Travel Diary: Tour Thru WY, ID, NV, UT & CO, Part 1
In late August 2021, we escaped the realities of home in Louisville, Kentucky, and took another successful trip to The West! This time we headed through Wyoming to check out a bit of what Idaho has to offer. Then, we slid down through Nevada and back east into northern Utah and Colorado for a grand total of 4,700 miles. There were some trials and tribulations, but much fun was had as always!
Our plans would require a VERY long drive from home. So, as usual, we left immediately after work on a Friday and drove are far as we could. We stopped on Friday evening at a rest stop in near Boonville, Missouri. Staying the night at a rest area isn’t glamorous, but it’s convenient being right off the Interstate. The best part? It’s free!
Saturday’s long, arduous drive would take us through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and, finally, into Wyoming. We found an inexpensive place ($10) to camp at Sweetwater Events Complex in Rock Springs, WY. The complex boasts over 1200 campsites, and that is no lie! The place is HUGE! There were only a few campers apart from us, so that made things seem even bigger. Our site came with full hookups and showers, which was nice, because that’s something we knew we would be without through the rest of our trip. They also have a cellular tower right in the middle of all the sites, so streaming our favorite show/getting work done was no problem (another luxury we didn’t take for granted).
Our campsite at Sweetwater Events Complex in Rock Springs, Wyoming
We rose early Sunday and drove 26 miles north to the remains of an long-extinct volcano known as Boar’s Tusk. The volcano’s remaining “neck” stands approximately 400 feet high, and its peak rises over 7,100 feet above sea level. We had seen it once before during our first trip to Wyoming. On that visit, we didn’t get very close to its base. We were very tentative to drive the rocky and sandy road. Our Vanagon was still somewhat new to us, and we didn't have much experience driving such roads. Since then, we had upgraded to a more aggressive and taller tire. With more driving experience and ground clearance, we felt we could tackle the challenge this time.
We drove the two-track road with no problem down to within a quarter mile of the base of Boar’s Tusk. The path began to get pretty sandy and soft, so we decided it would be best to halt there. You can read about our previous catastrophe with sand here.
We hoofed it down to the base of Boar’s Tusk and were absolutely blown away by its size. There is a certain feeling we get when we are near this giant monolith. It’s hard to explain, but it just kinda gives us a renewed perspective on everything.
Being out in the open spaces of Wyoming gave us a really great chance to play with our recently-purchased drone. Living in Louisville, KY, there aren’t many places to let loose with the drone. In fact, we crashed it into something two days after we bought it! Anyway, we spent about 90 minutes flying it around, getting different angles and views of Boar’s Tusk. It’s a really nice tool to view things like Boar’s Tusk from a different perspective.
After spending most of our morning admiring Boar’s Tusk, the massive monolith of Wyoming’s Red Desert, it was time to head north. Grand Teton National park was calling! See you in Part Two!
If you like what you see, check out our map on NanoWhat. You can download a Google map of our roadtrip to The West straight to your phone!
