Searching for Big Horn Sheep and Petroglyphs

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This morning we woke to chilly weather and had to turn on the heater. I walked Maggie around the RV Park to read her P-Mail and check up on the longhorns and horses. We found the Carr family sitting outside practicing for a concert this afternoon in downtown Dubois. The mother and father played the guitar while the three children played violins. It didn't sound like practicing to me. I could have listened to them all day. Then we took off for the National Bighorn Sheep Exhibit in Dubois. The central exhibit, Sheep Mountain, will draw you into the world of the bighorn. It features full-sized bighorns and many of the plants and other animals that live around them. After touring the center we were ready to venture out into the wilderness and find real live bighorns. Upon leaving the center we heard the drums of Indians singing and dancing. We walked over to be entertained by what we think were Shoshone Indians demonstrating their native dress, song and dance. What fun.

We then drove to just outside Dubois near our RV park to view Whiskey Mountain, home to the largest wintering Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep herd in North America. A unique feature of Whiskey Mountain and the Dubois area is that you can view bighorn sheep up close. We stopped all along the way and peered through our binoculars to no avail - Little Bo Beep could not find her sheep. Then we ran into some hikers who were looking for ancient Indian Petroglyphs. Petroglyphs, carved in stone, were used by past cultures as ways to record history and share stories. Thus we added petroglyph hunting to our search list and actually found a few to photograph. As we approached mile one and looked to our right, on the smooth, treeless north-facing slope we should have been able to pick out bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer with our binoculars. Oh well. We were still having a blast just gawking. The road then dropped into Torrey Valley, carved by glaciers that ground their way out of the Wind River Range as recently as 10,000 years ago. Glacier-fed Torrey Creek tumbles out of the mountains and feeds the valley's chain of three lakes. Torrey Creek was flowing to the left of our road and it's willow-lined banks provide food and shelter for moose. When we reached mile 6.6 we approached the entrance of Glacier Trail that goes into Fitzpatrick Wilderness. It was on foot from here up. I had on flip flops and answer to the name of Calamity Jane so I had to convince Billy that Caroline would not kill him if he let me hike into the wilderness. So with bear spray in hand, we began our climb. We hiked up Glacier Trail to a foot bridge that passes over a rocky gorge and a series of thundering waterfalls. It was definitely a Kodak moment. We hiked up to just under 10,000 feet and I had to stop often to take in deep breaths of oxygen. Maggie was searching out any shade that she could find.

We drove back down the mountain to Wind River Canyon where our RV Park is located. The Wind River flows through the beautiful Wind River Canyon right behind our RV. The canyon walls reach 2,500 feet into the sky at many points. As you travel you see sphinx-like shapes of rocks 1,000 feet above the bed of the river. There are castle formations and waterfalls that tumble out of the rock-formed canyon sides. The Wind River Canyon is a showcase for the geologist. Its towering walls reveal formations for each major year of the earth's formational development.

We are very tired but plan to get up tomorrow morning and explore more of this beautiful Wilderness. "This Land is Your Land. This Land is My Land."