Brimmer Point Upper Loop Trail

At our age, any hike is a good hike, but this is one of our favorites. Yesterday we hiked the Brimmer Point Trail Upper Loup. The views are some of the best in the park, and the trail is not long, only a mile or so. 

Park at Brimmer Point and follow the trail where it branches stay on the upper trail, the lower goes to the trail leading to the burned CCC bridge in the valley below. Both of these trails are terrific but I was tired and settled for the upper loop, it was worth it.

In the first quarter mile of the hike, the trail passes between two massive stone outcroppings, one of the great photo opps on the park trails. 

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.

Guernsey State Park - Doing it Right

This must be some kind of Bonus post or something. I normally post every five to seven days and here I am posting two days in a row. A great hike will do that for me. 

Nice view as we started our hike this morning

People who know me, more than likely, have heard me complain about the new high wall on Guernsey Dam. It was never that high until the Bureau of Reclamation worked on the dam two years ago. The new height of the wall makes a view of the lake nearly impossible as drivers cross the dam. More importantly, it has also made the road over the dam much more dangerous as drivers from the north cannot see smaller cars, motorcycles or bicycles on the dam.

The original - I wasn't around for this one

However, that is not what I want to blog about today. And, there is a distinct possibility that the Bureau of Reclamation knows quite a bit more about dam's and dam building than I do.

Safer, but much taller new wall during construction in 2013

Here is the way to build a wall, this one in being built by the State Park System. It looks great. Unlike the Bureau wall of modern concrete, this one is concrete and faced with stone.

This is going to look super when finished - very CCC like

It looks like the CCC built it, and I am sure that is what Todd Stephenson, Superintendent of Guernsey State Park, had in mind when re-doing this one. Much like the work done along Lakeshore Drive over the years, this fits the park, fits the Civilian Conservation Corps work in the park and fits it very well.

On another note, the park is fantastic for recreational walkers/hikers right now. Despite some health setbacks, I hope temporarily, I have still enjoyed quite a bit of time in the park this fall.  

We call this one the, Lost Trail, as it was started but never really finished by the CCC.
Not sure many know where this one is. I will be posting more on this one later.

Like to learn more about the building of the park? How the Civilian Conservation Corps teamed with the National Parks Service, the state of Wyoming, and the Bureau of Reclamation to build one of the most unique and beautiful parks in the American west. Hit this link!

Happy to say it is still selling well if you have already purchased, thanks. I still like the book better than the eBook, but it is available in both forms. Order one for yourself and another for a friend today. 

I read a blog this week that said if a nonfiction book sells more than 250 copies the first year, it is a success, and if it reaches 2,000 sales in the life of the book,  it will have done better than 99%+ of all nonfiction. So far so good. (-:)

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.