THE SNOWY RANGE/ASPEN ALLEY TOUR DAY 2
Day Two: Wednesday, September 18, 2019
On the second day, knowing it would be a long one, I was up and moving early. From Rawlins I proceeded west on I-80 for approximately thirty miles and then took WY 789 south to Baggs; a journey of a little over fifty miles. In Laurence Parent’s Scenic Driving Wyoming, Scenic drive #14 Battle Pass: Baggs to Encampment starts at this small town near the Colorado border. The 57-mile drive over Wyoming State Highway 70 is a nice leisurely ride of one to one-and-a-half hours length. Of course, that depends upon how often you stop along the way.
This excursion takes you over the crest of the Sierra Madre mountains of the Medicine Bow National Forest. These are not the same mountains, of northern Mexico, made famous by Humphrey Bogart’s movie Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This range of mountains, though small, can still reach elevations of more than 11,000 feet.
From Baggs, which some would say was a favored haunt of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch as more than once his Hole-in-the-Wall Gang would return there to spend their ill-gotten gains, the trail leads east on WY 70 following the Little Snake River for fifteen miles or so.
Beyond Savory, a wide spot in the road as we used to say down in Tennessee, the highway narrows, as does the river valley, and the terrain becomes more mountainous. This route actually crosses into Colorado for about a mile before re-entering Wyoming, and as you get higher; aspens start to appear. As those trees, often referred to in North America as Quaking Aspens, thicken you enter Medicine Bow National Forest. These tall, slender deciduous trees go on for miles, a tremendous sight during the fall color season. There is a scenic overlook, on the right, about six miles after entering the national forest which offers great views of the mountains and woodlands.
Forest Service Road 801, otherwise known as Deep Creek Road is a short gravel artery that turns to the left a couple of miles past the overlook. A short detour down this secondary road leads to Aspen Alley. In fact, the cover photo of Scenic Driving Wyoming is of this scenic icon. In his book, Laurence Parent describes it as “a narrow section of road that cuts straight through a thick aspen grove. The tall aspens hug the roadside, creating a spectacular cathedral effect, especially in fall.” This was the one part of the Battle Pass Scenic Drive that I truly wanted to see. And, unfortunately, I came away disappointed. I don’t know if I was too early or too late. Or perhaps, their time has come and gone. Scenic Driving Wyoming was published in 1997, and that was the year my brother visited this area. What was left, did not impress me. First, and foremost, this section of road was probably not as long as two football fields, 200 yards. There were not a lot of leaves, and yet I did not see much fall foliage in other parts of this area indicating they were past their season. In truth, their heyday may have come and gone. I just don’t know. Perhaps, I may try again sometime, later in the year, if we can get the country open by then. But that too, can be problematic. Once the winter snows come, the road is closed until the following spring thaws.
Aspen Alley for the first time,
The aspens soon give way to lodgepole pine and you see Lost Creek Campground on the left. After passing Battle Lake, on the right, you soon reach the 9,916-foot Battle Pass, the highest point of this road. Looming down, from the north is Bridger Peak, at 11,004 feet, the tallest mountain of the Sierra Madre range in Wyoming. From the pass, the road descends steadily toward Encampment. The drive ends in Encampment and its sister town, Riverside.
After a quick lunch at the Divide Restaurant I headed north on WY-230. From Riverside, it was just ten miles until I reached the junction of WY 230 and WY 130. The Snowy Range Scenic Byway, which was the nation’s second scenic byway, is a splendid jaunt over some beautiful terrain. As a matter of fact, Laurence Parent describes it as “one of the most spectacular routes in Wyoming, and in the entire nation.” This excursion is a 41-mile journey from Centennial, over the most rugged parts of the Snowy Range, to the North Platte River Valley.
Most of the Snowy Range Scenic Byway resides within the boundaries of the Medicine Bow National Forest. I actually traveled backwards in regard to Laurence Parent’s Scenic Driving Wyoming: Scenic Drive #16 Snowy Range Scenic Byway: Centennial to WY 230. According to Parent, the drive should start at Centennial. Nevertheless, I wanted to start this journey from the west, at the junction of WY 230/WY 130, and travel eastward to Centennial.
The Snowy Range Scenic Byway is a very nice ride, and there are many beautiful vistas to view along the way. Just not in the first quarter of the drive, the area before you reach the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, and in fact, there is nothing really spectacular in the first half of the route.
The best part, of this course, is the roadway from the junction of WY 130 & US Forest Service Road 200 to 657 WY-130, Centennial, WY 82055 (a point of reference from Google Maps). It is just a little over eleven miles. This is where you really start gaining altitude. It is not until you get to Silver Lake, however, that the countryside starts to peak. This lake, which is to the right, or south, of the road is where the terrain really starts to bloom. It should take a little over half an hour to drive the thirty miles to the Silver Lake Campground. That is, if you don’t stop along the way.
As you travel eastward there are many lakes on the north side of the highway starting with perhaps the best one, Lake Marie, which is only a few miles past Silver Lake. There is a nice picnic area at Mirror Lake, just half a mile further. But the most grandiose views, come from one of the two parking areas for Lake Marie. Standing tall and majestic Medicine Bow Peak, rises to a height of 12,013 feet and looks down upon these lakes. Snowy Range Pass, at 10,847 feet is the highest point on the scenic route.
As you would expect, the views are good from Medicine Bow Peak Observation Point and at a scant three-tenths of a mile further, the Libby Flats Observation Point. There is a circular, rock-built platform at this spot which offers some truly impressive views of forests to the south and high peaks to the north. At an altitude of well over 10,000 feet, it is the highest place on the drive. Sugarloaf Mountain, at 11,300 feet is impressive as is the aforementioned Medicine Bow Peak. The most riveting scenery is in this, the higher stretch of the Snowy Range Scenic Byway.
Wyoming Forest Road 346 leads north, from the scenic byway, to the Sugarloaf Campground. This is an excellent basecamp for hiking, fishing, boating or just looking at the beautiful mountains such as the previously mentioned Medicine Bow Peak and Sugarloaf Mountain, both of which top out at over 11,000 feet, with Medicine Bow reaching 12,000 feet. Libby and Lewis Lakes are just two of the larger bodies of water, amongst the 80 plus lakes in the area.
When you reach Wyoming Forest Road 317, otherwise known as Brooklyn Lake Road, which is about six miles from Libby Flats, you’ve reached the end of the line, as far as the best scenic views. At this point, you start coming down from the high country. It’s about eight miles to the town of Centennial, the end of the Snowy Range Scenic Byway.
From Centennial, continuing eastward on WY 130 for about 30 miles brings you to the edge of Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming Cowboys. This college town, with a population of 32,000 plus is the third largest city in the state. It was about 5 PM when I stopped at a Subway for my supper and then was quickly back on the road. I knew it was going to be a long journey and a late night.
From Laramie, I took U.S. 30/287 to Medicine Bow, a journey of about an hour. As I mentioned earlier, how many of you remember, Steve and Trampas, Judge Garth and his niece Betsy, but most of all, the Virginian, played by actor James Drury. If you do, then remember Shiloh Ranch the setting for the 90-minute series, was near Medicine Bow, Wyoming.
Wyoming 487 took me to the junction with Wyoming 220 about twenty miles southwest of Casper. I finished the ninety-mile journey, from Medicine Bow to Casper, where I returned to interstate driving, first on I-25 and then I-90 which took me home to Billings. From Casper, I still had approximately 277 miles before reaching the friendly confines of my apartment, and with darkness setting in, I knew a lot of coffee would be in my future; that and a lot of rest stops. But I made it home, without incident, at about 2 AM on Thursday morning, September 19, 2019.
It was a great start to my fall travels. More would be coming shortly, starting with a jaunt to the Rocky Mountain Front on Sunday, the 22nd of September 2019.
In terms of size, Aspen Alley is not particularly impressive. However, when it is at peak color, which it was when I visited it in ’07, it very much takes on a cathedral-like aura. To an extent, the boughs of those aspen closest to the road interlock and form a canopy. Furthermore, as you have seen from old photographs, trees that immediately border the road appear like the Almighty used a ruler to plant them in perfect linear order.
In terms of their shabby appearance, there has been speculation that most aspen currently alive are, indeed, nearing the end of their natural lifespan, which I believe is somewhere around 130 years. Aspen thrive best in relative clearings and typically repopulate areas that have been burned by forest fires. For the better part of a century, fire suppression has precluded the ability of new aspen to repopulate burned areas.