Heading West Part II

A Little Bit of Heaven

Our family took a much needed break on the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains recently ~ read Part I here if you missed it!

We started our trip with 8 days at the headwaters of the Green River in the northern part of the Wind River Range of WY. Bridger Wilderness was a stone’s throw away, just on the other side of the river. We learned that this area was “home” to the earliest trappers and the Shoshone Indians (Sacajewea, who led Lewis & Clark through the mountains, was Shoshone). The Mountain Man Fur Trade Rendezvous was held 4 times in the 1830’s along the Green River near this spot. As it was then, it is still a grizzly and black bear habitat area and visitors must be extremely cautious.

Grizzlies or not, this was THE best primitive campsite we’ve ever had in 35 years. It was private, remote, drop dead gorgeous and full of adventure out the door. The mountain directly over our camper is called Squaretop, not to be confused with Tabletop or Flat Top which were both in the area too!

Hasn’t changed in 200 years

Green River Lake is a natural-made lake, scoured out by glacial action, then sealed off by an end-moraine dam. The Green River, which begins here, is a major (and some say the only true) source of the Colorado River. It flows 730 miles to join up with the Colorado in Canyonlands National Park, UT.

Camp Life

A “typical” day of sawing, chopping and singing! LOL. Actually we all do participate in getting wood processed and ready for the campfire. This appeared to be a fall “hunting camp” with a great fire ring already built and lots of large bones (probably elk) lying around. See the standing dead tree trunk to the far right? Guess who lives there? I’ll show you in a moment.

Our first couple nights got down to at least 25 degrees. And no, we don’t use the furnace inside the camper. It would run our battery down in no time which we need for other things. We are used to cold weather camping, outfitting ourselves with goose down bedding to keep us warm when it gets below freezing.

However it did get a bit uncomfortable when it snowed significantly during the night. The next day was overcast and reached only a high of 40 with periods of sleet off and on all day. We just couldn’t run the furnace in the camper more than a few minutes. So we huddled around the campfire and added layers of clothes along with coats, hats and gloves.

We’re the Guests

A ground squirrel and his extended clan gave us quite a song and show while we were together at Green River. These rascals chased each other, stirring up a ruckus and chirping out their territories.

A Time Past

We hiked down the valley and across the river to see these original cabins. They have had sections replaced to keep them standing, but really portray life as it was 150 years ago. They had sod roofs, newspaper nailed to interior walls as a wind break and a wood stove for heating and cooking. Here’s the front view.

What a location for a home!

Back door has just as good of view! See the grass growing on the sod roof?

The larger cabin definitely had a dividing wall in the middle with 2 separate entrances. It was unusual for 2 families to share a cabin in the west, so I’m concluding it may have been a residence on one side and a business on the other side, like a trading post or mine office. What do you think?

My mechanical engineer husband was trying to decipher some old machinery in back of the cabin. It looked like a centrifuge for separating gold from lighter sediment such as sand & bits of rock.

Outdoor plumbing of course. My only suggestion would’ve been to turn the outhouse 180 degrees to view the peaks out the front door!

We think this may have been a later piece of equipment, though it’s been sitting there quite a while. The tires were half buried in the ground, the pink rubber intertube and cotton fibers under the rubber tread exposed. We find it fun to try to piece together sites of old homesteads or mining operations. If I lived in the area, I’d do some property and genealogy research.

Notice

As we were walking on the trail that day to see the old cabins, I noticed this moss growing on the side of the pine trees. I recognized it as something my father taught me the name of when I was a child following him on walks in the woods. Reindeer Moss. The tiny branches of this moss do look like reindeer antlers, hence, the name.

Flaps Down, Ready to Land

Remember the standing dead tree trunk near our campfire? Mr and Mrs. Red-Shafted Flicker bought the only condo in camp. Though this mama and dad were initially disturbed by our presence so close to their home, they soon got used to us and I had an enjoyable afternoon trying to photograph them coming and going.

The babies were loud enough we could hear them from our camp chairs. Even though I stood on a ladder next to the hole, I could not see them. The cavity went down quite a ways below the entrance.

Not only were both parents feeding the young, but they left the nest with bird poo in their mouth to drop elsewhere. Most birds do this, it keeps the nest sanitary and decreases the risk of disease and unwanted insects. Isn’t every part of his body gorgeous! You can tell this is a male by the red mustache. The photo below is a female without the red mustache.

I got 3 shots of her coming in and this one was the most interesting pose with her wings folded in. Her tail is spread and bent downward, just like the flaps on a plane’s wing to create drag, slowing her down to come in for a landing.

Majestic

Squaretop Mountain gave us lots of different views of her over 8 days. This one is my favorite and I think the most beautiful, like being wrapped in lace across the shoulders.

By the way, after living in “bear central” for a week, we were disappointed we didn’t see one bear! We did have a moose run through camp though! A little exciting nerve-wracking to see a 1,000 lb adult moose come running by unexpectedly! She was on a mission and didn’t seem bothered by people nearby, disappearing into the woods above us.

Part III of Heading West will be coming out very soon with the rest of our adventure in the Green River Valley of Wyoming. We saw a never-before-seen animal and hiked on the Continental Divide Trail.

Shoot me a comment or two, won’t you?

Catch y’all later,

Carolyn

Don’t miss the next post. Please add your email address below to be notified when it comes out! This is a private list and will not be shared.

Leave this field empty if you're human: