‘Tis the season to be outside in the mountains, fishing the creeks and lakes and HIKING. The Encampment River Trail is a favorite. Many hikers make hiking this trail an annual or even more frequent experience. The trail follows the Encampment River which is a red ribbon trout fishing stream, popular with fly fisherman all over the world.

The trail head is an easy drive from Riverside Lodge. At about 15 miles one way, you will be a real enthusiast if you make the trip to the end at Commissary Park, near Hog Park Reservoir and back to Riverside Lodge in one day. Some people go part way and turn around. Others make arrangements for a vehicle to meet them at the end and get a ride back to Encampment.

The trail is largely a foot trail. Horses can go the entire trail (be a friendly rider and clean up after your horse). There is a point where no wheeled equipment is permitted. The bridge across the Encampment River at the trail head is a beautiful experience. There is a very nice parking lot there.

Bring water and a light sweater or jacket. Quick rain showers can chill you quickly. Wear comfortable shoes and if you insist on wearing shorts, understand that there may be some brush that can scratch you. Oh, and did I say, bring water. I would also tuck a flashlight and camera in the back pack. You will almost certainly want the camera and some folks have hiked longer than they expected to. Coming out after dark isn’t impossible, but it works better with a light.

Call us at 307-710-5660 for reservations at Riverside Lodge and information about hiking the Encampment River Trail.

The Google alerts that keep me updated on news to make ‘fodder’ for this blog served up an eBay auction this morning.  A power seller in Nevada had listed an envelope with an Encampment, Wyoming cancellation.  The letter was sent to someone in Michigan.

Encampment historically AND currently, Encampment is known as the gateway to the Sierra Madre Mountains plus close access to Snowy Range, wildlife sports and historical experience.

Check out the views at Riverside Lodge and call us today about a reservation. You can send your own letters out with an Encampment cancellation with the possibility of creating an historical piece of paper.

In 1961, a UW Geology Professor named Mears discovered an ancient Mammoth skull in Carbon County, Wyoming, near the County Seat of Rawlins. That skull has been housed at the University of Wyoming, but there are plans to permit a visit elsewhere.

According to a release from the University of Wyoming, the skull will be on loan as part of an exhibition at the Chicago Field Museum. The release continues with quotes from the paleontology department about the unique qualities of the skull which attracted the attention of those planning the exhibition in Chicago.

Wyoming is the resource for many fossil finds of ancient creatures such as the mammoth and dinosaurs. You can learn more about some of the digs when you are visiting Wyoming. When you stay at Riverside Lodge in Riverside, Wyoming, you will have access to broadband internet to further your research about the paleontology of Wyoming. At the Grand Encampment Museum, you will be able to examine the life style of the past hundred years or so. At various other geological museums in locations such as Laramie or Thermopolis, you will be able to learn about times even further back than the 1800s.  Read more about the exhibit planned between UW and Chicago Field Museum at this news release.

Contact us today at Riverside Lodge to make reservations for your visit to one of the most exciting historical parts of the US.

The Wyoming Tourism Center has released the scheduling for 2010 events and featured  Copper Days Festival at Encampment/Riverside here in Wyoming.

The Festival features a parade of antique machinery and cars, most particularly TRACTORS.  The tractors and small engines, old equipment and toys are on display while tractor pulls are major entertainment for visitors.   There is a good, old-fashioned melodrama for indoor entertainment put on by some extremely good actors living in the community.

I am a tractor and farm toy collector, so I’m ‘deep’ into Copper Days and know that you would enjoy every bit of it.

Call Riverside Lodge today to make reservations for your antique visit to the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Wyoming might easily be another way to spell “H-I-S-T-O-R-Y. The background stories and tales of the old days are thicker than fleas on a dog and they are about real people.

Just as Wyoming is an historic area, the rest of the WORLD goes round.

When you are visiting the community around Riverside Lodge, you will be shoulder to shoulder with people who have visited history and tracked the history of Wyoming all around the world to Argentina, following the paths of the infamous team, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

In the December 13, 2009 edition of The Argentine Post, an article by John D. Farr reminisces about the Wild Bunch in Wyoming and Argentina. Farr spends part of his time in Encampment, where he visits friends, including Jerry Paxton, Encampment resident and Carbon County Commissioner. Farr spends the rest of his time in Argentina at Junin de Los Andes and Patagonia, where he traveled with Paxton this fall as they through the back roads of the Andes.

Farr’s interesting article tells of the visit to a cabin that is historically connected to Butch Cassidy. There is a photo of that cabin, plus other spots where Cassidy and company were supposed to have been. There is an excellent photo of one assortment of the Wild Bunch that has a much brighter looking group than some photos present. Maybe the photographer had a better monkey than others.

Check out the link to a news source from the other side of the equator which is linked historically with Wyoming. Did the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy survive their ventures into South America and return to the US to become quiet old men? Farr thinks so.

You can participate in the continuing history of Wyoming by visiting the state, the mountains and making yourself very comfortable at Riverside Lodge. Call 307-710-5660  today for your reservations.

A few years ago, Gay Day Alcorn wrote a history book about this area entitled Tough country: The history of the Saratoga and Encampment Valley, 1825-1895 The high desert around the Sierra Madre Mountain Range is TOUGH country, beautiful and wild.  These characteristics are part of the attraction for guests at Riverside Lodge.

A recent article in the Casper Star Tribune about the wilderness around the Sierra Madre Mountain Range entitled “New Help for Beetle Fight” outlines some steps being proposed to control one of Natures little varmints, the bark beetle.   The bark beetle is considered to be responsible for timber destruction in over 2.5 million acres in the Rocky Mountain area.  Of the forests affected, the Medicine Bow NF seems to be the hardest hit.

Nature is TOUGH and one of the principles of multi-use management is to intervene when the wild things become destructive to the ecological system.  Intervention with the bark beetle has been too slow, but any intervention would be better than none.  We want our forests to be managed for the enjoyment and prosperity of the guests who come to Riverside Lodge.

Recently, I was able to get satellite hi-speed internet at Riverside Lodge.  Needless to say, I really enjoy the access to the Internet for my own research.

But, I’m particularly pleased to be able to offer this technical convenience to the guests at Riverside Lodge.

I know there are those who say the visit to the quiet mountains and high desert should be a true get-away and time of relaxation from the stress of working on the Internet.  But, with social media connections becoming more popular every day, sites such as Facebook and Twitter are valuable contact options for families and friends, regardless of business purposes.

Now, visitors to Riverside Lodge can feel confident in their ability to stay in touch with family and friends.  And yes, work a little if necessary.

Yvonne Johnson, Carbon County Visitors Council, announced this week that the Carbon County Wyoming Summer Photo Contest had a winner and is considered to be a huge success.

Calvin Hazelwood was declared the winner with a great photo of coyote pups playing. There were some other impressive entries that you can view at the Carbon County Photostream

There is all the information needed to make an entry in the NEXT contest, The Carbon Country FALL Photo Contest. You would expect the certain caveat that the photo must be taken in Carbon County.

When you’re wondering about a project and fulfilling trip to the mountains and high desert country, you can’t miss getting some gorgeous photos that could be profitable, will certainly be therapeutic for the artist in you, will make your mouth water for a chance to try it again.

Riverside Lodge is a perfect starting point for a photographic tour. You will find generous, comfortable accommodations that for the extent of your trip and a warm welcome for you to return in the next photograph and scenery season. Contact us today at 307-710-5660 about reservations. Bring your camera! We have the internet connection for you to be able to put them right up on your own Facebook wall, blog, Flickr account or other online gallery.

Well, when you come to Riverside Lodge for your summer get-away in Riverside Wyoming, you will quickly understand why they say that!  A short drive to nearby Saratoga, Wyoming will follow (from a distance) the Grand Encampment and the North Platte Rivers that run through the valley toward the see.

In Saratoga, the North Platte is truly a part of Main Street  and when their little hearts are happy or the bugs just right, you can see the trout leap while watching from the bridge or along the shore.  From the beginning the town as embraced the river and the fishing there.

This year, according to a recent article in the Casper Star Tribune, written by Janice Kurbjun, entitled “Saratoga: Where the trout leap in Main Street”,  the library at the Saratoga Elementary School is extending that embrace into a strong learning project about the Valley, the weather, wildlife, the soils, recreation for locals and visitors, and of course, the ability to write about it all.  They will learn what their teachers, parents and the community knows; they can write and express themselves successfully.

Librarian Ceile Fisher arranged for area experts from the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlings Conservation District, the Wyoming Game Commission,  the BLM Fisheries, the USDA Forest Service, the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge and the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery to make presentations to the students in each of their fields about the environment that makes Saratoga the little town where the trout leap in main street and where kids grow up surrounded by mountain beauty and solitary peace.

Presentations were interactive game type activities that let the kids get a picture of ecological life along the river.

The crowning glory of the project that Fisher hopes to maintain and keep on a four year rotation so all kids get to learn through the resources is the LITTLE Fish tank in the Library where everyone at the school anxiously awaits a hatch of new trout grow large enough to be released at the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery.

The news just keeps going around and around till we’ve all seen it Down by Riverside Lodge

The Grand Encampment Museum is one of the brightest jewels in the area, featuring historical settings in actual structures from Encampment (Grand Encampment) Wyoming  in the early days over 100 years ago.

Annually, the Grand Encampment Museum opens the season with a active, historical weekend in May.  The 2009 event is planned for May 23 through May 25.  Hours at the Museum will be 10:00 am until 5:00 pm for tours through the historical collection in the various buildings.

The beautifully maintained grounds at the Museum are open for walking thorough at any time, but researching and viewing of the interior collections is limited to the hours when the buildings are open.

The area around Encampment, Wyoming, a town developed to meet copper mining needs in the very early 1900’s has been home to many interesting characters.  Fortunately for readers today, there is a healthy population of writers in the Carbon County area who have chronicled the tales of the early days.

Lori Van Pelt, a local writer, has begun a series of books about the people of the past.  The first in the series, Dreamers & Schemers: Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past, features profiles from Carbon County specifically.

The historical elements of the Sierra Madre Mountains feature mining, ranching, logging and recreational adventures.  The area has long been attractive for vacation time from larger cities in the region and from all over the world.

Contact us at Riverside Lodge about spending the opening weekend for the Museum or any other time that you can make a mountain get-away to learn more for yourself about the history of these dramatic, quiet mountains.   While you are waiting, you can enjoy a good read with Van Pelt’s book