Thunderstorm at Sheep Mountain, Wyoming

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Day 5: Thunderstorm at Sheep Mountain, Wyoming

We left fish hatchery and Tensleep Canyon to head over to Greybull. We took Wyoming Highway 31 over to Manderson, through Basin and on to Greybull. As we lumbered along the highway, we could not help but admire the great thunderheads along the eastside of the highway, boiling over the Bighorns. Camera shutters clicked as we drove along at about 65 mph. Finally, to do justice to the scenery, we stopped for some still shots.

Once in Greybull we stopped at Ron's Foodbarn to pickup more supplies. Cooky suggested we buy corned beef and cabbage for supper. What ever Cooky suggest, we best do, lessin he lose his temper. Plus we stocked up on what other groceries we needed. Of course some of us visited the Espresso Lady's stand in the parking lot. Nothing like a nice frothy-headed cappuccino to get the old motor running. Across the main street from Ron's Food Barn we could see a storage yard enclosed by a chain link fence. We could see some very old cars, maybe a Ford Model A or so -- We supposed probably some of the first vehicles ever to cross the Bighorns. In those days it must have been a good days trip over the mountains along those rugged old roads. I could just imagine having to stop while the radiator cooled off, or maybe even have to add some springwater to replace what had boiled over. Reckin you'd want to pack a fair picnic lunch to have while resting the vehicle.

Well, having all our supplies, we steer the vehicles north to Sheep Mountain. The pavement ends at the gypsum plant. The road was a little wet and the cloud were starting to fanout from the Bighorns so we went about a mile on dirt instead of the usual ten. Yep, some right serious clouds were off in the distance (photo). We turned the vehicles around so's to park heading out just in case we needed a fast exit. Once out of the vehicles we hiked around this rugged and desolate area and admired the geologic structure of this classic anticline (photo). Some of the barrenest ground we've seen. The plans had been we were going to camp here with the rattlers and spiders for tent mates. After all, we'd been spoiled by camping in the high country along mountain streams. But, we all sense there will be no camping here as we look skyward.

All of a sudden Bill starts yelling that a twister might be coming. He's now spotted a wall cloud with sign of rotation (photo). Course, you'd be rotating to if you drank as much espresso as Bill did back at the Food Barn parking lot. But, as the wind kicks up and we see the first lighting flashes, feel the first drops, and hear the thunder claps, it time to go. We just make it back to the pavement by the gypsum plant when the storm hits in all its fury. Sheet of water pelt the vehicles and the wind whips the rain sideways over the road.

The rains are monsoonal and we feel we have been teleported to the deep tropics as we creep through the rain, back through Greybull, and onward to Basin. Darkness is falling as we head toward Basin and every stroke of lighting is now amplified. We cross the Greybull River near where it feeds into the Bighorn River and see the water is really rising now. We've been heading to Basin because we saw the sign for the free Lions Club campsite in Basin. Once we get there we sse that there are very nice covered areas with grills and pincic tables. Here's when Cooky and Bill got to fixing up the corn beef for supper. We don't have to stand in the rain.

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