Morning light at Bighorn Canyon.
The plateaus and valleys in these mountains are wide open ranching country where signs of humanity are few and far between. But after we traversed the range to the eastern side we were bewitched by the warmth and welcoming atmosphere we found in the small town of Buffalo. When we arrived in town it was a Saturday and a parade was just getting underway. The town was throbbing with excited people lining the streets, and we had to crane our necks to see over the crowd to the rows of horseback riders passing by in the parade. Suddenly, a blue pickup truck appeared with a cowboy standing in the back of it, and the crowd went wild. The woman next to me nearly swooned. After I quickly snapped a photo of the cowboy in the truck, I asked her if he was the mayor. "Oh, no!" She laughed, her eyes glittering. "That's Sheriff Walt Longmire!" WHO? It turned out that Buffalo was hosting a three-day celebration of the immensely popular TV show Longmire , and the entire cast had come to town to be part of the festivities. The fellow in the truck was the star of the show, Australian actor Robert Taylor, who played the beloved sheriff. The TV drama was developed from a series of novels that depict small town life in fictional
Crazy Woman Square in Buffalo is flanked by huge murals on the surrounding brick buildings that depict cattle ranching life in Johnson Canyon throughout the years.
MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS Story by Emily Fagan Photos by Emily & Mark Fagan
Up in the northern part of Wyoming, close to the Montana border, lie the Bighorn Mountains, a glorious range of towering peaks, sweeping valleys and deep canyons. Offering a seemingly endless array of things to see and do, this area impressed us so much during our first visit that we returned the following summer to explore it in more depth. The Bighorn Mountain Range runs on a north-south axis, and two scenic byways take motorists up and over thrilling mountain passes between the west side and the east. Our first glimpse of the Bighorns was on the southern of these two roads, the "Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway," which is US Highway 16—the easier of the two roads for big RVs. As we climbed higher and higher the views seemed to go on forever.
MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS
COAST TO COAST SUMMER MAGAZINE 2019
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