Ten Sleep to Green River, Wyoming

 Day 24: Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Where we drive and see the spectacular and breath-taking…and boring…from Ten Sleep to Green River, WY

Today was driving day—all in Wyoming. Wyoming scenery can be absolutely spectacular. But it can also be spectacularly boring with scrubby desert that goes on for miles and miles. Enjoy our photos from today’s trip from Ten Sleep to Green River.  We passed part of the Emigrant Trail, Shoshone National Forest and the gorgeous Red Canyon. (Among other things)

A surprise vista around each turn

Driving through Red Canyon

A road, a river, and a railroad all pass through more or less together

Wyoming does a good job of pointing out exposed geological features. Note the stratification here. That’s all I know. WY signs even tell you the time period of the formations (Cretaceous, Pleistocene, etc)

Red Canyon—these were a couple of the few photos that were NOT from a moving car!

Looking in the opposite direction from Red Canyon, taken from the same spot as the photo, above

Our view out of the camper at lunch…not bad

Blurry WY snow fence. They don’t roll theirs up and put them away for the summer!

Yellow wildflowers

Not an hour prior, Dan said that this desert would be a good place for a solar farm. This was the only one we saw, but it was huge.

We saw this type of scene a couple of places along the way. I didn’t get photos of the formations out of Ten Sleep, and they were even more varied and interesting than these. Reminiscent of the Badlands.

Three tunnels helped us on today’s route

Astute readers will note that we skipped Day 23 altogether. We were very much the homebodies yesterday and decided that we would obey our tendencies to want to not sweat.  The West is experiencing a heat wave/heat crisis, with temperatures 10-30 degrees warmer than average. The high yesterday was 100, although when we went for dinner at the Ten Sleep Saloon, the locals were talking in the 107-109F range!

Our breakfast was interrupted by MOO-ing. Lots and lots of MOO-ing. Turns out we got to witness our first angus cattle drive, complete with cowboys, and it went by within 50 yards of the RoadHouse! We were so taken by the cacophony of it all that I didn’t take a photo. Not a single one! And that incident will likely be near the top of our memories from this trip, just because it was such an unusual thing to happen with morning coffee!

Dan washed the truck in the morning, using a bucket of water and a couple of rags. It needed it and now it looks great. I got to crack open my handmade watercolor book and attempted to do a watercolor of the flowers we saw at the Battle of Little Big Horn monument. Part of being an artist is knowing when to stop. I KNEW I should just leave well enough alone and not try to do the shadows or the grasses…sigh. Still, good practice mixing colors.

I KNOW you were wondering….we passed this sign on our way to the Ten Sleep Saloon, where once again we got to sample a local brew with dinner. You see that “Indian writing” all over town on signage. 

Good night from Ten Sleep, Wyoming (last night; tonight we’re in Green River…SO confusing!)

Tomorrow: Utah. Stay tuned!