Day 39 (Crossing the Big Empty)
Day 39
July 30, 2006
Grand Teton National Park, WY to Custer State Park, SD (482 miles)
Today we crossed Wyoming, west to east, and can now confirm with firsthand experience that our 44th state is essentially empty.
We left Grand Teton at 8:15 AM and drove over the Rocky Mountains, including one pass that was almost 10,000 feet high, before we descended onto a section of the high plains known as the Wind River Range. This arid, barren land is void of most things except pronghorn and sage brush. In the 100 mile stretch between Riverton and Casper, we saw probably no more than 100 buildings. Before this trek, we thought Smoot, Wyoming, population 100, was a small town, but then we experienced US Route 26 and our concept of low population density was, quite literally, altered by an order of magnitude. After miles and miles of monotonous travel with only scrub brush, utility poles and barbed wire and snow fences visible for a half hour at a time, we finally approached Kinnear. Actually, to be fair, it seemed bigger than its population of 44. FOURTY-FOUR! We had to stop and take a picture of the sign. Thirty-six people live in the eight houses on our street, for gosh sakes.
After 19 more empty miles, we came into Hiland and were astonished once more by its population: 10. So we snapped another picture. It seems that when the countryside is this empty, any collection of people, no matter how small, constitutes a town!
When we arrived in Casper, it seemed like a pretty large city to us, but in reality, its population is only 49,000—hardly a city at all.
For some reason, we thought that we had crossed Wyoming’s void and would have more to look at as we continued east toward the South Dakota border. Wrong. If anything, it was emptier than before. The road was good (“high iron” in railroad lingo) and we could maintain 75 MPH even pulling the trailer. Nonetheless, we became weary as we crested hill after hill only to see more of a nothingness that seemed to expand at a rate somewhat greater than 75 MPH.
Eventually, gradually, just before arriving at the South Dakota boarder, we began to climb up out of the grasslands and into the Black Hills. As we gained altitude, the temperature cooled and the vegetation became more lush until a few trees began to appear. By the time we reached Custer, South Dakota, about 30 miles beyond the Wyoming border, the landscape was forested with conifers and aspens, and resembled, we thought, Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
Our campsite in Sylvan Lake Campground, one of many campgrounds within the very large and beautiful Custer State Park, was to our liking. We set up our trailer and cooked dinner just as the sun was setting. We couldn’t help but notice that although we remained in the Mountain Time Zone, the sun set almost a full hour earlier than it did the night before in Grand Teton—we had driven a long way east while it shone.
July 30, 2006
Grand Teton National Park, WY to Custer State Park, SD (482 miles)
Today we crossed Wyoming, west to east, and can now confirm with firsthand experience that our 44th state is essentially empty.
We left Grand Teton at 8:15 AM and drove over the Rocky Mountains, including one pass that was almost 10,000 feet high, before we descended onto a section of the high plains known as the Wind River Range. This arid, barren land is void of most things except pronghorn and sage brush. In the 100 mile stretch between Riverton and Casper, we saw probably no more than 100 buildings. Before this trek, we thought Smoot, Wyoming, population 100, was a small town, but then we experienced US Route 26 and our concept of low population density was, quite literally, altered by an order of magnitude. After miles and miles of monotonous travel with only scrub brush, utility poles and barbed wire and snow fences visible for a half hour at a time, we finally approached Kinnear. Actually, to be fair, it seemed bigger than its population of 44. FOURTY-FOUR! We had to stop and take a picture of the sign. Thirty-six people live in the eight houses on our street, for gosh sakes.
After 19 more empty miles, we came into Hiland and were astonished once more by its population: 10. So we snapped another picture. It seems that when the countryside is this empty, any collection of people, no matter how small, constitutes a town!When we arrived in Casper, it seemed like a pretty large city to us, but in reality, its population is only 49,000—hardly a city at all.
For some reason, we thought that we had crossed Wyoming’s void and would have more to look at as we continued east toward the South Dakota border. Wrong. If anything, it was emptier than before. The road was good (“high iron” in railroad lingo) and we could maintain 75 MPH even pulling the trailer. Nonetheless, we became weary as we crested hill after hill only to see more of a nothingness that seemed to expand at a rate somewhat greater than 75 MPH.
Eventually, gradually, just before arriving at the South Dakota boarder, we began to climb up out of the grasslands and into the Black Hills. As we gained altitude, the temperature cooled and the vegetation became more lush until a few trees began to appear. By the time we reached Custer, South Dakota, about 30 miles beyond the Wyoming border, the landscape was forested with conifers and aspens, and resembled, we thought, Grand Teton and Yellowstone.Our campsite in Sylvan Lake Campground, one of many campgrounds within the very large and beautiful Custer State Park, was to our liking. We set up our trailer and cooked dinner just as the sun was setting. We couldn’t help but notice that although we remained in the Mountain Time Zone, the sun set almost a full hour earlier than it did the night before in Grand Teton—we had driven a long way east while it shone.
posted by Hazzard Family | 18:46
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