August 10, 2023 - Thermopolis, WY

We woke Thursday morning to another beautiful sunny day.  We packed a lunch and drove to the ghost town of Kirwin.  In Meeteetse, which is 52 miles north of Thermopolis, we stopped at the visitors center to get better directions to Kirwin.  Across the street was Meeteetse Chocolatier where we bought some delicious freshly made chocolate to sustain us on the trip. 

Kirwin is about 38 miles southwest of Meeteetse up the Wood River Valley.  The last 19 miles is a 4-wheel drive road.  We crossed the Wood River 4 times – this crossing was a little deep! The scenery kept getting more beautiful the higher up we went.

Kirwin is a ghost town located at the head of the Wood River canyon on the east slope of Mount Sniffel.  Gold and silver were discovered in 1885.

This is the company’s main office building.

Kirwin once had over 200 people and 38 buildings, including boarding houses, a hotel, a sawmill, a post office, stores, and houses.

This is the company manager’s cabin.

    A stagecoach traveled daily between Kirwin and Meeteetse.  

                                                                    The Wolf Mine.

The 4-wheel road ended at Kirwin, so after lunch and some wonderful chocolate, we hiked a mile farther up the canyon to the remains of Amelia Earhart’s cabin.  Amelia Earhart fell in the love with this area while staying at the Double Dee Guest Ranch located down the Wood River Valley between Kirwin and Meeteetse.  She filed a 10-acre mining claim one mile above Kirwin and asked Mr. Dunrud, the owner of the Double Dee to build her a cabin.  He began working on her retreat in 1936 as she prepared for her flight around the world.  When her plane disappeared in 1937, the cabin was only 4 logs high and the door frames in place.  When he heard of her disappearance Mr. Dunrud stopped work on the cabin and it was never finished. 

We can understand her love of this place as this is the view from what would have been her front door.

And the view up the canyon from in front of the cabin.

The wildflowers were beautiful – this Sago Lilly has a butterfly inside it.

Tacky cooling his feet in a small creek that flowed across the trail.  This was a beautiful short hike, unfortunately Nancy tripped over a rock (how does it go - the rock jumped up and tripped me).  She now has a very bruised knee and a bruised ego!

On the way back down the canyon we stopped at the remains of the Double Dee Guest Ranch where Amelia Earhart was one of the first guests.  The Double Dee was established in 1931 by Carl Dunrud and operated until 1945.  The lodge was the largest structure at the ranch.

The view back up the valley from the Double Dee Guest Ranch.

 

This was a beautiful and very enjoyable trip, except for Nancy’s bruised knee.