Category Archives: Wyoming

Riding the Trails at the Bill Cody Ranch

  By Anne Patrone | October 4, 2011 - 11:28 am | , , , , , , , , ,
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Getting ready to ride at the Bill Cody Ranch

Ever since my guys took their first horse ride in Canyon de Chelly National Park, they’ve been hooked on horses. And since you can’t really go to a dude ranch without riding a horse, I was thrilled that the Bill Cody Ranch offered trail rides of various lengths. 

We decided on a two hour trail ride since our horse experience is minimal, but this was plenty of time for us to enjoy the amazing scenery of the Shoshone National Forest surrounding the ranch.

I have to admit that I was a little wary when I noticed large rifle slung along our trail guides’ packs to take care of “friends” that had recently been spotted along the trail. But our guide reassured us that it was far too hot for bears . . .  the rifle was just a precaution.

Gulp.

Can’t see it, but the rifle’s on the other side . . . 

The horses knew the way along the trail, so there was little for us to do except admire the views and focus on keeping our horses from snacking on grass or drinking too much water . . .

Amazing views in the Shoshone National Forest

. . . or getting too close to the horse in front of you . . .

Keeping distance between horses is always good . . . 

. . . which unfortunately my youngest guy discovered when he got kicked in the ankle by my horse. Thankfully, he was wearing long pants and his hiking boots, so other than some hurt pride (and some good-natured ribbing by my oldest . . .), he was okay.

I don’t think he’s going to be a cowboy anytime soon, though . . .

For wanna-be cowpokes, the Bill Cody Ranch offers longer trail rides of four hours (lunch included), all-day (with a cookout), and overnight trips for the adventurous. All rides are open to the public, so you don’t have to stay at the Bill Cody Ranch (though I highly recommend this low-key, no frills dude ranch) to enjoy the trail rides.

Sixty-seven places visited, 433 to go!

Playing Cowboy at the Bill Cody Ranch

  By Anne Patrone | October 3, 2011 - 8:40 am | , , , , , ,
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Entrance to the Bill Cody Ranch

Deciding to stay at a dude ranch in Wyoming was easy (especially since it was listed as one of Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up) - finding a ranch that didn’t require a week stay was a little tougher. Fortunately, a TON of searching yielded up a gem that my guys are still talking about and would go back to in a heartbeat – the Bill Cody Ranch about 30 miles outside Cody, Wyoming and around the same distance from the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Road trip wise, the Bill Cody Ranch was in a perfect location. It was close enough to Jackson that we were able to easily get there after an exhausting day looking at wildlife in Grand Teton National Park and marveling at geysers in Yellowstone BUT it was also isolated enough that I didn’t get cell phone service (though the free wi-fi in the main lodge was amazing . . . )

Cabins at Bill Cody Ranch

Operated by a couple from Texas who run the ranch during the summer months, the Bill Cody Ranch was cozy and very family-friendly, with a well-run restaurant that served hearty breakfasts. We stayed in the main lodge, originally built in the 1920s and owned at one point in its history by Bill Cody’s grandson (also named Bill Cody).

Low ceilings, but cozy quarters at the Bill Cody Ranch

No TVs in the rooms pushed the kids outside to try their hand at “roping” a cow or cooking s’mores . . .

Ropin’ a “steer” 

While I hiked up a nearby hill to admire the scenery (and get cell service for a phone call home to hubby!)

Amazing scenery from the top of my “hill”

Like any good dude ranch, they also offered trail rides of varying lengths . . .

Horses saddled up and ready to go

. . . but more about that tomorrow . . .

Yellowstone’s Geologic Wonders

  By Anne Patrone | September 29, 2011 - 9:50 am | , , , , , , ,
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Walking the Fountain Pot Nature Trail

After watching Old Faithful do her thing, the guys and I decided to drive a modified “Grand Loop” of Yellowstone and stop whenever the mood hit us (or when we could find parking!) I knew that with the crowds and clogged roads there would be little chance for us to see any wildlife, so we settled on another of Yellowstone’s treasures – its amazing thermal activity.

Hard to believe, but a large part of Yellowstone is within a volcanic caldera (the most active part of a volcano) – which means that the Earth’s crust is a lot thinner than in other parts of the area.

Blah, blah, blah . . . what does all that mean?

It means that if you can actually find a parking space at the trailhead for the Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail, you’ll see some really cool (although they’re actually VERY HOT) and SMELLY sights!

An easy walk for kids

You’ve got the beautiful in the form of Silex Spring (so called because of the enormous amounts of silica dissolved in the super-hot water)

Silex Spring

The amazing in the form of bacteria growing amongst this hostile environment . . . 

Cyanobacteria which turns orange when it cools

The funky with bubbling mud pits that pop and explode like a goopy soup . . . 

The Famous Paint Pots of bubbling mud

And the seriously cool and active Clepsydra Geyser . . . 

Clepsydra Geyser

. . . which may not be as spectacular as Old Faithful, but is certainly bubbling and spewing nonstop!

As you might tell from the above picture, by the time we left the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, our daily thunderstorm was almost upon us. We cut through the center of Yellowstone, passed by the enormous Yellowstone Lake . . . 
A quick pic of Yellowstone Lake from the car

. . . and white-knuckled it over Sylvan Pass towards our next destination, a dude ranch near Cody, Wyoming.

Sixty-six places visited, 434 to go!

Old Faithful – Still Quite a Show

  By Anne Patrone | September 28, 2011 - 8:42 am | , , , , , , ,
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Going to Yellowstone National Park and not taking the time to watch a show by Old Faithful is wrong in so many ways that I couldn’t even come up with a metaphor to compare it to . . .

So naturally, we braved the crowds (and the unbelievably FULL parking lot) to watch Old Faithful do her thing.

Wondering when the geyser is next going to blow? 
The park rangers at the Old Faithful Visitor Center have a large white board that posts the scheduled time (plus or minus about 10 minutes). Our time was set for 3:15 pm and yikes! it was already 2:50 when we arrived. 
The crowds were immense so we walked around to the back of the geyser and settled in to wait. Sure enough, at exactly 3:15 pm, she blew . . . 
I’ll let my photos do the talking . . . 

Old Faithful

Trying to Escape the Crowds in Yellowstone

  By Anne Patrone | September 27, 2011 - 9:26 am | , , , , , , , , , ,
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Lovely Lewis River in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is MASSIVE (spanning three states – Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho) and I knew it was going to be a challenge to even get a taste of this National Park in the short amount of time I had budgeted for it during our Western US road trip (a short half day).

I knew we would see Old Faithful (because, really . . . how can you go to Yellowstone and NOT see Old Faithful) and thought we might do a short hike or two (which we sort of did), but what I wasn’t prepared for was the crowds.

Okay, I know that we were going in the height of the summer season and that we were also heading into the park during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (more about that in a later post . . . ), but the amount of people EVERYWHERE, the full parking lots, and the lines of cars slowly inching along single lane roads (excuse me, slow person, look in your rear view mirror occasionally . . . they make pullouts for a reason . . . ) made me want to scurry out as quickly as possible.

And that’s a shame because Yellowstone, as the first National Park (established in 1872), was worth more of our time.

We still saw some amazing scenery . . .

Lewis Falls in Yellowstone National Park

. . . and crossed the Continental Divide . . .

The guys at our first crossing of the Continental Divide

. . . and even saw some bison far, far away . . . (what you don’t see are the nearly 30 cars lined up along the road trying to take a picture of this guy!)

A male bison in Yellowstone

But at the end of the day, we never felt like we were getting in touch with nature like we did on even short walks at Valley of Fire State Park or Arches National Park. 

My travel suggestion for Yellowstone? Don’t go in the summer and find a way to get out of the car to take even a short hike . . . you’ll be glad you did.