17 June, 2011 0 comments Leave a comment

Yellow wildflowers carpet the Bighorn Mountains.

The Wyoming tourist info centre recommended we take our trailer through the southern mountain pass from Buffalo towards Yellowstone National Park. Apparently that highway had fewer switchbacks and steep grades, so we headed through the Bighorn Pass on Hwy 16. As it turns out, the northern pass on Hwy 14 was closed due to a mudslide so we had no choice anyway.

Still snow in the mountains in mid June.

We saw some great scenery and the temperature really dropped as we gained elevation.

The outside thermometer in our truck almost got down to the freezing point as we passed the highest elevation.

As we started the big descent, we caught up with a motor coach that was following a very slow moving tanker truck. We recognized the Jeep and kayak the coach was towing - the rig belonged to the Alaska-bound couple that we met at the Buffalo campground.  Their brakes were smoking and we were concerned for them because John said if they didn't stop and let their brakes cool, they would boil off their brake fluid and lose their braking ability.

That smoke is from their brakes overheating on this long descent through Bighorn Pass.

When the coach pulled off at an overlook, we pulled off behind them and they recognized us. We really hit it off and chatted with them a half hour or so until their brake lines cooled. They happened to be booked at the Ponderosa Campground in Cody for the same 3 days as we were. Their names were Jay and Carol, they were from Maryland and we exchanged cell numbers and email addresses.

View from the overlook. Notice the switchbacks and whitewater below.

So we followed Jay and Carol all the way to Cody (no more hot brakes!)and settled in at the Ponderosa Campground, which was right in town.

Dramatic scenery of Bighorn Pass. That is Jay and Carol's coach in front of us.

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