July 14, 2013 - Granite Creek to Big Sandy Reservoir, Wyoming

After breakfast we went to the waterfalls to check out the “natural” hot springs pool. From the parking lot we hiked down to Granite Creek and stepped into the icy water. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go any further! The water was quite fast and the rocks were slippery. I was thankful for the taut line. Once we got across we joined three other folks already in the small pool to warm ourselves. (I am still having a hard time trying to figure out how all the people that were here yesterday managed to get in this pool!)

The hot water enters the pool from a waterfall. Some energetic person gathered large rocks to capture the water and form a small pool. Cold water from the river combines with the hot water to make a great little hot pool. After we toasted ourselves warm, we gathered our courage and plunged back into the river and across to the RV. After showers we packed up and were on our way. The fields were covered with wildflowers of all kinds as we wound our way out to the highway.


We stopped in Pinedale, Wyoming at the Mountain Man Museum. It is very well done and has lots of great artifacts. Unbeknownst to us, Pinedale has its annual Mountain Man Rendezvous the second weekend in July, so there were lots of activities going on, but our timing wasn’t right for many of them. We spent a couple hours at the museum and were happy with that. They had several displays explaining about the beaver trappers and demand for beaver hats and coats in the East. We also watched an interesting 20 minute video about mountain men in the West.

After the museum, we headed south another 60 miles to the Big Sandy State Reservoir Recreation area. They have free camping and it turned out to be a beautiful spot. (I have to get lucky once in a while!) There is one other RV parked on the opposite end of the campground – we can barely see the top of his RV over the top of the hill.
There was a group of boaters here when we arrived and we enjoyed watching them. It looked like they were wake surfing, but we didn’t think to get out binoculars out to check for sure!

The sun is setting now and the reservoir is still calm and beautiful. We will probably head home tomorrow, but have really enjoyed our week in Wyoming.