Our drive from Denver to Sundance was relaxed and green. When we crossed the border from Colorado into Wyoming we stopped at a rest stop near Cheyanne and saw this sign at the welcome center.
In 1920 the Yellowstone Highway was completed. It was nearly 6,000 miles long and connected a dozen Western National Parks. It was billed as the start of the great American Road Trip. We have seen so many parks on this trip and one might think that they run together and become “the same”. However, there’s nothing less true than that. At each park we stop at I continue to be amazed by the richness in nature and beauty and the differences between the current park and the last one (or ten). Traveling around to see these parks is an education in geology, geography, weather and its effects on the environment, and civilizations from 10,000 years ago (after the most recent ice age) until recent history.
Today our driving distance was scheduled to be about 365 miles with a slight off-set for a stop at Fort Laramie National Historic Site.
It looks like we should be getting wet at this stop, but it never came to anything.
The site was originally a fur-trading post established in 1834 and the area, being at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers was a significant stop for people heading west on the Oregon Trail. The fur trading post changed hands every year until it was sold to the American Fur Company in 1836. They traded there and improved it until 1849 when the US Army purchased it as a fort to protect travelers on their way west on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. The fort was abandoned in 1890 and later became part of the National Park System in 1938.
There are the foundation ruins of many buildings on site, but also much has been restored including the Commissary Storehouse, Bakery, Guardhouse, various Quarters, Trader’s Store, and Barracks. You can even stop in and have an Ale, but it wasn’t an option since we were driving on.
At the North Platte River crossing the iron girder bridge that was built in 1876 still stands and you can cross it on a 1.5 mile riverside hike.
It’s actually in pretty good shape for being 150 years old. I guess I’m glad to walk over it rather than drive across though. In its heyday, Fort Laramie always had many of these wagons parked around campfires. They were the travel vans of their day with somewhere between one and two horsepower, I suppose. We had to get a look inside what probably housed a family of two to four (I hope no more) and all their worldly possessions for a couple of thousand miles. This trip has given us a small appreciation for this because we’re driving around with everything we need for 37 days in what I thought was a tight Subaru Outback. It was tight until I looked inside this restored wagon. Uffda.
At the end of the day we are stopped at a little cabin site called BearLodge Mountain Resort in Sundance, WY. The resort is named for the Bear Lodge Mountains which are a small mountain range just to the north of Sundance, WY. We have a duplex cabin, but the area is quiet and peaceful, with a pasture and five horses grazing and mellow just below our front porch.
I have to admit that this stop made me more than a little anxious due to old family history. By the end of the day, the tranquility of the location had calmed me down and I slept well, looking forward to the adventures of tomorrow.
