Last night at Wyatt’s Hideaway, after stopping for groceries in
Belle Fourche, I retrieved my cast iron skillet, seasoned my steak with
freshly purchased salt and pepper (how could I have forgotten that?),
and cooked up the meat medium rare. After supper, I had a big bowl of
chocolate chip cookie dough and then sat outside in my chair, sipping an
IPA, as temperatures cooled into the evening.
These are some of the
luxuries that I never enjoyed on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike, made
possible by Scamp Manufacturing (a/k/a the Brew Hut).
Empowered by wi-fi at Wyatt’s, I caught up on the news, blogs, and
email. The days are getting shorter. By 8:00, it was dark out, and by
8:30, I was asleep. Several times during the night, I awoke to the
sounds of trucks passing close by on the highway. I realized that the
weather is also starting to change. Last night was the first time that I
actually got cold enough to wrap up under the heavy double sleeping
bag.
By 4:15 a.m, I was pretty much wide awake. I tossed and turned for an
hour, gave up, and fed Elvis, who was only too happy to get an early
breakfast. By 7:15, I had eaten breakfast, used the luxurious bathrooms,
hitched up, and dumped by gray (sink and shower) and black (toilet)
tanks. I gave Julia a call and then was on the road by 7:30 a.m.
My initial plan was to visit Devil’s Tower National Monument on the
eastern edge of Wyoming and continue across the state to Buffalo,
Wyoming for a camping spot nearby. However, Devil’s Tower was much more
spectacular than I was expecting. Also, even though it was only about
8:30 a.m., people had started leaving the full campground, and there was
a beautiful campsite on Loop A (the no generators loop), which looked
directly at Devil’s Tower. I snagged the site, paid by $20 and went to
see about the trails.
Stymied again. No dogs allowed on the trails. The sign suggested
walking your dog in the campground, limited picnic area, or on a dirt
road with no directions to get there. The sign also said that dogs were
no allowed more than 15 feet off the road. Okay, we would improvise.
Elvis and I walked about a mile and a half from the campground towards
the visitor’s center. We had to dodge a few buses, motor homes, and
large campers, but we made it to the dirt road that I believe they were
taking about. It was definitely a challenging walk, but still fairly
cool out.
During the afternoon, the temperatures climbed to 90 and higher than
that inside the Brew Hut. We had a couple of shade trees at the
campsite, and we moved our hanging out shady spot to match the sun’s
progress across the sky. I read and blogged. Elvis slept.
After Wyatt’s, I appreciated the quiet of nature again. The wind and
the rustling of leaves. And there might be a bit of ice cream left in
the freezer. I will be headed west next.
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