In search of Moose and Elk

July 2 2021

While we didn’t fine any Moose or Elk today it was still a nice drive. Just getting to the mountains took us almost an hour. First, it was up and over McDougal Gap which dropped us in to the Greys River Drainage. This is where we had hoped to see some Moose, Elk or maybe Bigfoot even, but sadly, nothing beyond a lone deer did we see.

Coming back down off the mountain from McDougal Gap we hung a right and drove along the foothills to another pass so we could follow in the wheel tracks of Wagon Trains as they took the Lander cutoff and Thompson Pass on their way to Oregon.

Once the trail became 2 tire tracks we turned around. A few miles of the valley was a gradual uphill, but it had this smallish, fast moving 5ft wide, creek in it. This stream snaked from one side of the valley to the other side. Most of the time the creek was so crooked that at times it almost came back on itself with only a few feet with dirt between the two ribbons of water.

I don’t know how the wagons traversed that fairly narrow valley with all the water crossing they would have had to made.

Everyone in Wyoming must have well beyond excellent eye sight, first it was the Mountain Man Museum, and now along the Lander cutoff of the Oregon Trail. You see, in the Museum, as you might remember, I mentioned the small hard to read text, well as we were following this portion of the trail there are some graves of people who died while making the trek. The graves are surrounded with a wooden fence and a small plaque. The problem was between the placement of the plaque inside the fence and the super small type we were unable make out anything beyond the words at the top which read Grave Marker the rest was impossible to read from the distance and angle.

Shortly after we returned to pavement we were met with a road block, not really, some cowboys on horses were moving 30-60 head of cattle across and down the road. They were coming at us so we just sat there as the cows walked around us. Someone, who was obviously very inpatient, went around us, while he didn’t honk or, I don’t think hit any of the beeves, pushed his way through them and speed on down the road.

THE END