Oh Wyoming!

We've got to agree with our friend Jim, Texas does not hold the patent on true cowboys and hearty souls, Wyoming is the real west.
We arrived in Newcastle, Wyoming on June 24th after a hot and grueling 430 mile ride from Great Falls, SD.  Climbing the hills near Mount Rushmore we saw the thermometer hit 97 degrees, so we were happy to find a parking place where we could finally plug in and crank up the A/C. As we setup camp and got our bearings we checked out what there was to do in this town with a population of 1003.
We got lucky and stumbled on a 50th anniversary celebration going on at the Anna Miller museum in town. Anna Miller was famous for being the first librarian, pioneer schoolteacher, and school superintendent in Newcastle. Her husband, sheriff Billy Miller, lost his life in the last recorded indian conflict in 1903. Anna lived another 50 years, dedicating her life to education.
The museum is in the old calvary horse stable, a well preserved building that shows off the clever construction techniques of the time. Full of items from the county's wild past, it is worth a visit. Outside the museum we got to talk to town residents, some with a long family history in Newcastle. We enjoyed hotdogs and homemade ice cream with rhubarb topping as we watched kids play on the lawn.

We had one full day to explore the area before heading further west and decided to follow a loop trail outlined in a book provided by the local Chamber of Commerce. Called the Beaver Creek Loop Trail, it covers about 50 miles along paved and gravel roads and has 25 stops highlighting stories of Wyoming's rich history.

Along the drive we saw amazing views of the badlands, hogback ridge, the black hills, and the great plains. With the helpful signs and the well written guide book we learned about how Newcastle started (if you guessed gold, you'd be right). Stories of stagecoach robberies, salt mines, sawmills, a ghost mining town, cowboys, indians, and grizzly bears. A rich and colorful history of the pioneers who called this area home over a hundred years ago.
For more information, visit this link: History of Weston County, WY

Halfway through the loop tour we headed north to visit Sundance, WY, birthplace of the Sundance Kid. We then headed to Spearfish to pick up the scenic drive south through Spearfish Canyon. Along the way we stopped to hike the Devil's Bathtub trail (the only devilish thing about it was the number of time we had to cross the stream before we finally got to the waterfall). Our last stop in Spearfish Canyon was Roughlock Falls.

After the Falls we finished the loop drive and returned to our coach, ready for a new adventure the next day.

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