American Adventure

Wyoming (Warren Peak)

Special thanks to Freida Dent of Hulett, WY

Hello to my friends Karen and Dakota of the Warren Peak lookout tower

Starting on August 11, 2002, 3:28:08 PM

Hey, I've picked up a travel companion! Please see the bottom of this page to meet Wilson!

After an afternoon of walking all around the Devil's Tower I decided to take a drive up to Warren Peak which is down a long gravel highway just a little Southeast of the tower. At first I got a real nice parting view of the tower and then some of the surrounding scenery.

Occasionally seeing a few animals here and there, mostly slow elk (cows) but a few deer and lots of wild turkeys. Now most of the animals that I saw quickly darted off into the woods before I could get my camera out. However, I did find this family of turkeys that I chased into the woods. Fleeing from me I quickly ran around them to head them off up the hill. Noticing me they all stopped so I stopped and stood very still for a while. That's when I noticed that they didn't really seem to be as afraid or they just didn't care, because they stopped running long enough for me to get a few pictures like this next one.

The next image shows a strange anomaly where a sign displays an upcoming right-hand turn while the road surely makes a left turn. I saw this a few times and couldn't really understand what was going on unless one of the road crew was dyslexic or something. I parked the bike and took a few shots to make sure that it wasn't just me.

At the top of Warren Peak there's a little confusion between the two peaks. One is the actual viewpoint tower while the other is an abandoned military complex. From the fenced in area you can see some of the beautiful landscape and the real lookout tower.

Since I could not see too much more I went over to the lookout tower to see the view from there. Quite an awesome view you can see for hundreds of miles in every direction.

In this next picture you can see all the way to Montana

While in this picture you can see off to the southwest to Keyhole Lake in Wyoming.

Then to the east you can see all the way to South Dakota.

In this next image you can see the mountains in the background, with the Devil's Tower shadowed in front of them, with the military complex on the hill in the foreground.

This complex, from 1962-1968 was the world's first and only self-contained nuclear powered radar station. After a small leak was discovered the facility was shut down, dismantled and buried under concrete. The actual peak was originally much taller but was leveled down by the engineers to accommodate the facility.

A few more pictures from the tower and I was off to Sundance to get some gas and make a loop back to the tower and then back to Hulett.

On my way back to Hulett I had a wonderful experience. As I drove past the tower and on down the highway I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was quick. A quick flash moving across a field. I estimated it to be a deer or two so I jumped on the throttle to catch up with it. Sure enough it was two young bucks and they looked as if they were heading towards the highway so I accelerated till I was right beside the leader. Suddenly seeing me, instead of jumping over the fence and crossing the highway, he ran along side the fence line for a moment, reaching speeds somewhere near fifty miles per hour. Finally running out of patience he did it. It was as if he had invisible wings the way he just floated over that fence like nothing. Then he darted out into the highway. Anticipating his maneuver I had slowed just enough to get as close as I could but not touch the animal. Then, just as easily as the first fence he hit the grass on the opposite side of the road and again, flew through the air like the wind just picked him up and carried him across.

Then I focused back on the other deer who did the same thing. He followed the fence line and took the leap. Across, directly in front of me went went as well. Unfortunately, this time he miss-calculated his approach at the second fence and jumped too soon, slamming himself directly into the fence, almost knocking it over. The deer dropped to the ground is if it had just been shot. Dust and dirt flew everywhere as the deer began to kick wildly to regain his balance. In almost a blink of an eye he did, jumped to his feet already in mid flight and darted down the fence line and took another try at it. Just as gracefully as the first one he hit his mark and flew right over and disappeared into the dark of the green field.

Back at my Aunt's house I was enthralled by all the variety of wildlife that enjoyed her bird feeder. I'm sure, although it was probably more a fight for survival, it appeared as though all the animals took turns with the food. Once I would look out and the Grosbeaks were eating away when I'd look out and notice a squirrel or two had taken over the porch. Then the occasional sparrow here and there, a few odd-looking red-winged black birds like the next one and a blue-jay or two.

Camp robbers, as my aunt called them, these blue birds had a strange way of shelling and eating the sunflower seeds. They would pick them up, place the seed in between their feet and crack them open with their beaks, which made for an interesting view with all the birds nose down to their feet.

Now, meet Wilson!

I picked up this little stuffed, bald eagle at the gift shop at Devil's Tower. I decided that he'd make the perfect travel companion so I strapped him to the front of the bike for the ride. I may occasionally take him back of from time to time for bad weather or for a good cleaning here and there.

He does seem to be drawing attention from passing vehicles. At first I couldn't understand why people seemed to be staring much more than they usually had. Then I realized that it must be Wilson that was getting their attention.