What is on your ‘Cowboy State Bucket List?”
By definition,
the term “bucket list” stands for those places you want to visit or those
things you want to do before you die.
For some time now,
I have annually been publishing my own version of this list and have gradually
been checking a few off my list.
In a land of
97,000 square miles full of mountains, canyons, rivers, historical trails and
outposts, Native American sites, and modern marvels, it is easy to compile such
a list.
And yet, there
are so many more places to see it seems like my list is getting longer rather
than shorter.
For example a
dinosaur dig or a buffalo jump have zoomed to near the top of my list. Our family had never been to either and
Wyoming has some of the best in the country.
The dinosaur digs near Thermopolis is of the most prominent dino dig in
the country. The Vore buffalo jump near
Sundance is amazing. I also want to get
out in the Red Desert and see the one on the summit of Steamboat Mountain
between Rock Springs and Farson.
Among the things that I wanted to
do, and did do, included finally seeing Sybille Canyon between Laramie and
Wheatland and driving the back road over the Snowy Range Mountains between
Saratoga and Laramie.
Also, I finally took that Red
Desert back road from Rock Springs to South Pass and visited Boars Tusk and the
Killpecker Sand Dunes. On my earlier list was a visit to Bill, Wyoming, which I
managed to do one Sunday afternoon while listening to a Bronco football game on
the radio.
Also finally I
drove that fantastic Wild Horse Loop from Green River to north of Rock Springs
above White Mountain. We also re-visited the fantastic petroglyphs just south
of Dubois. Amazing.
But I still
have not made it to some very important events. So here goes my Cowboy State
Bucket List for today:
• Am hoping to take a closer look
at Vedauwoo area outside of Laramie. I
have driven by it hundreds of times. It is time for a closer look. Also, to spend some time at Curt Gowdy State
Park.
• Between
Jeffrey City and Muddy Gap is an odd rock formation I call Stonehenge. Locals
call it Castle Rock. Reportedly it has
names written in it including John Sublette.
Sometime this summer I hope to have it finally checked off.
• I want to
spend more time in extreme western Wyoming from Afton to Evanston. Lots to see
there.
• Our family
lived on Squaw Creek for 23 years outside of Lander and our view looked out at the
imposing Red Butte. Hope to climb it
this summer.
• If Fossil
Butte is not on this list, my friend Vince Tomassi will scold me about it. He serves incredible meals every Thursday
night in Kemmerer-Diamondville at Luigi’s.
Perhaps a tour and dinner, Vince?
• In 1993, I
spent a very nervous time hunting a bighorn ram in the Double Cabin Area
northeast of Dubois. Would love to go
back for a more relaxed trip this time around. There were petrified forests
above timberline and a place that included a meadow full of vertical rocks
standing on end.
• I still need
to take the time to tour all the new parts of UW with a knowledgeable guide and
see first-hand all the new buildings and new programs.
• Some 48
years ago, I photographed what looked like a horrible scar on Togwotee Pass
where the area was clear-cut. Would like to go back to those areas and see if the
timber has recovered or not.
• Historian
Phil Roberts says he will give me a tour of the “breaks” north of Lusk? I flew over that area by private plane many
times and looked down in awe at this rough country.
• A tour of
Wyoming’s giant coalmines makes sense.
• On the Wind
River Reservation, I finally visited the Arapaho Ranch and also visited the
mountains at the extreme north end of the rez. Saw the Legend Rock petroglyph
site in that neighborhood –fantastic.
To wrap this
up, my friend Tom Hayes does not like the term “bucket list” and calls his a
“leap list” for a list he does every leap year to plan their visits over the
next four years.
Jim Hicks
always offers perspective on these kinds of lists when he says he always wanted
to break par, then he always wanted to break 80. “Now I just want to be able to
get out there and play,” he concludes.
So that’s my
Cowboy State bucket list. What’s yours?
|