Intro to Wyoming

So, Wyoming!  Home for the rest of July and half of August.  Originally we were going to spend the summer in the Pacific Northwest and race Primal Quest in British Columbia.  Looking back now, that may have been a challenge with all the forest fires.  In July, I was just thinking about getting ready for our new race, Cowboy Tough.  Wyoming it is.

We have spent time all around the edges of this state - Yellowstone, the Bighorns, Devils Tower, Laramie, and as a way to access the highpoint of Utah.  Circling the state, as it were.  Time to get to know more about the interior.

(Side note - it turns out I used the same petrified wood joke in a North Dakota post this week and 2 years ago in Yellowstone; great minds think alike)

We made an overnight stop in Casper.  As our first experience with "civilization" in a while, I wasn't so excited about it.  Loud, hot, it kind of made me cranky.  We did some shopping and a little scouting for Cowboy Tough.  This would be the location of the pre-race activities and the finish line in August.

One memorable icon in the middle of town, the tower near Wells Fargo (you can see it from the road up into the hills to the south, I'll tell you about that later):

The North Platte River which flows right past the finish line area.  Maybe we'll be packrafting to the end?

At this point we didn't have any specific info about the race disciplines, that would come in another week or so.  So we checked out the water park and fun-looking manmade rapids:

I was happy to leave Casper behind for now.  The next morning we drove west across the prairie.  It's flat:

Many, many miles. With rolling hills.  Reminded me of North Dakota, actually.

Occasionally some pretty rock formations:

Driving up toward Dubois with glimpses of the Wind River Mountains - still lots of snow up there:

It's a scenic drive, complete with a stop at a rest area that our pre-race buses also stopped at a few weeks later (I laughed when the bus pulled in and I recognized where we were).  Should have taken at least one photo there.

Mountain views:

And colorful rock formations along the highway, an excellent drive:

Dark clouds helping with the color scheme:

We set up at an RV park in Dubois, did a bit of shopping at the gear store (where I found an awesome anti-mosquito shirt), and started prepping for some Wind River hiking.  Stayed tuned  :)