The Places Between Places: Powder River Pass and Ten Sleep Canyon

The eleventh day of our cross-country camping trip was a road/town day. We'd been camping and hiking for five nights and six days, our clothes smelled, the van was funky, we had no consumable food. In addition to that, we needed to get some westward mileage under our wheels and we needed to take care of some business, business that needed a good internet and phone connections. To accomplish that we intended to drive most of the day and get a hotel for the night.

We left South Dakota early in the morning with the plan to spend the night in Grey Bull, Wyoming. That would put us just outside the Eastern entrance to Yellowstone where we'd spend four to five days camping both there and in the Grand Tetons National Forest. It was going to be a long drive, with nothing spectacular to do or see. Or so we thought.

There are two possible routes to the Eastern entrance of Yellowstone. One, the more common, exits I-90 at Sheridan and follows RT 14 over the Bighorn National Forest on the Northern side. the other, less common, and slightly longer exits I-90 at Buffalo, follows RT 16 and crosses the Bighorn National Forest on the Southern side over the Powder River Pass.  Wanting a less commercial and less-crowded drive, we took the southern route, not expecting too much, just wanting to get to Grey Bull without a lot of fuss.

Aside from being generally happy on this trip, there have been a number of times when I have turned to S.D. and said "Holy Shit!!! This is so awesome, I'm the happiest I've ever been!" The next hour were 60 of those times.  Climbing up to the Powder River Pass, and the Pass itself were just gorgeous. Stunning views, full forests, snow, wildflowers, just beautiful. S.D. had to stop and throw a few snowballs. 

Part Two - Ten Sleep Canyon

 

 And then there was the ride down. Down through Ten Sleep Canyon. I mean, "Holy Shit!!! This is so awesome, I'm the happiest I've ever been!".  Ten Sleep "Creek" was running crazy. Like a huge river just rushing down still down carving out the massive canyon it had already formed. The road kept making tight hair pin turns as we descended further and further down to the floor of the canyon.

When at last we came out at the bottom, and like the Ten Sleep Creek flooded out on to the plain and through the town of Ten Sleep I was speechless.