Newell Bay Loop Trail

We were joined in the park today by this little guy - a Praying Mantis

With temperatures in the 70s and 80s, it’s an excellent time to be in the park. We have seen some enjoying the weather with a picnic and others walking and driving in the park.

The fall colors this year are the best in several years

Sunday we enjoyed a terrific hike taking the Newell Bay trail loop. It is a little longer than our usual hikes, but the great fall weather gives us a bit more energy.

Along the trail

This trail is not often used, especially since the 2012 fire. We feel like it is still one of the great hikes in the park and it is one of our favorites on the west side.

The trail has many beautiful CCC steps

We park at the burned Brimmer Point Trail footbridge; the trail starts about 50 yards west with a long flight of very nice Civilian Conservation Corps steps. The trail goes south to just above the road to the Newell Bay cabin area.

Brimmer Point Trail Footbridge burned in 2012 fire

After reaching the south end, the trail winds west around Holdring Mountain and then goes back north against some fantastic rock cliffs. The trail ends about a half mile west to where we started and is an easy walk along the road back to the starting point.

Many terrific rock formations line the trail - we call this one
 Crocodile Rock

Meanwhile, on the east side lots of construction as work on the gates continue.

To take the photos we had to circle in from the Hartville side drive through the park on Lakeshore Drive then park in the area used for the main boat dock. 

We then hiked the Red Cliff Trail affording a nice hike and great view of the construction going on with the gates.

And always lots of wildlive to watch.

"Here's Looking at You"

Brimmer Point - Always Spectacular

Today we took a drive up to the observation area at Brimmer Point. This is a sure sign of spring as the road is closed during the winter.

Brimmer Point - Can you see it atop the mountain?

Brimmer Point and the road leading to this, the highest point in the park, were intended to be one of the highlights of Skyline Drive. The Point, setting at the top of Powell Mountain is named after an influential Cheyenne businessman who helped push legislation to build the park.

This is a shot of the Point with a little more zoom

 Brimmer Point features a prairie style sandstone viewing area. Built up twenty feet above the parking lot the viewing level is reached by a beautifully made set of curving stone steps leading to an observation platform.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built steps and the viewing area blend into the landscape almost unnoticed by the casual observer.

Observation/view deck

The road to Brimmer Point is a marvel of engineering itself. Climbing and winding up Powell Mountain and at one point curving down through a deep valley. It is a slow but breathtaking drive. In places, the drive can be heart thumping with views straight down the side of the mountain.

The terrific road to Brimmer Point

Two most innovative construction techniques were used on Brimmer Point. The chain-link fencing holding back sightseers from the sheer cliff drop-offs was one of the first uses of this new type of fencing in an American Park.

 Each post and rail were numbered and labeled before shipping. The CCC workers put it in place by following the number of each piece.

Unbelievable, but they are still there - the originals.
Labeled, National Park Service and Guernsey Wyoming

And the reason for driving up to the Point? Oh, it's the view, all about the view.

Yep, pretty nice

Most of this blog post is an excerpt from my book about the CCC and the building of Guernsey State Park.

Click here to read a free sample

The book was very successful last year selling around the state and everywhere else through online sellers such as Amazon, and Barns and Noble and many others.

I hope the book continues to do well in the next few years. It is available in both eBook and as a good looking softcover. It sure would look great on your desk of the coffee table. In the next few weeks, I am already late, I will be publishing my sixth book, another historical mystery, set in and around Fort Laramie. 

Here I am at Fur Trade Days at Fort Laramie - where I find much of the inspiration
it takes to write fiction of the old west

 You can find the first five, here on Amazon – thanks for looking.

Brimmer Point

Brimmer Point

We took our first trip of the year up to Brimmer Point a few days ago.

View of Newell Bay from the bridge on Brimmer Point Trail

 I never get tired of the views from the point, spectacular in every direction.

The view from the Point

It always adds to the fun when some of our kids and grandkids who were up for the day come along.

The Vultures have been back in the park for about two weeks now. My wife and two granddaughters hiked down the trail from Brimmer Point to the trail bridge. This guy must have been hoping they wouldn't make it, they fooled him.