G.A.S.P.

On July 15, I rode north again, along the west side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. After only three miles, I entered Wyoming for the third time on this journey. I stopped a few miles later at the top of a butte just to look around. There were buttes to the west, semi-arid high plains to the north, the Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the east and Utah’s Uinta Mountains to the south. Wow! The Uintas are the only major mountain range in North America that runs east-west, and they greatly affect the climate of the area to their immediate east. Storms generally are diverted either south or north, so the area around Dinosaur National Monument gets very little rain.

I passed through a lot of open range along Wyoming Route 530. The cows wander around wherever they want and often stand in the middle of the highway until a car comes along and chases them off. This situation has given me something new to dodge along the highway – cowflops. Also regarding the cows, I’ve seen cattle guards in many places in the west. They are metal grate-like structures that cross the road in between fences. Vehicular traffic can rumble right over the grates, but hoofed animals won’t cross because they have no footing on the metal surface, and would slip between the bars and break a leg. In Utah and Wyoming, I’ve noticed that the highway departments seem to be trying to fool the cows. In numerous places, they’ve painted white lines across the road where fence lines intersect in an apparent attempt to make the cows believe there is a real cattle guard in place. My observation – doesn’t fool them a bit.

Wyoming must have good dogs too. When one gets lost, the highway department puts up a sign.