After quick showers and breakfast, we started the morning with
a trip the Devil's Tower visitors center. Liam and Gray picked up their Junior
Ranger workbooks and we headed off for the 1.3 mile trail around the base of the
tower. Several climbers were scaling the tower. One of the funnier stories involving Devil's Tower is way back when some guy decided to parachute and land on the top of the tower. He was successful BUT it took climbers six days to reach him to help him get down. Planning. It's all int eh planning.We saw red squirrels and least
chipmunks (haven't seen the most chipmunk yet) and even caught part of a ranger talk about the porcupines that are
indigenous to the area. We took LOTS of photos.
Heading west from the tower into Wyoming one goes along
a scenic route to Gillette, Wyoming. It was scenic and there were several towns
along the way. One town had more junk cars than people. Seriously, population
isn't a big thing out here. We drove all the way to Thermopolis for the night.
As we left Worland we started seeing smoke, and as we got closer to Thermopolis,
the smoke got thicker and thicker. A wildfire southwest of here in the
Bridger-Teton forest combined with just the right wind
pattern made for fairly low visibility. We grabbed dinner at a Taco John's in
Worland and settled in the Eagle RV Park in Thermopolis for the
night.
Some days are driving days. Kinda boring. Kinda long. But necessary to get from place to place.
