A Man, His Dog and The Crazy Woman

It’s been getting hot in the prairies of northeastern Wyoming, so I decided to head for the Bighorn Mountains west of Buffalo. This time of year the established campgrounds are pretty full, so I took off on the side roads in search of a good place to spend the night. Towards the end of Sourdough Creek Road I found a spot with a flat spot, a fire ring, plenty of firewood and an ample number of squirrels. What more could a guy and his dog want. After setting up camp, we took a hike down an abandoned road where we found the swampy willow-lined headwaters of Sourdough Creek. I could not help but tell my dog that it looked like serious moose country. And it was not long before we came across a couple of cow moose. To avoid a confrontation, we headed back, in my many years of hiking the backcountry I have seem lots of wildlife and lots of wildlife has seen me, but only once have I been charged, and that was by a moose, but that is another story.
Sunday morning I got up early and fished the beaver ponds downstream and after catching only 8” brook trout, I headed over to the next drainage, Crazy Woman Creek.
There is a campground on Crazy Woman Creek (I’m sure there is a story behind that name), where it meanders through some fields and is spotted with beaver ponds. After an hour of fishing and catching small trout, we headed downstream. Downstream is really down a very steep rocky canyon. The forest service road follows it all the way into the prairies. I fished for a few hours in various pools and once again caught only small bookies. It is a fine drive, but the road being narrow and steep and not wishing to venture the steep uphill in a two-wheel drive Passat. I followed the road out of the mountains to the highway and thus completed a circle back to Buffalo.