If I Were Going...: Bighorn Canyon

Caty and I took a quick trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks at the end of July/beginning of August. We try to go at least every two years, mainly to photograph animals -- especially Wolves and Grizzly Bears. We had a great trip with lots of fun add-ons, but the animal count in both Parks was depressingly low, which I will get to later.

But, first, I want to talk about our first stop on our trip -- Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. To the east of Yellowstone, the area is an impressive canyon that towers above green, green Bighorn Lake.

It looks more like a river than a lake (it was a river before it was dammed)

About one third of the Park unit is located on the Crow Indian Reservation and nearly one-quarter of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

Wild Horses

And, that was the first thing that greeted us -- Wild Horses. There were two bays on the right side of the road and a pretty dun/black one on the left as we drove in. A man who was also photographing them called them the "greeters."

They are usually there at the entrance

The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge for a historically significant herd of free-roaming Mustangs. These horses, which do not exist anywhere else in the world, are believed to be direct descendants of the Barb Horses brought to North America by Spanish explorers in the early 1600s.

Royal lineage

Although they are many different colors, almost all the horses on the range have primitive markings such as dorsal stripes, transverse stripes across the withers and horizontal stripes on the back of the forelegs. Their bodies tend to be heavy and manes and tails tend to be long. Their winter coats are heavy and often curly -- that would be cool to see. Most noticeable is the head, which is convex or straight (a "Roman nose"), quite unlike most other horses.

The two bay horses seemed interested in us, actually walking toward us from the hills. The dun/black one didn't seem to notice us at all.

Grazing

Eventually, the two on the right crossed the street and joined the one on the left. It was a nice introduction to the Park.

Can't get enough of them

After watching the horses, we headed out to the Devil's Canyon Overlook, stopping to look at a couple of Bighorn Sheep on the way. Although the canyon carries their name, the Bighorns there now came from stock reintroduced in the 1970s after being hunted out by the 1800s.

Two youngsters

The Devil's Canyon Overlook, just over the Wyoming border in Montana, gives the most dramatic view of the Park.

A nice curve in the lake

Created by Yellowtail Dam, Bighorn Lake extends 71 miles, straddling the border between Wyoming and Montana. Fifty-five miles of the lake lie within the National Recreation Area. It's very pretty -- and it is most beautiful in Devil's Canyon..

From an overlook

As we looked from the various vantage points at the overlook, we saw both boats and rafts on the river. It was a hot day, so we were a bit envious. Our view was spectacular and I suspect the boaters' views were too.

Overlook

Jim Bridger, the famous mountain man, was the first person to float down the river and leave a record of his trip. He said the rapids that existed in 1825 when he made the trip seemed to be like "foam." Of course, now, with the dam, the river as lost much of its wildness and is more suited for pleasure boating.

The more we travel in the west, the more we are amazed by the vast numbers of spectacular places to visit.