Can't Stay Away From North Fork - Part 1

About a week and a half ago we drove out to the North Fork again.

It was our second trip out there and we are now officially on "Game Watch".

During the summer a lot of the wild life that calls the North Fork home lives high in the mountains, hidden from the inquisitive eyes of humans.

Hidden by rock and lush growth, they disappear from view for many months.

As winter begins to set in, more and more buffalo, deer and big horn sheep move down to the lower valley where weather conditions are (somewhat) more moderate and where food is more abundant.

From late fall, each time you head out to the North Fork you see more and more wild life, until finally (deep into winter) everywhere you look there are animals.

The winding two lane highway (that takes you from Cody to the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park) becomes quieter and quieter until it feels as though there is nobody else left in the world.

Nobody but you and the massive and lumbering bison that is slowly bypassing your parked car along the side of the road.

Winter is a magical time in the North Fork..............

Pictures of Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

We have to stop there every trip to let our hysterical dog walk for a few minutes.

She has to walk to wear down some of boundless energy in her system, before we can continue on................

With our adventurous dog temporarily quietened, we continued further.

We didn't have to go far before pulling over again.

To our right, and about two football-fields-length away from us, was a herd of probably 200 elk, all walking and sitting together in a huge snow covered field..................

I finally got that new camera I was talking about.

It's not top of the line. 

Nowhere near it.

I go through too many cameras to waste money on high end.

But this one zooms where my other one didn't, and considering how far these guys were from us, I am pleased with how these pictures came out.

We ended up watching the elk for almost 30 minutes while talking with an older couple who were doing the same thing we were doing.

Taking a drive down the North Fork just to see how many animals had come out of the mountains so far this fall.................

Click on any picture and all of them will enlarge................

Looking back towards Cedar and Rattlesnake Mountains and in the direction of Cody...................

The elk had wandered down out of the mountains and settled in a huge field that was actually private property.

Somebody bought a huge swatch of land many years ago (long before we arrived in Cody the first time back in 2011).

They had subdivided the land into lots, invested in putting in power to each of the lots, and then they waited for folks to buy up the lots.

Let the home building begin!

Only............that never happened and I am not exactly sure why.

There is only one thing I can think of:  A Montana developer bought up a lot of land in the North Fork and then subdivided the land into small lots (some as small as a 1/4 acre).

There is no water access to these lots and because of water rights issues there never WILL be water access to these lots.

And the developer did not share that little piece of information when he sold off these lots to people all over the country who bought up the properties sight unseen, with the idea of one day Living The Wyoming Dream.

Did someone do something similar with this piece of land?

I would guess yes.

 Overpriced land doesn't scare off everyone here so it's not that.

It is the only thing that makes sense.

A beautiful metal sculpture at the entrance to the Subdivision That Wasn't..................

The Smith Mansion:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/smith-mansion

As we drove further into isolation we began to see more and more big horn sheep.

There would be many more in a few months, but for now these were wonderful to see.................

Going further.

Seeing more.

A favorite expression of ours when we are on an adventure "Let's go further and see more".......................

The sheep had indeed begun to come down out of the mountains.

As we slowed the Tahoe to watch one small group after another grazing alongside the road I realized that I had forgotten something.

Many of the herds contained mothers with yearlings.

The young sheep were still traveling with their mothers and the last time we were here we had referred to these small groups as "nurseries'.

After watching this small herd for a while I turned to look at LC.  He was enjoying our trip as much as I was.

I smiled at him and for a few moments we shared in the mutual pleasure of this trip.

Let's go further and see more......................

God bless you in Wyoming.  It's very boring and the most isolated place on Earth.................RuPaul

Wyoming - God bless you in Wyoming - it's very boring, and it's the most isolated place on Earth. RuPaul
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/wyoming

Leaving Something Of Ourselves Behind

For a mangy country pup, my dog has quickly and easily adapted to city life, as we continue to hold up in a temporary-stay cottage in downtown Cody.

There is BLM land all around the outskirts of town and we visit those places regularly so that she can run.

But Kory and I also walk often downtown.

There are endless sights and sounds (that are compelling to both woman and dog) and I think Kory actually enjoys most of the activity going on around her.

There are a few places we have learned to avoid (that are too noisy and busy and overwhelming for Kory), but generally she likes our walks through this very lovely town.

I covet the unassuming building in the picture above.

It is an old brick structure.  An old Forest Service building in a former life  judging from the metal sign below the top front window.

The building has been empty since the first time we found ourselves in Cody back in 2011.

It is solid and beautiful in its simplicity, and if I had the money I would find out who owns it, buy it and make a home out of it...............

The red trailer serving pulled pork sandwiches sits on one corner in town, and this late in the year it is closed more often than it is open.

On this day we caught it open and I quickly snapped this picture of the metal pig standing out front, before smiling and waving at the friendly guy in the trailer and moving on.............

One more of many many beautiful metal sculptures that can be found in and around Cody.

This guy was standing in front of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

This series of museums (all together in the same compound) are typically expensive to enter, and so LC and I have never been there.

On December 2 entry is free in celebration of the holidays.

On the same day entry to Old Trail Town is also free.

We are going to have a VERY busy day that day, and I am excited..................

There are waist high concrete pillars that line two sides of the sidewalk surrounding the museum complex.

Each of the pillars lights up at night, and each pillar has a square metal, decorative surround.

Each surround features wild animals typically found in the west - black bear, grizzly bear, elk, moose, deer, beaver, coyote, bison, big horn sheep, wolf, salmon and more.

They are beautiful and highly decorative and one more thing that makes Cody so unique.............

Wooden sculpture of a cactus...................

We've wandered together around the museum a few times and Kory is beginning to find her way around.

Jumping from one decorative boulder to another.

Scaring a bunny underneath a sage bush.

Sniffing beautiful metal sculptures with the same level of keen interest she sniffs a STOP sign.

The simplicity of her needs, and the simpleness of her joys is cathartic for me.

She helps to keep me grounded................

Cedar Mountain.

For all the snow we have had over the past month, the past week has been very warm and the past couple of days have been close to 70 degrees.

There is no snow left in town as I write this, and very little in the mountains surrounding Cody......................

Across a quiet road from the museums is a small park that is largely forgotten for most of the year.

One weekend a year this park is home to a Pow Wow.

It contains a few small structures, an amphitheater, plenty of green space, and two metal sculptures of Native Americans.

The sculptures are not as detailed as many other in town.

Rather, they were created in broad strokes.

But they are both wonderful none-the-less, and on this day Kory and I stopped to look at them..................

Eventually we found our way to the back of town where both the hospital and the iconic Bill Cody statue are located......................

One more of the buffalo statues that rest all over town.

This one was located outside the hospital.................

Hospital on the right.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West on the left.

Bill Cody statue in the background, with Cedar Mountain right behind.

I love this town.

It has called us back time and time again.

Alright Cody.

We hear you now.

We do.

We're paying attention now.

We are...................

It had snowed a couple of inches the night before we took this walk.

That morning had started off very cool but by the time we arrived at this statue temperatures were rising very quickly.

Snow was melting so fast at this point that Kory and I literally waded through two inches of water to reach it, so that I could take this picture.

As I looked at the water I realized for the first time just how efficiently the storm water systems were in this town.

Parking lots were gently sloped, gutters were wide and large, and drains were large and swiftly removing water from the streets.

I was standing in front of this beautiful metal statue of two cowboys greeting each other, but found myself mesmerized by the sheer volume of water from melting snow, and how efficiently it was being drained.

I have lived in a lot of towns in a lot of states and in a lot of countries, but I don't ever remember seeing such an efficient system to deal with runoff...............

And..........another one.

I will take pictures of statues every single time I pass one..............

Cody has town deer as well.

They are everywhere and I held my breath the other day as I watched a full grown buck running across the busy Sheridan Avenue.

Thankfully he made it across safely.................

Pictures taken while on BLM land on the outskirts of Powell (25 miles from Cody).

We had been up there looking at homes.

We may have found a home to buy.

Seven miles outside of Cody.

We'll see.

More if that falls into place the way we hope it does................

 

We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there............Pascal Mercier, Night Train To Lisbon