4-wheeling in the Big Horn Mountains

One of my 4-wheeling friends, Julie, and I wanted to see what trails looked like in the Big Horn Mountains, which are in northeast WY.  Since I don't have reason to travel through that area of the state, it had been many, many years since I'd been to TenSleep and roads heading east into the Big Horns. 

We had a map of the trail we wanted to take, but absolutely no idea what we might experience in terms of trail conditions and scenery.  So, it felt very much like an adventure.  Neither one of us knew of anyone who had been on that trail, so getting info was not easy. 

I must say it's a beautiful drive on the highway.  The canyon, the ancient rock formations, the lush green forest (no beetle-killed trees) were all wonderful sights.  We turned off the road at what appeared to be close to a trailhead; however, we discovered we had gone about mile too far.  So, we back-tracked to Deer Haven Lodge, parked, and unloaded.  Talking to a guy in the lodge, we were directed how to get to the road/trail we were looking for, but this guy had no other knowledge to share with us, which was a disappointment.  But, oh well.  Carry on.  We would figure it out.

The trail started out as a two lane mountain dirt road, which is very easy/smooth riding.  Eventually, as we headed farther north, the trail narrowed and became more of a 4-wheeler trail with big rocks and ruts to negotiate, but nothing too bad. 

Our goal was to ride this big loop, which would take us to a lake near Battle Creek Campground to the north, and then back down to our starting point.  The whole ride would be close to 40 miles.

As we got close to the northern most part of the ride, we were riding close to a canyon, with big mountains on the other side.  And also from here we were high enough that we could see for many, many miles in every direction.  A grand view. 

Then we entered a portion of the road that allowed only 4-wheelers that were 50 inches wide or less.  So, no side-by-side ATV's that seat 2 or 4 passengers were allowed.  And, on the map, the trail was marked as more difficult.  But, it did not look too bad...  we continued on. We drove through some meadows with a lot of grazing cows; thankfully, they moved out of the way, off the trail, as we approached.  Then, we ran into a section of rough trail, very narrow and rocky, but if this was the worst, we'd be OK...

More later.