#7 of 9. June/July 2022 ~ The Continental Divide – Wyoming

Day 16 and 17, and 18 and 19

June 30 – July 3

Much of the trails that we saw on Day sixteen were familiar to us as we covered a lot of this ground On the Heart of the West trip with our Jeep club.

We’ve been waiting for this…… there she goes……

You take a step back in time when you enter the small community called Atlantic City, neighbor to two other old gold mining towns, South Pass City and Miner’s Delight or Hamilton City. This authentic, historic town remains true to its origins when it was a gold mining camp during the turn of the century. You can visit some of the original buildings and enjoy lunch or dinner where gold miners may have dined many years ago.

South Pass City, now a State Historic Site, was home to the same gold rush that gave life to Atlantic City. This city has fewer year-round residents but boasts 40 preserved original structures.

The old gold mining buildings are well preserved and maintained.

Night #16

Good to know there is a simple little RV park right on Atlantic City. It’s small, maybe 6 or 8 full hookup sites and a couple of cabins. But it’s new, and has nice showers and laundry.

There are camp grounds fairly near, but we appreciated the amenities. We didn’t see any gas available though.

The little town of South Pass offers a tour through the little Main Street and museum that is being lovingly restored. Stop in the gift shop!

This “One Penney More” tax has really been put to good use on this section of the trail. The road we’re in great shape and freshly graded. We’re getting spoiled!

We were making really good time. And then we joined a cattle drive.

This was a great little sideshow. The whole family were helping, including some real cowdogs! (Sorry Libby and Lotti, you can’t help)

This little boy couldn’t have been more than six or seven. He handled it like a pro!

Air up, I said, there’s miles of pavement ahead, I said………

I misjudged the maps. We still had hours of rough road ahead traversing Union Pass. This was a beautiful drive but probably the toughest stretch this entire trip.

Night #17

We quickly found a vacancy at the Falls Campground. There are may campgrounds and cabins or lodges as you get closer to the National Parks. We were lucky, usually this time of year all campgrounds are booked. Due to the closed roads and washouts in Yellowstone the traffic seemed lighter.

And there are The Grand Tetons!

It’s about here that the decision needed to be made whether to stay on the CDT tracks west or take the alternate route to see Yellowstone. We haven’t been sure for weeks if we would be able to enter the park or if we could with restrictions.

We found out just in time on July 2nd that ALL ROADS ARE OPEN!

Yellowstone!

We’re just happy to be in the park. No reservations, no plan…..

We started seeing wildlife immediately which is the best part of Yellowstone.

Night 18

Our first day in the park was eerily empty. We happened to be in the right place when they lifted all restrictions. It took “the mob” a couple of days to ramp up as the word got out. So we got a camp site for two nights as a walk up. No need for reservations.gov. That’s a first!

We also had two days of light traffic and short lines and were able to make the big loop at a leisurely pace. By the 4th of July when we were leaving, things were back to normal.

Back at camp…… Night #19

A tour of our home

On our way out the next morning, we stopped at the lodge and paid our respects to Old Faithful.

I have a video of the actual eruption but it won’t load…… sketchy Internet strength on the road…. darn

It’s the 4th of July!