August 17, 2023 – Greybull, WY


Thursday, we drove into the Bighorn Mountains on the Bighorn Scenic Byway.  We went through Shell Canyon again and stopped above Shell Falls.  The view was beautiful, but we are still seeing smoke from the fires in Canada.

We continued over Granite Pass to Burgess Junction where we turned onto the Medicine Wheel Scenic Byway.



We stopped at the Medicine Wheel which lies atop Medicine Mountain at an elevation of almost 10,000 ft.  We had to hike about 1½ miles up to the site.  Tacky looking at the trail thinking “no way”, but we all made it just fine.




The Medicine Wheel is one of North America’s most important and well-preserved Native American sacred sites.  The White man called it Medicine Wheel but to many Native American Indians it is “The Place Where the Eagle Soars”.  The Wheel is 8 feet in diameter with 28 lines or spokes radiating from the center to the outer rim.  It is at least 250 years old.  Native American Indians, representing 81 different tribes, still utilize Medicine Wheel to practice their traditional ceremonies.  There were many offerings tied to the rope fence surrounding the wheel.



On our way back down this cute little Marmot was chattering at us.





There were a lot of beautiful Lupines around the parking lot.

This was a beautiful site, and we are really glad we hiked the 3-mile round trip to see it.



We drove down the mountain to Lovell and after eating a late lunch, we drove to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and Bighorn Lake.



Bighorn Lake was created when the Yellowtail Dam was built in 1968 near Fort Smith, MT.  The lake stretches for 71 miles south into Wyoming.  



The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was established in 1968 to provide a sanctuary for wild horses.  The herd size of about 120-140 is managed by the BLM.  We were able to see a couple of horses in the distance.





Devil Canyon Overlook is beautiful and reminds us a little of Horseshoe Bend Overlook on the Colorado River in northern Arizona.




It was really hot here and was getting late, so we didn’t stay long.  We looked for more wild horses on the way out but didn’t see any.


This was a very long day as we did not get back to Greybull until 7 pm but we had another great day.




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