Bridle Trail

Published August 20, 2017

AMAZING morning sunrise. Watched for half-hour before rustling up breakfast – eggs & chicken-apple sausage (sadly, warm runny eggs/pan-fried 20 minutes). Brushed teeth, shut up the tent, tethered Ro to my belt – HIKE day!

Mile/mile-half drive DOWN from my camp site. Secured parking near Rotary Park, short tenth-mile walk to Garden Creek Falls.

Previously trekked this trail, day-before the Casper Marathon 2015.

[June 2015] …hiked Casper Mountain. Not the Rockies experience of the Bighorns, but a good 5-mile day hike. Probably not the best prep, day before a marathon but…I’m a lover of mountains.

Bridle Trail: 5 mile loop up/over the Falls. June 2015 vs August 2017? Today, whole lotta hikers. Whole lotta COLORADO hikers. Appears much of the Front Range arrived in Wyoming overnight & were doing what Coloradans do – get OUTDOORS. Literally met only ONE Wyoming-based family on today’s trail. [Thanks to Ro – everyone stops & says hi. He’s a very pet-able Pup. 🙂 ]

Englemann spruce, Rocky Mountain juniper, Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Green Ash, Cottonwood, Chokeberry, Quaking Aspen. This trail’s a tree BONANZA, landscape more reminiscent of Boulder County than Central Wyoming.

Bridle hiked counter-clockwise, finishing over the Mountain’s rock-canyon outcropping. WIDE-OPEN Casper 2800 feet below, today’s WOW shot (‘though skyline bit hazy due to BC/Western Canada forest fires).

Picnic’d by the Falls, then drove into town before roads closed for tomorrow’s eclipse. YMCA-showered (FREE/very much appreciated!), check’d out the Cowboy Code of Ethics, shopped Wyoming’s (dog-friendly) Eclipse Festival.

7pm ‘til after next day’s TOTAL Eclipse (noon-ish) – Mountain gated off from Casper.

Dusk-walked Ro by our camp owner’s wild mustang rescue. BEAUTIFUL horse. Another pink, high mountain sunset. Dinner plans? Shrimp, mushrooms & olives in a wilted bed of spinach. Camping B-I-G on BIRTHDAY weekend ❤