Six Weeks/14 Parks
2008
We don’t care what gas costs!
The Painted Hills
Bighorn National Forest
CODY, WY TO SHERIDAN, WY
Today was another of those travel days. We planned a couple of short drives towards the end of the trip, figuring that we’d all be pretty tired of being in the car. We weren’t wrong! The ride form Cody to Sheridan is only about 95 miles. We wondered why the GPS said 2.5 hours. Wyoming seemed awfully empty when we first left Cody. What could make it take so long?
The Painted Hills and the Bighorn Mountains, that’s what. As you approach from the west, the slopes of the mountains have been worn away by eons of erosion, revealing the bright red and pink sandstone underneath. Some of the colors were, unfortunately, obscured by the smoke from the fires.
Then, suddenly, US 14 enters the Shell Creek valley and begins to rise to 9,000 feet at the Granite Pass. The mountains are protected as the Bighorn National Forest. On the east side of the mountains, you can see for miles over the flatlands as the road switchs back over and over again descending down.
8/5/08
Even the roadbed is red, probably from using local materials in the resurfacing work.
Sheridan, WY is a lovely town. It’s got an active arts community, with several shops selling local artists’ work. There’s even a co-op! The streets feature a sculpture collection, with many different subjects and themes represented.
