Fossils, Ghosts, and Alpine
We left our overnight spot in the Aspen grove early the next morning. Even with some mileage cut off our route from the previous day’s extra drive, it was still a moderately long haul for the day, and we had two locations along the route to visit. We would be passing through the Flaming Gorge area which proved to be quite scenic, but would be far from our sort of place to hang out. The reservoir is huge, and the gorge is beautiful, but the ambiance of weekender crowds (as in most National Rec Areas) would put us off quickly. Not to worry, we were just rolling through anyway, snapping only a few quick photos along the route.
If and whenever possible, I try to include any National Parks into our route that one or both of us may not have visited before, and one was right up the road. While I have been to Fossil Butte back in 2011, Kerri had never been. We popped in to Fossil Butte National Monument for that very reason. In those 5 years since my visit, the NPS completed the construction of the new Visitor’s Center which now included many fossils on display. They were not there in my original visit. We chose not to take a hike due to the heat and humidity, instead deciding to see our next destination – right up the road – and power past it to our destination scheduled for the next day. This, in turn, would give us a full day to go out and have fun instead of a third day of driving.
The final sight seeing of the day was a stumbled-upon-find of a ghost town, roadside of our planned route, and just a few miles down further down the road from Fossil Butte. We tried, but there is little about Sage Ghost Town. We were not even sure if it was on private property or not, but we found the gates to be unlocked and no signage threatening us regarding trespass. We kept the dogs on leash as there were horses grazing nearby and toured the old ghost town which consisted of only a few old structures. It was a cool road-trip stop, and for the more adventurous, I think it would be a cool overnight spot… although a bit grey in it’s legality.
In the end, we moved on, heading North along the Wyoming/Idaho border. Some miles we were in Idaho, other miles in Wyoming, and some we were certain we were straddling the state line as we drove North. Eventually we arrived at our destination for the week; Alpine, Wyoming… or actually, we would drive a few miles past it, right back into Idaho, and find one of the nicest little camps we have had in a while. That story, for another day.
