Falls Campground, Brooks lake Area, Wind River Range

We procrastinated too long and so we couldn't reserve a campground in Yellowstone. Still we wanted to take a few days and head into the mountains so Renita found a campground in the Wind Rivers called Falls campground. It wads a first come first serve campground but we decided to hope for a campsite and drove to Moran Junction before heading up and over Towgotee Pass.

Arriving at the campground we found plenty of empty spots and as the water had not been hauled, an electric site was only seven dollars and fifty cents a night! The campground has just been rebuilt and we got a great site!

The campground host came over and we talked about next years solar eclipse. He said that the hotels in Riverton were booked as were everything in Jackson, (we later talked to an official who told us that Jackson was expecting over one hundred thousand people for next August's total eclipse of the sun.

He also suggested we take the short hike to the falls and so we grabbed the cameras and a couple of waters and headed down stream on a well maintained path. Reaching the falls we were surprised at how large the falls was and at the depth of the canyon! This falls formed much like the Yellowstone Falls as the stream moved over a hard cap rock before quickly eroding the material underneath, probably ash from an eruption. It then receded back leaving a long and deep valley, much like the Niagara Falls Gorge.

Returning to camp we rested and decided to hike up the Brooks Lake Road. A storm moved in and so we postponed our hike till the next morning. We hoped to hike a couple of miles and as we started off we could really feel the eight thousand feet plus elevation.

Hoping to see a moose we only found tracks, but we did find some bear scat and a really large wolf or coyote scat, note the hair in the scat.

While we didn't see any animals we did have a great view of the Brooks Mountains, a part of the Wind Rivers. We also had a superb view of Lava Mountain and if you look closely you can see layers which represent a separate lava flow.

Returning to our campsite we found a fresh trail of moose scat right next to our spot. A moose had walked along the campground road while we had been hiking to spot a moose, go figure. That seems to be the way it often happens.

In the afternoon we returned to the Falls Trail and Renita spotted movement up high! Sure enough three bighorn sheep were posing atop the mountain.

It was a long way so the images that we have are really small. Still it has been a long time since we have seen any bighorns in Wyoming, so it made our day. Latter we glassed another peak and spotted two more Bighorns.

So the trip was a success. Anytime we spot wildlife, and of course mule deer in the campground count, a trip is a success. We originally had hoped to do some fly fishing but the streams were two high to fish the way we like. Still we found a new place to camp and we hope to return here later in the summer. Clear skies