French Creek Road Scenic Drive Buffalo, Wyoming part-2

Horses in beautiful pasture on French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

Before arriving in Buffalo, Wyoming to do some sight seeing Joyce and I had done some "homework". Using Google, had looked for sight seeing opportunities, tourist attractions, scenic drives and such in the vicinity of Buffalo, Wyoming. One of the recommendations that popped up was to take a scenic drive out French Creek Road to the Bud Love Wildlife Habitat Management Area. We wrote down French Creek Road as a scenic drive to take if time permitted. As the afternoon drifted away we decided we would take that "scenic drive" out French Creek Road. Keep in mind that we are from Florida and this scenery is pure eye candy to us. Bucolic scenes such as this one bring us so much pleasure. What a life these folks must have. As we continue through this travel log and another one (French Creek Road part-1) enjoy the scenery with us.

Ranch house on French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

What a lovely ranch house located around 5-miles from Buffalo, Wyoming on French Creek Road.

Deer were a common sight on French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

Deer along French Creek Road were like mosquitos in Florida. Wyoming is over run with deer. We see so many deer in some alfalfa fields we marvel at how the rancher can survive. Simply amazing to Florida folks. :-)

Deer were common along French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

Deer were every where, and I do mean everywhere along French Creek Road.

Do note the huge rolls of hay this rancher is storing for his cattle to survive on this winter. The rancher's cattle are grazing on federal lands around here but as the cold weather returns in the Fall those cattle will wander out of the federal lands back to this rancher's ranch for the winter. When they return the rancher will generally sell last winter's calves that are now around 800-lbs. He does not want to feed them over the winter. The rancher will only keep his breeding cows and bull or bulls. Thus keeping only what he can feed over the winter.

If you are a rancher or have a better knowledge of the process described above I would like to hear from you. I feel it is always better to tell the story from the rancher's point of view.......just put "info" in the place of "FAKE" in this address: FAKE@travellogs.us

Beautiful range land along French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

This is what we think of when we think of "wide open country", Wyoming has it's share of wide open country like this. No view is the same, it is different around every corner.

Mowed alfalfa hay along French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

This is a freshly mowed alfalfa field along French Creek Road. Alfalfa has such a healthy green color to is. I think ranchers prefer alfalfa hay to other types of hay because of the high protean content. This rancher has raked his mowed alfalfa into rows to let it dry. They must drastically reduce the moisture content of the hay before bailing it for storage. With too much moisture the hay would degrade and spoil resulting from mold, fungus, mildew etc., This ranchers may rake this field again which would turn the green hay over exposing the bottom side of these rows of drying hay so that ALL of the hay is exposed to this drying process.

If you are a rancher or have a better knowledge of the process described above I would like to hear from you. I feel it is always better to tell the story from the rancher's/farmer's point of view.......just put "info" in the place of "FAKE" in this address: FAKE@travellogs.us

Deer feeding in a lush alfalfa field along French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

What a beautiful alfalfa field along French Creek Road. It is astonishing how green alfalfa fields are. We never cease to be amazed at the number of deer that seem to always be visible in these alfalfa fields. There is at least six deer clearly visible in this field.

Look at that "hogback" in the background. For those of you that are not familiar with the term "hogback" let me help you a bit. According to "Webster": a hogback is: "a ridge of land formed by the outcropping edges of tilted strata; broadly : a ridge with a sharp summit and steeply sloping sides". Several things have occurred to create this "hogback". In terms of how this happened we must go back 50 to 100 million years ago when this area was an inland sea where over millions and millions of years layers of sediment formed that would eventually become layers of sedimentary rock. Over millions of more years the inland see rose and dried out. Then the mountain building process began that created the Big Horn Mountain Range -- we are traveling through the eastern exposure or foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. As the mountains rose those once flat layers of sedimentary rock were thrust up until they broke. Some of those layers of sedimentary rock were much harder than others. With those layers of sedimentary rock now in an almost vertical position instead of laying flat, erosion started carrying away the softer layers exposing the almost vertical side of the much harder layer of sedimentary layer (now sedimentary rock like limestone or sandstone). So that "hogback" that you see exposed in the background of this picture is the result of mountain building forces that thrust the once flat sedimentary rocks into a vertical position then erosion that carried away the softer sedimentary rocks exposing the much harder layer of sedimentary rock. We see these hogbacks up and down the eastern slope of the Rockies in Colorado and along I-25 & the Big Horn Mountains here in Wyoming. Not far north of here in Big Horn, Wyoming a magnificent hogback is exposed on Little Goose Canyon Road on the Little Goose Ranch. Another beautiful exposure can be seen northwest of Cheyenne, Wyoming from Horse Creek Road SR-211 between Horse Creek and Farthing. A few miles west of Loveland, Colorado off Big Thompson Canyon Road, is an exceptional hogback called Devil's Backbone. In Canon City, Colorado near Royal Gorge there is a scenic drive called Skyline Drive that is a one-way drove along that hogback. Do not miss that scenic drive and experience when you visit Canon City and or Royal Gorge. Another great "hogback" is located a few miles southwest of Denver in a place called Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colorado. Dinosaur Ridge is indeed a spectacular hogback that beautifully exposes dinosaur-bearing rock. Both bones and tracks of a variety of animals from the Age of Dinosaurs are visible. This is a great (must do) place for both adults and children. There is a Dinosaur Ridge Discovery Center on site that really helps both children and adults understand what they have seen and are about to see.

Wild sun flowers adorn the roadside along French Creek Road out of northeast Buffalo, Wyoming

This is mid-August and wild sun flowers are abundant along rural roads in Wyoming. These wild sunflowers add a special splash of color for our viewing pleasure.

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Until next time remember how good life is.

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