| Day
#8 - Wyoming |
Robert
Leverett |
| Sep
11, 2006 05:48 PDT |
ENTS,
==============================================
Day #8,
Waking up in the Wind River’s Sinks Canyon to the rushing
sounds of the
Po Po Agie River would have been an exciting and memorable
experience
for me, but the previous day’s heat exhaustion had taken its
toll. I was
feeling lousy and the air temperature was climbing rapidly. It
was going
to be a scorcher and the bottoms and sides of western canyons
can be
blisteringly hot places in the summer even at fairly high
altitudes. I
was moving slowly as we packed the car, but I did my best to
show
enthusiasm as we ate a simple breakfast of cereal. I even
entertained
the idea of a short hike on the trail network that begins at the
visitor’s center. It was worth a try.
We needed to drive a little to reach the beginning of the
trails, so we
rolled out of the campground and headed to the nature museum.
Stepping
out into the parking lot and feeling the heat, it took me only a
few
steps to realize that there was no way this old boy was going to
risk
frying his brain again. But it was just a few paces to the spot
where we
could watch the clear waters of the Po Po Agie rush into a large
cave
opening and disappear underground. So we walked to an overlook.
The
plunging water was a different kind of nature sight to say the
least. I
had never seen the equal of it. The leaping waters madly plunged
into a
huge hole in the earth and were gone. Where was all that water
going?
Was some giant prehistoric sponge soaking it up? Well, there is
no
underground sponge at Po Po Agie that anybody knows about, but a
lattice
of cracks and crevices in the limestone act like a sponge, as
the theory
goes. Well, we watched the water disappear. We could testify to
that,
but since the Po Po Agie River does not end at the sinkhole,
where does
the river reappear?
The water re-emerges roughly 1200 feet away by one account and
600 feet
by another. It was too far for me to walk in the heat, so, we
got into
the car and drove the short distance down the canyon road to a
parking
spot on the other side of the road to see the exit pool. The
river
passed underneath us. Who would have guessed? Monica wanted to
see the
re-emergence of the river at the placid pool. I would have liked
to, but
I thought the better of it, so I sat in the car with the
air-conditioning on sipping liquids. When Monica returned, she
told me
about the water oozing out of cracks in the rocks and about very
large
fish swimming around in the pool. She said they were huge, but
fishing
there is illegal, so I suppose that did nothing but grow. I
acknowledged
what she had told me and then we headed out, continuing in a
southwesterly direction toward historic South Pass on the old
Oregon
Trail.
South Pass is at the extreme southern end of the Wind Rivers and
marks
the route of easiest passage through the Rocky Mountain country
for the
pioneers. I think that South Pass was discovered by famous
mountain man
Jim Bridger. South Pass sits on the Continental Divide, but with
its
7,526- foot altitude, you’d hardly guess it. Then, southeast
of the
pass, the continental divide actually splits to form the Great
Divide
Basin. Rain that falls in the Basin stays there. There are no
outlets.
So far as I know, that is the only place that the Divide splits
and
encircles an area where rainwater is trapped.
We climbed up to a spot on Route 28 where we could look at a
famous
area called the Red Canyon . It is a gentle, sweeping panoramic
view of
the shallow, but highly scenic, canyon. It is a favorite of all
who
travel that road, and seeing it again, I was reminded of why I
like
Wyoming. I seem to go through the why I like Wyoming exercise at
least
once a year, but to me Wyoming is both a place and a state of
mind. I
readily acknowledge that Wyoming isn’t for everyone. In fact,
Wyoming is
not for most people. Like Lee’s Minnesota, Wyoming appeals
only to the
hardy. But there are many spot in the country that require
hardiness. So
what is the essence of Wyoming? What does one need or prefer to
want to
live in Wyoming? I’ve given the question renewed thought and
have
developed a shopping list of needs and preferences of
“Wyomingites” -
with my personal biases acknowledged. The Wyomingite that I
describe
below will fully match few residents, but I believe that it hits
the
mark on about half the points.
Wyoming is part of the big sky country. Montana uses the big sky
motto,
but it applies no less so to Wyoming. So, the first
characteristic of
Wyomingites is that they need plenty of sky. Sky is almost as
important
as the land. The Northeast, especially New England, is a little
too dark
and closed in for a true Wyomingite. The second characteristic
of
Wyomingites is that they need elbow room. They prefer country
that is
sparsely settled by people, although interaction with fellow
humans is
important and friendship bonds are as strong as any. The third
characteristic is pride in their harsh climate. Wyomingites are
fascinated by, if not proud of, the extremes of their weather.
Blizzards
figure in prominently. A Wyomingite will talk about weathering
out
storms at 40 below, whether or not he/she has ever experienced
an actual
40-below temperature. However, I don’t think Wyomingites are
quite as
weather conscious as Minnesotans, who are probably in a class by
themselves. The true Wyomingite interacts with wind and welcomes
it. The
wind is acknowledged as a constant companion, and what
Wyomingite
doesn’t enjoy the whistling sound of the wind in the ears and
the melody
of rustling cottonwood leaves. A rough and tough Wyomingite will
likely
attribute his/her association with the wind as practical. It
keeps pesky
insects off of one. A Wyomingite prefers a mix of wide-open
spaces and
snowcapped mountain ranges to a landscape dominated completely
by
mountains or by prairie.
Of course,
not all Wyomingite tastes are
identical. There are Wyomingites who are more sensitive to the
scenic
beauty of their state and they value colorful rock formations
and
sunsets more than the average, but take any Wyomingite away from
rocks
and rock formations and you’ve got a homesick person on your
hands. The
purest of the Wyomingites have an unquenchable thirst for
snowcapped
mountains. They may or may not spend a lot of time in the high
country,
but they are proud of their mountains. Wyomingites are attracted
to
odd-shaped rock formations and prefer names suggestive of their
shapes
or Indian names, and lastly, all, absolutely all, Wyomingites
value the
presence of antelope and mule deer on the landscape and want to
see the
return of the bison and elk. Those ranchers who do not value
bison and
elk are not of the Wyoming landscape regardless of where they
happen to
have been born. Those who oppose the bison are part of the
invading
white force that seeks to convert Wyoming into an unnatural, out
of
balance landscape. In Peter Miller’s fine book “People of
the Great
Plains, a Lakota buffalo rancher described the difference
between the
Indian and the white man’s way.
“White buffalo ranchers vaccinate their buffalo, pull their
teeth, cut
off their horns and fatten them in feedlot pens. It is a
domestication
process that takes away all the respect. A friend who was with
me at a
Denver stock show watched buffalo being led into the ring with
their
horns cut off and they huddled in a circle, scared with their
tales
down.
“‘It reminded me’, said Willie, my friend, when they sent
me to boarding
school and cut off my hair. I was ashamed to be an Indian. Look
at Those
buffalo. They are ashamed too.’
“Some white ranchers who have an unruly bull will get rid of
it for they
want a docile herd or a young herd. That unruly bull is a
survivor and
is vital for the development of the herd. You don’t kill him
or cut his
horns off. Wolves took the weak and sick bulls. Wolves were
replaced by
hunters who killed the strongest and biggest so what they shot
weakened
the herd. That is their policy – to replace wild animals with
domestic
animals.
“ Buffaloes are wild animals who are survivors. They do not
need
cultivated grains but can live on native grass, which, when it
dries,
retains its nutrition, which tame grass does not. In the winter,
a
buffalo will slide down a snow hill to brush the snow from the
grass and
then feed up the hill. When a blizzard comes up, cattle drift
with the
wind and pile up on a fence and may die. Buffalo face into the
wind and
weather the storm. Unlike cattle they can put off calving until
after a
storm.”
The Lakota rancher understands what it takes to preserve a great
species
like the American bison. He lives in South Dakota, but I would
count him
as a Wyomingite.
After leaving Red Canyon, Monica drove us onward aiming toward
the town
of Rock Springs. I sat quietly enduring the symptoms of heat
exhaustion.
My electrolytes were still way out of balance. Our plans had
been to
meet my daughter Celeste in the High Uintas Mountains, but that
wasn’t
going to work. We were going to camp out at Spirit Lake, 10,000
feet up
in the Uintas, but I needed to be at a lower altitude and in a
very
comfortable bed. So, we called my daughter in South Weber, UT,
changed
our plans, and went straight to Utah. Days #9, #10, and #11 were
spent
in Utah with me recovering.
================================================
The next installment will pick up with Day #12 and the beginning
of our
return trip. However, I need to take a little vacation period
before
resuming the installments. My plate is too full for comfort over
the
next few weeks. Gary Beluzo and I have to get cracking on the
conference-rendezvous in October, there is the next ENTS
Bulletin (I owe
Don an article), the next FMTSF report to DCR, and the Forest
Reserve
program, etc., etc., etc.
Bob
Robert T. Leverett
Cofounder, Eastern Native Tree Society
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