Coming Events

Fun In The Park

I am preparing for two park functions. The end of this month I will be doing a short presentation on the park and my book for Guernsey Community Education. Looking forward to this one as we will hike after the talk, should be fun.

View from the trail we will be walking.

In June, I will be leading a Trek in the Park for the Wyoming Historical Society as the society does a Platte County Trek. This will involve a short talk and tour of the Civilian Conservation Corps sites in the park. This will be a terrific chance to talk with others interested in the history of the park.

One of the original Fire-Pits built by the CCC

I will have more information on both of these soon, but do know that if you are interested in the Guernsey Community Education talk and hike, it will be the last Saturday in April, and will start at the Museum. Give Gale (at Community Ed) a call if you are interested. Sounds like we are going to have an excellent group for each one of these.

The Bureau of Reclamation

Meanwhile, I have been doing some research and writing about the Bureau of Reclamation and the building of the dam, powerhouse, and gatehouse. I will be posting more on this soon also, but one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot as I look into the building of the dam, completed in 1927.

Dam and Gatehouse from Tunnel Mountain Trail

All My Blogs

In other news I have had requests as to how to get to my other blogs, here is the list, including this site -  just click on the link and thanks for asking.

I have been told that I blog on too many subjects and spread my audience too thin, not sure what that means. I do blog in several areas, and here they are.

http://wyoming-fact-and-fiction.blogspot.com/

By far my most popular blog – Wyoming History. I love writing this blog after 42 years as a classroom history teacher.

http://visitguernseystatepark.blogspot.com/

My favorite park and only a five-minute drive away. Also the basis for my only none fiction book about the Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of the park.

http://confessionsofawriterofwesterns.blogspot.com/

My writing blog. I try not to give advice as I don’t really know that much about writing. I share some of what I do and a few things that other do. I also post excerpts from my writing and quite often posts on how I go about the process of writing.

http://stuff-i-made-up-yesterday.blogspot.com/

This is my gardening blog, gardeners like fisherman like to boast about how good they are.

http://crazy-cooking.blogspot.com/

This blog is still pretty popular, but I ran out of things I knew how to cook/bake. It is mostly a humorous look at cooking and grilling, but all the recipes are the real deal.

http://oldguygottothinking.blogspot.com/

This one started as a hodgepodge of stuff but now is mostly about golf, senior golf. I only post a few time a year on this one. Not much effort although occasionally I come up with something that I need to say about my nearly 200 rounds each year.

http://oldtrailspublishing.blogspot.com/

My newest blog. This one is for my self-publishing company. Here I mostly share my books and links but eventually hope to post on the process of getting a Microsoft document into book form.

 

Click here to see - My Five Books

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.

The Stone Fountain

Across Lakeshore Drive from the boat launching area is the one and only  original Civilian Conservation Corps Camp BR-9 built drinking fountain. Built by drilling through a huge bolder the fountain is a one of a kind in the park.

 The drinking fountain itself, with the pipe coming through a large rock, hand drilled by the CCC, is still in good working order and used daily during the warmer months. 

Many more photos and stories from my book on the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Building of Guernsey State Park - take a look here.

This old log sign, east of the stone fountain  marks a trail to the Museum. The trail, for the most part, is gone but if you
 are careful some signs of it, including some nice CCC rock steps, can still be found. This may be the oldest remaining
 log sign in the park, but may not be old enough to be CCC era. Wish I could find out.

Guernsey State Park and Wyoming History

If you haven't tried it yet, take a look at my Wyoming Fact and Fiction site. I post Wyoming history there about every five days. I try to make it fun with some lesser know history.  There is so much history in and around the park, some of it like the lost Oregon Trail grave site, I wrote about in my book on the park. 

 

Meanwhile, my two westerns continue to sell well and if you are interested they can be found here. 

We didn't get out in the park for a hike until Wednesday this week, it was still snowy but the day was pleasant and we got in about a mile of walking.

We hiked Red Cliff Trail as it is one of our favorites and also for ease of access with snow still on part of Lakeshore Drive. 

Hitching a Ride

Saw this Huck Finn type bird hooking a ride on the lake last week. Not sure what kind of a duck it is but, sure seemed comfortable riding a log on a windy lake. 

Not sure there is any open water on the lake now. It has been, as Snoopy might say, cold and windy. Looks like winter is here.

Doesn't seem so long ago.

Flowers in Garden November 3rd

Off the Beaten Track

Today I thought it might be fun to show a few of the hidden treasures in Guernsey State Park. 

Newell Bay to Brimmer Point Trail

Oldest Log sign in the park

 

A terrific CCC culvert on Lakeshore Drive (photo from the Castle)

Drilled to split, but left behind by the CCC

The CCC built quite a few of these fire pits, although most  are out of service now, there are still several in the park

 

May have been many of these once - This seems to be the only one left

Sometimes it is the animals that are the hidden treasures.

Mom and a little one

Ugly and Beautiful at the same time

 

Hey there little guy

Late fall and early winter are a great time to be in the park. Not many people, but wonderful for hiking and doing the old, “Just lookin’ around.”

 

There are many nice turkeys in the park

Speaking of turkeys - have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  

John C Fremont must have been standing here when he called this the most beautiful river canyon in America.
I took this photo as the sun was setting Saturday along Skyline Drive

Davis Bay Switchback Trail

Pretty as a picture waking trail

Great hike, in the park, this week.

Steps down  what appears to be a large rock shelf with the trail built through it

 The Davis Bay Switchback Trail. The trail we followed starts at Davis Bay and winds south to the Brimmer Point Road. We went backwards and started on the Brimmer Point Road, followed the trail north to Davis Bay then took the east trail back to the road across from the CCC bridge.

Fun to walk winding trail

After reaching this point, we hiked the half mile, on the road, back to our vehicle.

Always wildlife to watch - Looks like here she is watching us

The trail is nearly impossible to find from Brimmer Point Road until you have hiked it the other way (from Davis Bay) so I would recommend parking at Davis Bay and hiking the trail both ways, east and west before taking the loop starting on the road.

This switchback trail is truly remarkable, great views, some Civilian Conservation Corps steps and a terrific layout for hiking. 

A bit of snow didn;t slow us

Not sure how much longer this good weather will last but we are enjoying our time in the park.

Like most park trails - terrific views

It has always surprised me that the CCC built so many one way trails, I like this one because it can be looped much like the Red Cliff Trail on the east side. 

CCC Steps

Click here to see my book on the CCC and the building of Guernsey State ParkGreat Christmas gift for everyone who loves this specisl parkIt also makes a terrific coffee table or office waiting room book

A Walk On The Beach

At my age,  nothing beats a nice walk on a beautiful fall day. As you can see, not over crowded.

Saturday evening my wife and I walked a deserted Sandy Beach in the park. Wow, it was 71 degrees with a slight breeze, what a wonderful evening. We see so few people in the park this time of year, too bad, it is spectacular. Maybe it does not take much to impress me any longer but nothing beats a great walk in the park.

It is more than gratifying to see my book on the Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Guernsey State Park continue to sell.

I have had comments from people as far away as California on the book that can be ordered from any of my blog sites, purchased locally or from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and just about every online bookseller there is. It is gaining popularity in bookstores, tourist/gift businesses and museums in the state as well, now in ten or so.

I read this week that the average, traditionally published, nonfiction book sells less than 250 copies a year and only about 2,000-3,000 for the life of the book. Looks like this one is ahead of the norm and the best thing is more and more people are learning about the park and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

We had a terrific meal and a wonderful luncheon with the Goshen County Historical Society Saturday and a great time talking about the book.