Cody Wyoming

July 25 – August 02, 2017: 

On our way to Cody Wyoming with our new high pressure fuel pump, yee haw!!  We have about 280 miles to go between Miles City Montana and Cody WY so we will need to stop for fuel again while towing. 

We were going to go through the Bighorn Mountains to Cody, which would shorten the trip by about 50 miles, but the route is not recommended for truckers let alone RVers.  It’s sort of a good thing that we stopped short with the truck problem because it made us re-evaluate our route to Cody. The route we took through Billings on I 94 then south on US 310 and then 14A to Cody WY was no problem at all.

Again, just a tad boring scenery!

Looking a little better as we approach Cody WY.

Cody Wyoming is about 40 miles east of Yellowstone National Park.  It is also about the same distance from the Bighorn Mountains.  Cody is for the most part surrounded by mountains in any direction you look.  It seems to be a very popular stopping point for those either entering or leaving Yellowstone.  No matter the day of the week the town is always full of tourists.

We left Miles City around 11:30 am and arrived at our new camp site in Cody around 4:30 pm.  We had no issue with the truck so that was great!  We are staying at the Absaroka Bay RV Park on the south side of Cody off of US 14.  This place was packed every day we were there, good thing we had a reservation!

Our site while in Cody WY.  Not a bad end site with a lot of yard.
However, we are in front of the bathrooms, therefore
the bathhouse sewer was under our rig. Pee yew!

View from the RV Park.

So while we are here in Cody, and before we head to Yellowstone, we planned a few things to see and do here. We want to go the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Maintains, see a rodeo, and visit the Buffalo Bill Dam on the Buffalo Bill Reservoir.  We also want to get some clothes washed and wash the truck which is in dire need.   We also will find some time to visit the tourist shops in downtown too.

Our first adventure on Saturday the 29th was to travel out to the Bighorn Mountains and visit the Medicine Wheel.  The trip out was about 50 miles and had a 5,000 foot elevation gain.  Medicine Wheel is at just under 10,000 feet on the side of Medicine Mountain.  It’s a real good thing we didn’t travel this while towing the RV!  The grades were up to 10% for several miles with sharp switchbacks.  That just would not have been fun at all!

We never saw a Grizzly. Nice to know they are around though!

We can see the Bighorn in front of us now!

Going up!

Our truck waiting for me to take a couple of pictures.

The road we came up in the background.

Herding cattle in the Bighorns.

There isn’t much of a warning that you had arrived at the turn off for Medicine Wheel.  Basically the turnoff is on to a single lane uphill gravel road.  Once on the gravel entrance road it is a 2 mile trek up to the small parking lot at the trailhead. The trip up was a little spooky not knowing if someone was coming around a few of the curves.  Most of the road though we could see way up and then know to find a place to get out of the way.  

This is the gravel road up to Medicine Wheel.

You can just barely see a car coming the other way up ahead.

There isn’t much parking at the trailhead leading to the wheel either, maybe enough for 30 cars. And it was just about full when we arrived.

Now to find a place to park!

The trailhead leads up another 1.5 miles to the Wheel. Also at the trailhead they have a ranger stationed there to help with information and answer questions. The wide gravel trail is uphill both ways, for real, it really is uphill both ways.  The trail takes about 35 minutes to hike up the wheel where there is another ranger to help with questions.

Now we need to hike up this 1.5 mile path to the wheel.

Sights along the path.

A look back down.

This damn spider was floating in the air and landed on me!

This Medicine Wheel was built by the Indians about 250 years ago and is still in use by many tribes.  It is sort of like a church for them.  We just saw one Indian female at the wheel while we were there.  They leave and tie colorful ribbons and ceremonial stuff to the fence that surrounds the wheel.  If you are not an Indian you are not allowed leave anything at the wheel.

This crow was just sitting by the wheel watching everyone.
Is this someone we know?

First view of the wheel.

"Eventually one gets to the Medicine Wheel to fulfill ones life" Old Mouse Arikara

Close view of the wheel.

A view from the top of Medicine mountain from the wheel.

Another view of the wheel.

The Medicine Wheel trip and visit was a keeper.  We would recommend the trip to everyone who is able to hike up to it. It might be a tough hike for anyone with breathing or walking issues.  The hike is at 10,000 feet so it does take a little extra effort to make it.  

That evening after the Wheel we went out to eat at a local trendy spot called The Local.  The Local is one of those gluten free organic sort of places.  We both were not sure we wanted a place like this but the menu sounded good.  Well, we should have listened to our instinct on this one.  I had a small no antibiotic grass fed beef steak with organic vegetables and Patty had a scallops dish.  The bill came to $125 which did include a $24 bottle of wine.  So, was it at least good tasting, yes it was good but not wonderful.  We think it was a $65 dollar meal at best.  We knew better, when a place advertises organic and gluten free the prices are usually much higher.   Oh well, chalk it up a lesson learned, again.

Sunday we took a trip out west of Cody to see the Buffalo Bill Dam and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (museum).  We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West first as it is on the way to the dam.   

Just happens they were riding horses past the entrance to the museum.

Statue of Wild Buffalo Bill Cody

The museum was absolutely great! This museum is 5 museums under one roof and they sort of run together.  The admission allows you to visit over 2 days and we learned why, you need it!  There is so much to see here and all of it very interesting.  If you are in Cody this is a MUST do!

Buffalo Bills childhood home.  They hauled this all of the way here from the Mississippi River!

Just another of the exhibits here.  They keep bald eagles that cannot be in the wild due to disabilities.  This one looks like something is wrong with its right wing.

OK, out to the Dam.  The Buffalo Bill Dam is about 5 miles west of Cody on US 14/20/16.  The dam is on the Shoshone River and was the highest concrete dam built for its day in 1910.   This visit takes just about an hour and it is worth it, it’s free!  It is amazing that they could build a dam like this here, in the middle of nowhere, and back then.  Also, this dam was built without any rebar either.  Even the water control valves that were installed back then were still working up until they were replaced in 1969!  This was a nice little tourist thing to see.

On the way out of Cody to the Buffalo Bill Dam.

Looking toward Cody with the Shoshone River below.

The Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

Originally they used this to plug the port on the dam before they got the valve below.

What a cool needle valve.

This valve was in operation on the dam for 60 years!

We also stopped and took a look at an old western town on the west side of Cody.  This was just an OK place.  It was sort of a seen one, seen them all place.  It was well done though so if someone has not seen a re-creation of the 1880s then this is a good one. 

They had a small grave yard out back of the old western town.

Interesting christmas tree!

First enclosed horse drawn hearse I've seen.

An old tavern.  Note the bare butt woman picture on the back wall.

Monday the 31st we went back to finish up the museum visit and then we walked the tourist shop strip.  The tourist strip was not worth it at all for us.  All of the places have the same stuff and are way too expensive.  We managed to get a nice lunch out of it though.  We went to the Proud Cut.  I had the best spinach salad ever! I ordered it with a sliced medium steak on top. Damn it was good!

A view of the tourist shopping strip in Cody.

These buffalo statues were unique and everywhere in town.

This the original Irma Hotel built by Buffalo Bill in his town of Cody.
It is named after one of his daughters. 

Cost $80,000 to build in 1900.

OK, done shopping, time for a beer!

For Monday night we went to the rodeo here in town.  Cody has a rodeo every night of the week from June through August.  Patty and I had never been to a rodeo so was another bucket list item. Well, way down the list though.  The admission was just $20 each and there was plenty of seating, at least at first.  

Cost $10 to sit on Mongo and get your picture taken.

We arrived about an hour early but really didn’t need to. However, getting there early allowed us to get great seats. We were down front in the middle and just high enough to see everything.  By the time the rodeo started seating was nonexistent where we were.  Yeah us! 

The rodeo started at 8pm with a color guard of women on horses and then the national anthem with a single guy riding around the lot with a flag.  The rodeo lasted 2 hours and we never felt like we were bored waiting for something to happen.  It seems they have this show really well organized. I guess they should if they do this every night!

Color guard to start off the rodeo.

National Anthem time.

Bronco riding

Rodeo clown

Our last day, Tuesday August 1st, we thought we would go on a hike but the heat won out.  By the time we got ready to go the temperature was already 91.  The humidity was OK at just 20%, so it was doable…… We drove to the trailhead a few miles away to look it over and decide then if we wanted to hike it. The trail just didn’t look appealing to us. It was mostly open grassland heading up into a large hill/small mountain.  Then we checked the weather again to make sure we wouldn’t get caught in a storm and saw there were storms all around us.  It’s weird out here about how fast bad weather comes in.  Since it is so flat you can see storms miles away and be in clear sun where you are.  

After nixing the hike we decided to do some domestic stuff. We went to Walmart and got a replacement coffee pot, washed the truck, and did some laundry.  So that ended our last day in Cody WY.

This picture doesn't show all of the RVs parked at Walmart.
We counted over 40 RVs on one visit.

Tomorrow the 2nd of August we head west to and through Yellowstone National Park.  

Stay tuned!