We always have to stop for a couple of days when we get to Buffalo, Wyoming. It’s just a lovely small town with cool unique stores and abundant artwork, we love to spend a little time here.
Indian Campground has these lovely big old Cottonwood trees that provide great shade without dropping weird tree stuff on the trailer…!!!
The mornings were cool enough for breakfast to happen on the BBQ….
Travelling further north we were beginning to see some of the wildfire smoke from the devastation happening in Oregon and Washington States…..a smidge of that yellow haze in the sky…..
Our choice for hiking on this visit was Bud Love Conservation area. Alltrails gave it a pretty good review….so despite the air quality warnings…the sky in the morning still looked OK….and with our early start strategy it was not yet too hot to contemplate a decent hike for the day.
The last part of the drive in was a daunting dirt road ….and it felt like a forever drive before we landed at the designated parking area for the trail head…..
There was no one else around….it seemed remote and incredibly peaceful…..
Off we set…..
You have to keep an eye out for that bright pink shirt to find me in some of these pictures…..the landscape was HUGE…!!!
The first part was through meadow….an easy trail to follow….
We made our way up to the entrance to the canyon…..
…then we turned into the trees….
It’s harder to tell from the pictures on the way up….you will see better on the way back down…..but this part of the trail was steep with sharp switchbacks….
Even this early in the morning we were grateful for the shade…..it was warm…!!! But despite the air quality warnings the sky was still bright and clear….
The path was steep enough in places that we were climbing hands and feet…
With the occasional spot to watch some fluttering butterflies….
…and trying not to look down as the path continued high on the side of the canyon…..(for me anyway….!!!)
The boundary of the Bud Love area……
We then turned another corner and followed the path out into this impossibly vast landscape……breath-taking……
…and we still were not done with the climb…..
This incredibly beautiful place set against that magnificent sky…….just awe inspiring…..
I have to admit to slowing up the walk at this point….partly because it was warm, partly because it was a long climb….but it was mostly because it was hard not to stop and stare around to try and take it all in….
As ever my intrepid blogtographer is waiting behind to get the picture…running to catch up…then running on ahead to get that next shot he sees…!!!
As we approached the top of this rise…..with nothing other than rocks and trees….there were these old fenceposts……some past structure we are guessing….but who knows for what…!!!!
As we head back down…I hope we managed to demonstrate the scale of this place……here is the same picture with an arrow to help you find me…..
You might have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see how small the little me in bright pink shirt is……
It was definitely warming up as we headed back down….and you can see the sky beginning to change with that smokey haze seeping in….
It was no less magnificent on the way down…..I think this might be one of our favourite hikes
I love this picture…with a little peek of the world down below in the V…..
Back into shade for a bit…..it always seems so different on the return journey….could be cos going down is easier than the grind up….lol
…and back to the boundary fence again…
…a few more flutterbys made an appearance….
This steep part was hard to keep your feet under you….it was dry and lots of loose gravel….
…and the welcome deep shade
The last part down…as we came out of the trees this incredible (and expansive) rock formation re-appeared…..leading us back to the truck for that all important re-hydration….!!! (we always leave a flask of coffee in the truck for the end of the hike….!!!)
One of the big bonuses on this trail was the complete absence of anyone else…. made it feel so much more remote than it really was. …this is definitely one we will come back and do again……
Extra Pix
