Spontaneous Stop in Bighorn National Forest, WY

Dana
Aug 12, 2020
4 min read

Yesterday we were spontaneous!!!! 😲 Guy has wanted to find a place in the middle of nowhere, with no lights or anything so he could enjoy the night sky (yes, my husband Guy, he is getting old 😉). We were driving through NOWHERE, Bighorn National Forest, and he decided he wanted to stop and boondock for the night. For those of you that don’t know what boondocking is..it’s when you go and just park somewhere for the night (just some land, not a campground) without water or electricity hookups. So, we did. We found this small campground with 13 sites spread out and they had a picnic table and gravel pads, lots of privacy. We went and parked the RV at the site and took the car to go find a grocery store and gas.

We drove down the road about 25 miles and came to the end. Right or left...which way?? Well no service on our phones. We sat at the stop sign waiting for someone to pull up behind us so we could ask where to go (we had 10 miles of gas left...red light). Finally a group of bikers come up so Guy rolls his window down and waves them on. Well he tried to talk to them and they just looked at us and kept going 🙄 Then all of the sudden a police truck turned on their lights coming from behind us. We thought for us because we were sitting there but at least he can tell us where to go. NOPE!!! He was going after the motorcycle riders. We had hope and they all passed us. 🥺 So, Guy went ahead and pulled up next to the cop and bikers to ask where we can get gas and the cop told us, then Guy told him I’m sorry I waved them on from behind me but he said “no, this has to do with more than that.”

He had directed us to a lodge. It was old and rustic (nasty). We paid $4.00 a gallon for gas and they had a restaurant and bar. I asked where the grocery store was and they said 130 miles away. 😳 We bought some

drinks and headed back. On the way back there was a small area we drove through that had service so we pulled over on the side of the road and called our parents to let them know what we were doing and we didn’t have service. Then I had to call the campground we were suppose to be staying at so they wouldn’t cancel my reservations.

On our way back to the site a MOOSE came running through the field and across the street in front of us. Pretty cool. They are HUGE!!!!! Now I just need to see a bear 🐻. (I can’t put videos on my blog for some reason so I’ll share on my Facebook. I paid for the service including videos 😡). THEN we pulled into our campsite and there was a mommy MOOSE with her 2 babies on our site. So exciting!!! I got out and took pictures (they are in the trees so hard to see in pictures). I decided to walk closer to get better pictures and I was right in front of the mom. Guy told me if she charges you run into the trees. 😂 Just then some truck came driving on the road behind them and scared them and they started running my way 😱 💩. So I ran then I turned around to get pictures as they were running away. (Much bigger then they appear in pictures)

We got back and setup. Took naps, woke up and cooked dinner, made some s’mores cones on the fire 🔥 and chilled. It got cold 🥶 Guy & I got blankets and laid the lounge chairs out watched the sky for the meteor shower (Perseids). We saw multiple shooting stars 💫, some long streaks of light shoot across (assuming perseids), some ufo’s 🛸, and a bright ball of light with a fire tail. Also, the sky we see out here is not the sky we see at home. There are millions of stars out and so bright. (UFO’s 😊 while out on the west side we have seen some weird flying things that have bright lights and they come on and go off as they fly around...very strange).

It was so cold we turned the generator off, windows closed and we were all freezing last night inside the RV. Now on to our next stop, AGAIN, Mt. Rushmore.

(I was corrected...I originally thought we saw Elk but they were MOOSE 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Driving scene

At the last place we stayed the lady told Aliyah when she’s 18 to come see her and she will hire her to work with the horses at the ranch. She gave her this business card and Aliyah was so excited! 😊

This town was so cute. Old school

Sign says next picture...all that land use to be underwater

This might not look high BUT...let me tell you! For those of you that understand this, we drove up a 10% incline 3600 feet. The RV was maxed out at 15 mph. We were at the top of the highest mountain.