Billings MT to Worland WY

Marianne has numerous forum friends and one of them lives in Worland, Wyoming. Her friend has kindly invited us to stay with her and her husband for a few nights.

Marianne had heard about an Indian version of Stonehenge which was in the Bighorn National Forest so we detoured into Forest (the green area).

We left Billings about 8 am and headed south.

Bridger is one of those small towns that you usually breeze through.

However I saw this curious statue and stopped. You see all sorts of stuff in America.

One thing I noticed was that all drivers obeyed the speed limit signs when passing through the small towns. No doubt the local police have their radar guns at the ready.

The long straight road. Very easy driving and with all the magnificent scenery, not boring at all.

We rolled into Wyoming.

There are plenty of oil wells throughout Wyoming pumping away.

We turned east at Lovell and headed up into the park area. We were going to be climbing over 5000 feet.

View back into the valley with snow covered mountains in the distance to the west. 

The views got better and better as we climbed.

It was a very steep climb. The 1600 cc engine had to work hard but we did not need to go fast so I mostly kept the speed about 30 mph and the revs about 3000.

We came to the turnoff for Medicine Wheel and I got to drive on a dirt road up another steep road.

From Google Earth, a view of the road up to the parking lot.

We arrived  at the parking lot to find snow everywhere.

View to the north east.

There is a road that goes closer to the wheel but it is normally closed to traffic and you have to walk about a mile. The snow had covered the road and we walked along to see if we could get though the snow.

Marianne hopping through the snow. Her shoes were not suited to snow whereas I was ok with my hiking boots. She soon turned round and went back to the car.

I continued on.

Google Earth view of the road from the parking lot to the circle.

However I came closer to this snow, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned around and went back to the car. I could see other people had trekked through the snow and I might have tried if I had a trekking pole. However, any slip on the icy snow and I would be sliding a very long way down that very steep slope.

The altitude is approximately 10,000 feet and I was puffing a little as I walked along. It was a pity we could not see the wheel because it looked very interesting.

Google Earth view of the wheel.

We returned to the main road and continued east further into the park. 

The highest mountain in Australia is Mount Kosciusko at 7310 feet. 

Eventually we headed back out of the park towards Greybull.  It was a steep descent down to the valley floor. 

Fire damage further up the mountain side.

It was quite a trip down to the valley floor. I pitied the RV vehicles that were struggling up the mountain side.

Eventually we reached the valley floor and sped along to Worland.

Wyoming has a reputation as having spectacular scenery and it is truly deserved.