I was really looking forward to Mule Deer Days, the outdoor expo put on by the Muley Fanatics Federation and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department last Friday and Saturday. But I had to work Friday, so I didn’t get on the road from Cheyenne until the afternoon. By that time, even though I-80 had been open earlier in the day, it was closed again.
So my son and I, eager to still get to Rock Springs for the event, went north up I-25 through Casper and over to Riverton, hoping to drop down through Lander and Farson on Wyoming 28. But about the time we hit Casper, we saw on the WYDOT map that the highway was closed at South Pass. By then, though, we had come that far, so we figured we’d keep going and see if we’d get lucky and the road would open up.
It was pretty late by the time we got to Riverton, but I was still really hoping to make it to Mule Deer Days, so in desperation I checked to see how the road looked if we were to keep going over Togwotee Pass and down into Jackson, then south down to Rock Springs. But that didn’t look good, either. The road cams looked worse at Antelope Flats than they did on the already closed South Pass, so we figured we’d probably just get stuck in Dubois if we kept going. Our only hope was to stay in Riverton for the night and hope they opened South Pass by morning.
But Saturday morning, there was no chance of getting through South Pass. We waited until 10, hoping it would open up, but it never did. And by that time, we wouldn’t be able to get there before the whole expo was over.
So we just hit a couple sporting goods stores in Lander and Riverton, then we came home. It was a bummer, but that’s the way it goes in Wyoming this time of year. Stay safe out there if you’re traveling our fair state.
