Starting the New Year Off Right

What a great way to start the year, a hike in the park. We had a terrific time, all 58 of us, on our First Day Hike in the park.

Grandkids Were A Bit, Okay, A Long Way, Ahead of Us

I hope this will spur on others to take advantage of the great walking/hiking trails in the park.

We walk in the park as much as possible, and when conditions don’t allow us to be outside, we stay in the pickup and drive through our favorite areas of Guernsey State Park.

Solar Eclipse - Looks like Guernsey along with four other parks are gearing up for the big solar eclipse in August. So far I am undecided as to whether I want to be part of it in the park or simply go on vacation that week and come home when it's all over. Such is the life of a senior citizen.  

New Sign at Park Entrance

New Year’s Resolutions - It’s 2017 day number 2, how are those New Year’s Resolutions going? Still time to write down one more – spent more time in the park.

Happy New Year 2017

Mule Deer at Sunset

The Civilian Conservation Corps at Guernsey State Park

CCC Worker Statue Number 53 of 65 in America

As I look at society and the world of work in our country now, I am amazed at what was accomplished by the CCC in the 1930s. Two camps worked nearly four years in putting together, what today is, Guernsey State Park. Camp Nine was located between the Museum and the Spillway on the east side. Camp Ten, the west side camp, was situated on the south side of Skyline Drive at the foot of Mae West Hill.

Plaque on the Statue Base

The following three paragraphs are from my book – The Civilian Conservation & the Building of Guernsey State Park – With Folktales and Stories of the Park. Take a look at a free sample here.

  By 1935 there were 2,650 CCC camps in the United States with camps located in all of the forty-eight states. Young men, most with their first real job earned thirty dollars a month. Although a good number of people called this salary a dollar a day, it is not strictly accurate as weekends were off for the CCC men.  This would mean most worked twenty to twenty-five days per month, making their pay slightly more than a dollar a day. On a national level, there were some protests, thinking this salary too low, even for what many believed was a government handout. For the most part, the men were happy to have work and no records, which I have run across, report organized protests from workers in any of the Civilian Conservation Corps camps.

The Magnificent CCC Museum Built by Camp Nine

Of the $30.00 the men were paid, each month, they were allowed to keep $5.00, the rest was sent home as relief for CCC member families. The $25.00 each worker's family received every month was one of the first real attempts in America to jump start the economy during the hard times of the Great Depression.

America's Most Elaborate Picnic Shelter - The Castle - on the Parks North Bluff

 The five dollars the workers kept each month might not sound like much in present day, but in the 1930s the men were able to buy camp, vouchers used to purchase articles at the camp store.  Any money left was used during weekend trips to town.

Here I Am Talking About My Book and Guernsey State Park

Want to see more? Take a look at a free sample here. 

The View From Mae West Hill on Skyline Drive

The Castle - Guernsey State Park

The Incredible North Bluff Castle

Last evening I took a drive up to the Castle on the North Bluff. I had high hopes of getting a few terrific sunset photos. The smoke in the air, glad it is not from around here, really adds to the vibrancy of colors with the setting sun.

 It looked like rain, and the cloud cover took away what chances I had for a great sunset photo. Best thing, it was still a nice way to spend an hour.

Not bad, Considering the Heavy Cloud Cover

Each Time I am at the Castle I Take This Same Shot

Everyone should spend some time at the Castle, it’s a geat place to relax, contemplate life, or just enjoy the views. 

A Close-up From the Castle

A Telephoto View From the Castle

A Hike In the Park

The Magical Keyhole Loop on the Echo Cave Trail

One of the great joys of hiking in Guernsey State Park is finding old, but little-used trails built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. If the day is right, it is almost like walking with those long forgotten men of the CCC. Places like this give the careful hiker and unlimited time to dream of things past, and all things future, much like the CCC workers must have as they built the park in the 1930s.

The Trail

 I have looked at this one for many years and my wife, and I decided yesterday, (Sunday), to get some photos. We invited along a few family members and off we went. Actually, I believe they asked us, but the story flows better the other way. It was a bad idea as the temperatures were in the upper 90s when we started and triple digits when we finished. A particularly poor choice of exercise days for seniors like us. The main trail leading to the long lost one we were after, is the spectacular Echo Cave Trial. This is a hike everyone, or most everyone should try. I should temper that statement by saying it is one of the most challenging hikes in the park because of changes in elevation, although not long, only about a mile and a half.  

No One Built Steps Better Than the CCC

How to Find the Trail

From the castle, we followed the very nice North Bluff Trail until it meets up with the steps that switch back and go down to the Echo Cave Trail. Follow the trail and enjoy the view as you walk. Once reaching Echo Cave make sure and try out the famous echo, we did, fun and one of the best comebackers ever. The no longer much used, if used at all, CCC trail loop starts once we reached Echo Cave. After exercising our echo abilities, we followed a trail that continues south from the cave. This portion of the trail starts up a very nice set of rock steps. After only fifty yards the trail appears to end. But with my 68-year-old eagle eyes, I was able to find the loop, and it is terrific. I call this one the, Keyhole Loop, and am sure the keyhole is the reason the original trial went from upper trail to the lower trail, the one we walked in on, at this point. One question? Why when trying out the echo does almost everyone holler, ECHO? Next is often, HELLO.

The Keyhole

Only an arm’s reach from the trail is one of the two great rock keyholes in the park. Unfortunately getting from the upper trail to the lower there are no steps. Instead, a slide of crumbling rock greeted us. The original must have had steps cut into the sandstone and dirt that covers the hillside, but time must have run out on the Corps workers before the loop could be finished with the great stone steps found on trails throughout the park. Time and weather have taken whatever the CCC men built on this part of the trail, but it is only about 10 yards long.

The younger members of our group were able to pick their way down, I used what they coined the Grandpa Slide method. I sat down and slid down, slowly. It is actually quite easy with no danger of falling, that I like. Oh, and there was no cactus or yucca so no posterior injuries.

Other than the heat it was an enjoyable hike. There is much more that I could say at this point about heat, hydration and senior citizens trying to do things they should not, but I will leave that for my Google + Fitness and Exercise For Seniors, blog.

Knight Mountain

The Photo at the top of this site is the park’s other, and more famous keyhole, Knight Mountain Keyhole. Thanks to friends Billy and Brandi, we were up there to take this photo on top of Knight Mountain one year ago today – July 11, 2015. 

Our Leader and Impossible to Keep Up With

Guernsey State Park - Picnic

The weatherman says, “hot,” this weekend. Might be a good time to stay in with the AC. This evening we will take a trip to a few of our favorite, cool spots, in the park. We are hoping to find one of our favorite areas, unoccupied, and if we do picnic time.

Black Canyon Cove - Great Place, but Normally Occupied on Weekends

The North "Stoney Gate," on the Dam

The annual silt run from the lake has been set back to late July and the first two weeks of August this year. I am still not sure how they will pull this off as the river through Guernsey and downstream is bank full. I have not driven past Glendo in the past few days, but it appeared a couple of weeks ago like they were full or overfull also. The good news is the silt run will be a bit shorter, three weeks this time.

Water Pouring Down Spillway When the Huge Stony Gate is Open

View From the CCC Museum

Visit the Museum on a Hot Summer Day

When the lake goes down with the silt run is the perfect time to enjoy trails, picnic shelters, and the Museum. The lake may be down, but the park is still great.

The Keyhole - High Atop Knight Mountain on the Knight Mountain Trail

Park Visitors

Wow - What A Great Day In The Park  -  Here I Am Working

It is always enjoyable to take visitors out to the park.  The most difficult decision is often what to see, and more often than not it depends on how much time we have. There are so many places worth seeing, it can make for some tough choices.  This time, the visitors were young and settled for a Red Cliff Trail hike Thursday evening and Brimmer Point and a visit to the Castle Friday.

Our View This Evening From Brimmer Point Looking West 

  We wanted to visit the Museum also but with so much going on with family did not make it – too bad, I love that place.

This evening with a storm coming in the park was cool and breezy, the clouds magnificent. 

This Photo Opp Was Set Up By The CCC 80 Years ago
We Instruct Everyone To Shoot One Of These

Mountain Mahogany in the Park

Along with writing and photography, I am proud to be a Certified Wyoming Master Gardner. I take many photos of wildflowers in the park and most of them I have to look up to see what they are. Even if an identification of species is not my strength, I do enjoy trying to figure out which plant is which.

One that is a favorite of mine in the park, especially now, when it is flowering is Cercocarpus, better known in the west as Mountain Mahogany. It is stunning when in flower, and is a member of the rose family. They are a true western plant growing up and down the Rocky Mountain area in semi-arid habitats and usually at altitudes above 4,000 feet. 

A Most Interesting Bloom

In the park, the plant is most easily found below the dam near the powerplant spillway and near the Museum on Evergreen Glade Trail. 

Cercocarpus - Mountain Mahogany

Lakeshore Drive on a Snowy Day

Mule Deer in Today's Snow

What a day in the park. I was disappointed that my talk and walk in the park, for the local community education, was canceled, but with the inclement weather it was a very good decision.

Osprey Looking for Dinner in the Lake

Rain & Snow

We had snow much of the morning and early afternoon and a misty rain when the snow let up. In the past ten days, we have had 3.6 inches of moisture. Terrific for everything, hope it keeps on coming. Just so it lets up in a couple of weeks so I can start my garden, then starts again.

The North Spillway is Open and the Water is Running

The big question is? What to do on a snowy and wet spring day. How about a trip to Guernsey State Park? We didn’t spend much time outside my pickup but did enjoy a ride along Lakeshore Drive and back into Long Canyon.

The Obscured Mountain in the Background is Powell Mountain

Wildlife in the Park

At times, bad weather brings out the wildlife, and today was one of those days. We saw a large variety of birds, a few deer and lots of snow. All and all it was a very pleasant couple of hours in the park.

The Bluebirds Look Great Even in the Snow

If you have not been to the lake yet this spring, the water level is up, way up. Reminds me of the lake after the work on the dam in 2012-13. Overfull but looks great.

The Boat Ramp at Long Canyon is Under Water - Still Usable Though

No better way to relieve stress or in our case, home-boundness, (I may have made up that word, but I like it) self-imposed today.

Geese in Heavy Snow - but it Didn't Last Long

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.