On Friday, September 1st, we headed north from Riverside WY for 200 miles to Glenrock WY. Glenrock is a small town with a population of 2,500 located on the North Platte River 25 east of Casper. We are staying for two weeks at the Platte River RV Park and Campground which is located on the river. The campground has RV sites on a rise above the river while the lower part is used for tent camping. During the solar eclipse in August they had over 2,000 people in the campground which was on the 100% total solar eclipse path across the USA. The park had musical groups and on-site food vendors for the campers enjoying the eclipse. The park is owned by Rod and Jean who winter in Florida at the same RV Resort as the Potts.
We were guided to our site, got set up and then drove around the town. The Potts, David and Cindy, joined us the next day driving up from Rawlins WY.
On Labor Day the Potts joined us as we drove over to the Ayres Natural Bridge Park which is located a few miles east of Glenrock. The natural bridge was a scenic stop close to the Oregon Trail. The natural bridge was formed by erosion by LaPrele Creek over thousands of years. On Labor Day the park was filled with people have family picnics and enjoying the cool water of the creek.
Later in the week we joined the Potts, Rod & Jean along with their daughter Terri, for a kayak trip down the North Platte River. Rod has a trailer we were able to put all of the kayaks in for the trip upstream from the campground to a place where we could enter the river. We floated 6.5 miles back to the campground enjoying the scenery along the river. We saw several eagles diving for fish as we paddled along.
On Thursday we joined the Potts for a bicycle ride along the Platte River Trail which is a 10 mile paved trail that follows the North Platte River in Casper. We parked our vehicles at one end of the trail planning to stop along the way to eat our lunch and then finish up the entire 20 mile up and back trip. We stopped for lunch at the Trail Information Center and then after lunch Cindy had a flat on her Trek electric bike (which the other three of us struggled to keep up) near the end of the trail. Dave and I rode our bike back to our vehicles (we ended up riding the entire 20 miles) and then drove back to pick up Cindy and Connie. Unfortunately Dave ended up backing into a post and breaking his bike rack on the back of his truck as we were leaving the parking area so it was a bad day for the Potts. They went to a bike shop to have the tube replaced on Cindy's bike and it took the lady in the shop three tries to get the tube replaced and the tire back on the wheel.
Sunday afternoon Connie and I drove into Casper to visit the Frontier Tap Room. We arrived a few minutes before it opened so we walked around downtown Casper. Most of the shops and businesses were closed since it was a Sunday but we did not see any unoccupied spaces along the several blocks we walked (even some new construction). Casper is a oil industry city that has experienced many booms and busts over the years, but seems to be doing well these days. Frontier Tap Room has only been open for a few weeks and they will have their own beers next month. We tasted a selection of beers from other Wyoming, Colorado and Montana micro-breweries. They give you a "pour card" that you use to pour your own beer. The beer is sold by the ounce and you see how much you owe after each pour. So you can try a couple of ounces or pour a full glass depending on what you want. Several of the brews we liked and we had a small glass of two of the beers while we were there. The tap room has several large screen TV's along with board games for people to play while drinking beer.
One day we decided to make the 100 mile drive east to Fort Laramie National Historic Site and the Oregon Trail Ruts Site. We stopped along the road to see the Old Army Bridge that was built in 1875 over the Platte River near the fort.
We later learned that the Platte River could be 200 feet wide and 10 feet deep during the spring from the snow melt.
We then drove on to Fort Laramie and went to the Visitor's Center to watch a short film about the history of the fort. Fort Laramie was the third fort to be built in the area: the first two forts, Fort John and Fort William were trading posts for the Indians and early trappers/hunters in the region during the 1810-1840 time period. The American Fur Company owned the second fort and sold it to the US Government. During the 1841 to 1869 time period Fort Laramie was an important stop along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. It provided a place for a few days rest and supplies for the people traveling along the trails. It is estimated that between 350,000 and 500,000 individuals passed through Fort Laramie on their way west. About 20,000 died along the trails: most from illness, drownings during the many river crossings along the trails or accidents. Only 2% of those who died were the results of Indian attacks.
Fort Laramie was the site of two treaties between the Indian tribes in the area and the US Government: one in 1851 and another in 1868. Both of these treaties were broken by the US after the lands set aside for the Indians because of gold miners, farmers and ranchers and other emigrants who came west to settle or find their fortune.
The fort was the home for both cavalry and infantry companies of the US Army. It was also a stop along the Pony Express route during the 1860-1861 life of this mail delivery service. The fort was closed in 1890 and sold for about $1,500. It was bought back from private ownership in the 1930's and made into a historic site. Some of the original buildings remained but a lot of the original lumber had been taken away to be used in local buildings.
We ate our lunch under some nice cottonwood trees near the fort parking lot before driving 25 miles to Guernsey to see the Oregon Trail Ruts site. This site is located a few miles outside of town along the river in some limestone rock. It is one of the few places were the ruts from the trails going west still can be seen.
Our final trip in Casper was made to visit the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center located overlooking the town. The interpretive center is one of several located across the west along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. It does a great job of exploring the history of the trails and the experiences of individuals who made the trek west. There are several short films and interactive exhibits in the interpretive center. We were impressed with the center and what we learned during our visit there.
From the interpretive center we went to one of the local parks in Casper to eat our picnic lunch. Then we drove south to the base of the Casper Mountains where we saw the Garden Creek Falls inside the Rotary Park. The Rotary Park has about 5 miles of hiking trails up the base of the mountains but since it the temperatures were near 90 we only walked up to the base of the falls. The water drops over 100 feet but this time of year there is not a lot of water going over the falls.
During our stay here we met several other couples in the campground including Roy and Ann Brody who own a New Horizons 5th wheel and were headed to the New Horizons Owners Group Rally in Spearfish SD.
On Thursday (9/14) the Potts left for Spearfish and we started the process of getting the Duchess ready to leave tomorrow morning for South Dakota.
If you want to see more photos of our visit to this area of Wyoming CLICK HERE.
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