens Shield Style, the oldest recognizable example of the shield-bearing warrior figure type. It is described as "elaborate and carefully made figures," and it "combines several different manufacturing techniques that serve to distinguish the style as unique in the Bighorn and Wind River Basins. The style is also unique in that it depicts shields alone as well as shield-bearing warriors".

First, the prehistoric artist prepared the rock surface by scraping the surface smooth, removing the less-consolidated exterior sandstone surface to expose the harder, inner layer for incising and painting. Next, the artist deeply incised the pattern of a circular shield or shield-bearing warrior. Incised images could have been made with a variety of stone, bone, antler or metal tools depending on the hardness of the rock surface. Also, abrading or smoothing the rock surface was likely done with a stone block or flattened cobble. Often, the shield is divided into quadrants or pie-shaped sections by incising geometric or animal forms. Once figures/ shapes were incised, the artist filled in the figures with several layers of paint. Colors include two shades of red (one more purple than the other), two shades of orange (one more yellow than the other), black, white and green. Polychrome painting and the use of green pigment is very rare in Wyoming and serve as distinguishing characteristics for the Castle Gardens shield style. Castle Gardens Style shields are reliably dated between AD 1000 and AD 1250. At this point, very early in the Late Prehistoric Period, the identity of the authors of the shields is not certain. Archaeologists speculate, however, that migrating Athapaskan–speaking hunters and gatherers–known today as the Navajo and Apache–are good candidates for making the shieldsThe site was opened to the public and developed by the BLM in the 1960s as a recreation spot and promoted through the Wyoming State Highway Map, tourist brochures, and directional signs. It was believed that this would help protect the rock art images, which even at that time were being stolen and vandalized. Unfortunately, this accelerated the destruction. Also, foot traffic in front of the fenced off panels increased and created erosion which exposed previously buried cultural deposits. Vandalism has been a problem at the site for scores of years. Modern graffiti mars the sandstone, and in 1940, vandals chiselled the Great Turtle shield out of the rock. The shield was anonymously donated to the State Museum on Sept. 20, 1941, where it's been ever since.
When we arrived at the site, we were the only ones there - Imagine that! We spent some time there, but left since it was a very hot afternoon and after a long day, we want to come back on another much cooler day. I had to figure how to get back home so that we didn't have to retrace our drive out here. Unfortunately, my GPS system "Barking Bob" didn't even know where we were so I had to use my own internal GPS system which took us back to the major highway to Casper. Thank goodness since we apparently would not have had assistance from anyone other than cows.

498 miles

We began our exploring yesterday very early - 3:00 a.m. early. We planned on driving to Riverton which is about 2 hours west of Casper for their annual Hot Air Balloon Rendezvous. The balloons were being displayed and made ready for flight on the soccer field at Central Wyoming Community College between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. so that meant getting up early to drive there.

The drive was quite uneventful since most of it was done in the dark. However, I really don't like driving in the countryside in the dark since there is quite alot of animals who hang out during that time. As a maintenance precaution, I'd had the oil changed in my car as well as had the front brakes replaced. I'm so glad because while driving down the road, I came upon two deer standing in my lane and had to stomp on the brakes to miss them. Might I mention that they had the "deer in the headlight look"? They weren't the only wildlife we saw by the side of the road, but they were the only ones who ventured into our path.

We made it to the Balloon Rendezvous in plenty of time and then made plans for the rest of the day. We knew we wanted to eat lunch at the Golden Corral, but it wouldn't be open for about 4 hours. That's when we decided to drive to Lander and check it out. More about that in another blog.

For our final visit of the day we went to Castle Gardens. That was a real adventure.

So, by the time we returned home we'd driven 498 miles from Casper to Riverton to Lander to Riverton to Castle Gardens to Casper straight to the carwash. It was a long day - about 16 hours from wakeup to arrival at home. But, what a great day!