Encampment, Wyoming
After leaving the dust bowl that is Rawlins, Wyoming, I head east on I-80 for a short while before it’s time to veer off on another adventure. The northernmost reaches of the Colorado Rockies beckon on the horizon to the south and our next destination is the valley of the North Platte River, which runs north/south along the western edge of the Medicine Bow Mountains, a finger of the Rockies that darts north into Wyoming. The plan is to head about 40 miles south into the valley to string of small towns: Saratoga, Riverside, and Encampment. About 20 miles down Hwy 130 the land turns green and the heavily wooded stream bed of the North Platte comes into view. The first town we come through is also the largest. Saratoga has about 1,500 people and is the commercial center of the valley, serving mostly farmers, ranchers and tourists. It is named Saratoga after the spa in New York as there is a small hot spring on the side of the Platte which has been a gathering place for hundreds of years. This is not a “cutesy” tourist town, being out of the way (though it wants to be), but serves its’ purpose for the valley. We cruise on through because our destination is 20 miles further up the valley in the foothills of the mountains, Encampment.
Encampment has never been a large town. Historically it started as a town dependent on timber as the railroads utilized the surrounding forests as a source for ties needed to build the railroads across Wyoming. Then as that need died out copper was discovered about 20 miles south of town and a small mining boom resulted. As the mine petered out, farming and ranching came to dominate the local economy. There is really no retail “core” functioning in modern times, a small store, post office and liquor store operate amongst the old buildings strung out along the highway. There is, however, a nice Senior Center that has about a half dozen free rv spaces in a grassy field with electricity! There’s where we are going to camp for the night. After settling in, the first “crisis: of the trip unfolds.
Those of you who have actually seen the Lunch Box know that this is not what one would call roughing it! In fact, one of the things that I enjoy, particularly this time of year, is my satellite tv. Yes, Dish Network keeps me in touch with the Oregon Ducks regardless of where I am as long as I can plug in to 110 volt electricity and have a clear line of sight to the south. Both of those conditions were met by the spot in Encampment. What, then, you might ask, was the crisis? Well, (bear with me as this gets a little convoluted!), the way Dish Network works is that there are two different “layers” to the service. Most of the channels are a national service and I can get those wherever as long as the electrical and sight line needs are met. However, local channels obviously change as I move from city to city. Normally it is a simply process to get the new local channels. Once I settle in and turn on the tv/satellite dish to make sure that the national channels are coming in, I then call Dish Network, give them my new address, and they “ping” the satellite dish with the new location. 10 minute later the local channels come on and I am set. Slick!
The problem is that I have to be able to call in the address of the new location and after getting all set up in Encampment and trying to call the Dish Network, I realize that I am so far up in the boonies that I do NOT have cell service. So, yes, the national channels are coming in just fine but Fox, which will be carrying the Oregon-Michigan State football game, is not. What a dilemma! Being clever, I problem solve. Figuring there must be a pay phone at the post office, I walk the five blocks (up hill, mind you) to find the post office closed. Next door is city hall (one room) and the lady informs me that there is no pay phone in town. I then stop by the small store where the lady tells me that down the hill at the Sinclair gas station there’s a pay phone. The only problem is that I have to be plugged into 100 volt to get the satellite on and I can’t leave the motorhome in Encampment while I walk 5 miles down the hill to the gas station. But, ever resourceful, I realize that I can drive to the gas station, fire up the generator, turn on the dish and then walk across the parking lot to use the phone. Problem solved. Until I get to the gas station, set up the dish, and then find out that the lady in the store was wrong and there is NO pay phone. The group in the store (about 4 old men eating pie at the counter and the woman at the cash register) mull this over and then the woman takes pity on me and tells me that I can use her cordless landline phone (from the late 70’s is my guess). So that’s what I did. Standing in the middle of this gas station/store/restaurant with an audience of interested onlookers, I called Dish Network, gave the address of the store, and they “pinged” my dish. I then drove back up the mountain, settled in again, and was all set for the Duck game the next day. Mission accomplished! The fallback position would to have been to drive about 20 miles down the valley to Saratoga, pay $40 for the crummy rv park there, and hook up to their cable. Thank God I didn’t have to do that.
On to the story! One of the reasons that I headed to Encampment is that this weekend was an event called “Copper Days” so not only was I set for the Duck game late Saturday afternoon but was up for a tractor parade and pull Saturday morning – does it get any better than that? Sponsored by the “Tug & Chug Tractor Club” of Encampment, the tractor events (plus a dance that night to the “Polka-Nuts”) turned out to be what Copper Days are all about. So, bright and early Saturday morning, Augie and I were among the crowd (maybe a hundred people) lining the highway through Encampment to cheer on the tractor drivers on their way to the area.
As the line of tractors headed up to the school to turn around, I hustled down the mountain to the Lions Club Area so that I could be there as the tractors came in. This tractor, a 1938 Minneapolis Moline, lead the parade into the arena grounds.
There were 43 tractors lined up to participate in the tractor pull, divided into weight classes.
Some of you may not know what a “tractor pull” is, so a bit of education is needed… A tractor pull is a competitive event where each tractor pulls a metal sled carrying weights and the winner is the tractor who can pull the same weight the longest distance. In the smaller weight classes the weight is supplied by people riding the sled, the larger tractors pull the sled which is weighed down with large cement blocks of varying sizes. Here are two of the smaller tractors in action!
The winner was the red tractor which pulled the seven people 77′ 5″. It was a lot of fun, the people were great, the barbeque put on by the local high school FFA good, and the weather fabulous. Americana at its’ best! Turns out that tractor pulls take a looooong time (there’s a lot of talking that goes on between pulls) so I had to leave early to get back to the camping spot to settle in for the Duck game (which, incidentally they won 46-27, go Ducks!)
The next morning the other major attraction in Encampment was the focus: The Grand Encampment Museum. Located on the southern edge of town, it primarily consists of original buildings gathered from around the area along with a small museum.
Two of the more notable structures are the 1895 Wolford School house (taught as many as 15 students in all grades in a 10′ by 10′ one room building) and the double-decker outhouse (I guess if you used the first floor you were REALLY trusting the skills of the carpenters when they built the second floor!).
The view from the school house across the meadow to the main part of the museum shows the variety of structures on the site, as well as an old fire lookout tower.
Finally, a section of the 16-mile long tram that brought the copper ore down from the mountain to the mill is set up along the front parking lot of the museum grounds.
All in all, a pleasant weekend spent in Encampment! Leaving Encampment, I headed back north for a short while before taking a right on Hwy 130 as a shortcut to Laramie, Wyoming. This section of Hwy 130 is designated a scenic byway, and my experience over the last couple of years tells me that any stretch of road so designated is worth the trip. This did not disappoint. The highway rather quickly climbed up and over the Medicine Bow Mountains before reaching the Laramie River Valley to the east. The middle 10 miles crosses a high alpine landscape, dotted with little lakes amidst the forest. The crown jewel of the drive is Lake Marie, sitting at the foot of 12,000 foot plus Medicine Bow Peak. It was cold, the wind was blowing, but a spectacular view!
Shortly after passing by Lake Marie, the highway plunges down a series of switchbacks into the Wyoming of legends. This is cowboy country, rolling hills and plains frosted with waving miles of grass stretching off to the east unencumbered by mountains.
Next up: Cowboy Country!
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