Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
6.
Sheep Mountain Road
About three miles past the turn-off for Medicine Wheel, Sheep Mountain Road exits Rte.
14Aforanotherbriefbackcountrytour.Mostvisitorsmakethetriptoadmiretwolocalwa-
terfalls, which are accessible via short trails. Porcupine Falls, the first along the way, lies
half a mile off the road and plummets 200 feet. Another hike of three miles leads to Buck-
ing Mule Falls: Dropping about 600 feet into Devil Canyon, this hidden treasure is one of
the West's tallest cascades.
Back on Rte. 14A, a viewing area just past Sheep Mountain Road takes in the long
sweep of the multicolored Bighorns. The mountain chain, its jagged silhouette rising and
falling for miles into the distance, arcs slightly toward the southeast. On a clear day you
can also see north into Montana and west to the snowcapped Rocky Mountains.
7.
Shell Falls
Moose and elk can sometimes be spotted in the willow bottomlands found just before you
come to Burgess Junction. Once in town, the drive veers south and west onto Rte. 14,
climbing back into the high mountains to the summit of Granite Pass—at 8,860 feet, the
highway's loftiest point.
The road then slopes into Shell Canyon, curving between steep walls of pink granite
androsysandstoneembeddedwithanabundanceoffossils.Theancientcreatures(someof
the earliest hard-shelled animals on earth) were saltwater inhabitants that lived here when
the area was covered by a sea.
Toward the southern end of the canyon, Shell Falls makes a 120-foot leap. It may not
be the tallest cascade in the Bighorns, but it is one of the loudest, letting out a roar as some
3,600 gallons hurtle down the cliff every second. A visitor center features exhibits, and
trails crisscross the area.
Leaving the mountains yet again, the drive descends to the plains and Greybull, a busi-
ness and farming center founded in the 1890s by German settlers. Rte. 14 then rolls across
vast plains on the way back to Cody, offering unbroken solitude and endless vistas.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search