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| Castle Gardens |
I loved Wyoming! I only wished I had had more time to
explore further. I dropped down from the white blanketed Rocky Mountains to the
painted canyons of pure rust-red, or striped rust-red and beige—postcard
perfect scenes near Dubois. The Wind River winds through the canyons and
hillsides, which are covered in huge boulders. My first destination would be Castle Gardens State Park.
Castle Gardens
As soon as I got off the main highway, I found that many
side roads are unpaved. I discovered this the day I drove to Castle Gardens
located on the Wind River Reservation. This isn't a garden surrounding a
castle—it's a small canyon of pure white and red sandstone rock formations. I
wanted to visit the petroglyphs that were chipped into the rock, so long ago.
To get there it meant I had to travel twenty-nine miles on a
dirt road with gravel and dust flying from the tires. The best speed I found to
travel on this road was between 20 to 25 miles per hour. You can't speed over
40 miles an hour on any of it. On the more rustic parts, you seem to be
travelling over tractor tire ridges that set your teeth chattering and the
whole car vibrating. I felt like I was at a Motel 6 back in the day when you
could put a quarter into a slot next to the bed and the whole bed would
vibrate. That was supposed to simulate getting a back massage. When the
vibration stops, your body wants to know, "What the hell was that?"
As I travelled down the road receiving my faux massage, it seemed like it took
forever to get there. However, the trip proved to be worth the time.
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| Pronghorn Antelope Encounter |
Along the way, I watched pairs of antelope running, or more
like bounding away as quickly as possible. Accept for one loner, who appeared not
to care that I was on the road close to him. I slowed down and then stopped. Fortunately,
I had my camera in the front seat. What luck, to encounter such a beautiful
animal! She nibbled brush on one side of the road, and then crossed over to the
other side while I happily clicked the shutter hundreds of times. She then
wandered back into the middle of the road and walked away from me. I slowly drove
my car behind, being careful not to spook her.
She stopped and looked back at me
and I stopped and continued to photograph her! Eventually, she wandered off. I
had enough photos in my camera to remember her by, so I too wandered on to my
destination.
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| Big Sky |
Living in the land of tree-plenty, I’m not used to barren
landscapes, so it struck me how much bigger the sky appeared. The flatness of
the landscape except for outcroppings of rock magnified it even more. In spite
of the barren land, I found a lot of beauty there.
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| Backside of the canyon doesn't give away its secrets. |
You can't see the canyon from the road. For miles I looked
for signs of it and finally spotted it shortly before turning the corner and dropping down into it. I drove down
into a canyon surrounded by pristine, pure white sandstone rocks that stood as
tall sentinels capped in rust. I stepped out of the car and into a magical
land. The stillness made me a little nervous as Kono and I seemed to be the
only living beings here.
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| Sky Signals Above Castle Gardens |
I strapped Kono's backpack on him and loaded it with a
couple of water bottles for us to drink. After strapping my gear on my back, we
set out following the shrubs and small rocks marked with plastic ribbon showing
the way through the steep walls, rocks and washes, eventually finding the
ancient petroglyphs that the first people of this region left, eons ago.
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| Kono with his backpack. |
Crossing the washes made me a little nervous. It’s
definitely a place you don't want to be in when a flash flood occurs. A wall of
water roaring down upon you without any warning could ruin your day quick!
We crossed them in a hurry.
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| One of the washes that crisscrosses through Castle Gardens. |
There were chain link fences placed around the petroglyphs
to protect them. It's hard to believe that there are people out there that
deface these historical and sacred treasures. It was difficult to photograph
through the chain link wire with openings smaller than the width of my lenses. I
spotted some areas cut out in the fence I could photograph through without wire
interfering. That is, if I stood six feet tall! Whoever cut the holes in the
wire grew a lot taller than I did. I didn't bring a step stool to help me reach
the high places, and I left my bolt cutters at home. I would have to crop out
the wire shadows on the edges, so I adjusted my compositions to accommodate
what I couldn't change.
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| Chain link fence protects petroglyphs from being vandalized. |
I soon forgot my nervousness of being by myself with Kono
miles from anywhere. The birds sometimes sang, and the wind would occasionally
whistle through the canyon. Surrounded by such serenity I didn't want to leave.
I wondered what the ancient ones thought when they came to this place. Did they
spend many nights camped out in the shadow of the canyon rocks? Did they come
here alone, like me on a warm spring day? Did they hear only the sound of the
birds, or the wind whistling through the canyon?
I let my imagination move with them. They walked the same
pathways, sat next to these rocks, and chipped out expressions of their lives
and visions.
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| It is my hope that the state of Wyoming will one day replace this sign that says "made by indians" with something more respectful such as the tribe's name (if known) or at the very least use Native Americans. |
