Sun but dense smoke, 57 degrees, leaving Cheyenne, WY
Miles 507
(includes Antelope Island)
Travel time
7 hours (plus 2 hours on the island), traffic flowed well, 4 lane highway, I 80
west, 75 mph limit-80mph; gas 33mpg;.
Gas prices higher in Utah.
Day 4 of our
road trip to Alaska. Cheyenne, WY Marriott Towne Place Suites
(Marriott chain). Room had full
kitchenette and large space, comfortable.
Nice pool and exercise room.
Breakfast was limited but good quality.
Spoke with the breakfast hostess, a woman who had to be in her 80’s who
greeted and chatted with each guest. She
was raised on a homesteaded farm in Nebraska north of the Platte River. They lived in a sod house with no electricity
or running water. Lots of stories about
her early life. She said 2022 it started
snowing in WY in November and didn’t stop until March.
Cheyenne, WY
is capitol. Dinner was downtown at Rib
and Chop House for a rib eye steak, good quality, expensive with ala carte
sides. WY is very proud of their
suffrage history, marked with a mural and placards. First women in the US to vote (in local,
territory and state elections, before the 19th amendment). We drive
around the capital building, very beautiful.
WY population has dropped. Ak now
has larger population but a small edge.
We are traveling on high plains (think Clint
Eastwood in High Plains Drifter), lots of sage brush in grazing land that is
green right now due to melt. There are
national grasslands that allow private grazing. Lots of small herds of ‘antelope’, we have
learned they are not antelope, they are prong horns, a distinctive breed. Red rocky soil with more wind turbines. We see our first mountains in the distance
through the haze. We keep climbing to an
8000+ft summit. Blizzard fences are
everywhere and snow is still piled around them.
We are in very early spring up here.
The mountains (peaks 11+K) are still snow covered but the haze makes
them look a little yellowed. Further
along we pass over the Continental Divide at 7000 ft. We drop into a flat plateau, the rest of the
WY I80 trip is lined with oil and natural gas and mineral mining
operations. We pass through an
extraordinary area of old volcanic eruption of white ash where they are mining
the ash. The RR runs through here so
handy for exporting.
As we pass
into Utah we begin several miles of descent into a gorgeous pass of red rock
formations, the pass tightens and we keep going down. Looks like pyramid and other Egyptian
formations. We are passing through the
Wasatch Mountains to sea level. When we
reach the bottom we in a busy dense city and we are in 80 degrees. We come out north of Salt Lake City which is
our choice. We immediately find the
route to Antelope Island, a planned diversion.
We pay $10.00 to enter the causeway (10miles) and we are driving through
the middle of the Great Salt Lake to the Island. Google Great Salt Lake for interesting facts;
but high level of brine because it does not drain, they sell salt from
evaporation and brine shrimp (the only aquatic creature). Huge migratory bird activity for the shrimp
and bugs. The midgees are hatching, huge
swarms swirl like black rising smoke.
We don’t spend a lot of time out of the car or put down the
windows. We reach the island and go to
visitors center before it closes. A wild
bull bison greets us on the side of the road.
A ranger is wearing head to waist full netting so she can go outside. It is disappointing that the surrounding
mountains are only ghostly due to thick smoke, but things are clear on the
island. A small mountain rangeon the
island with highest peak at 6000k, home of island big horn sheep. We spot a large male prong horn in the
field. There is limited roadway driving,
most of the island is seen by hiking.
There is camping and one tent area has metal corrals that people were
putting their tents in. Don’t know what
that is about. Coyotes are biggest
predator. Might be the migrating bison
herds. Salt has formed around a lot of
the shorelines. Salt Lake City could be
seen in the distance if there was not smoke.
We finally find the bison herd.
Hundreds of them along the shore where new grass has sprung up. Many new calves. The herd is tightly monitored for disease and
protected. The control their numbers and
inbreeding by annual corralling where they are health checked and a number are
selected to leave the island for other places.
They are all very healthy looking.
After a
couple hours of driving around the island we head for the Courtyard Marriott in
Ogden. We saw one slogan that said,
Forget what you’ve heard about Utah, come to Ogden. We assume they are referring to Mormons who
are restrictive in their lifestyle. The
hotel is located in historic downtown.
It’s a young crowd, full body tattoos and various body rings, of
partyers. We walk next door to the
Slackwater restaurant that is having live music. We called ahead for the wait list and
bypassed the line. We sat out at a
raised sidewalk table with the sun setting on the mountains and a parade of cars
and persons passing by. After our last
night of beef gorge, we went mostly veggie.
Black bean hummus with best grilled pita ever, spinach salad with chix,
addictive with apple bacon vinaigrette, caprese app and Caesar salad. Back at hotel fall into bed.
Oregon
tomorrow. Nighty night.
Pictures
