Day Three
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Boulder Park Campground
Bighorn National Forest
We slept in again today and didn’t get on the road until almost 11am. Camping in the mountains really made us slackers because we’re normally on the road at 7am in the desert! Once again, the tent was cozy and we weren’t in a hurry to get out. This campground was also covered in beautiful wildflowers and giant boulders, so it was nice to hang around for a bit to enjoy our surroundings.
Tensleep Canyon, One More Time
I had wanted to camp at the Leigh Creek Campground the night before, but thankfully, that didn’t work out because not only did we get a beautiful campsite in the lupines at Boulder Park, but we also got to see Tensleep Canyon one more time. We had such a moody sky the previous day, so it was neat to see how different the scenery was with blue skies and white puffy clouds! We coasted into Ten Sleep on fumes and filled up at the only gas station in town.
Taking the Norwood Cutoff
We had noticed the day before, that the Norwood Cutoff road had an orange sign stating there was road damage ahead and it advised using another route. The only other route was a giant corner through Worland, Wyoming, so we decided to take our chances. How bad could it be?
Turns out, we’ve driven on worse roads before. I was picturing gravel-filled potholes, but it was mostly just rough. The speed was reduced to 50mph, but that made it so we could enjoy the scenery, which was beautiful! We could see for miles in all directions in some places along the drive.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Our destination for the day was Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The national park visitor center in Lovell, Wyoming was closed, so the kids were not able to add to their junior ranger badge collection, but this area is so pretty that we may have to go back someday.
We stopped at Horseshoe Bend Campground to see if we should camp there. It was full of RVs, and super windy, so we decided against that. The views were gorgeous though, with red rocks and the lake below. We stopped to use the restrooms and saw a snake! In all of the camping we’ve done, I think this was the first snake we’ve seen in a campground.
Side Note: What’s kind of odd about this campground is that there are only two out of the three loops available for camping. The third loop appears to be a primitive loop, and it can be seen from Google Earth, but they had a barrier across the road so nobody could camp there. I checked to see if it was open now, but the website for the campground doesn’t even acknowledge that a third loop exists.
Devil Canyon Overlook
Bighorn National Recreation Area crosses the border between Wyoming and Montana, and Devil Canyon Overlook is on the Montana side. No, I didn’t mix up my Montana photos with my Utah or Arizona photos! This gorgeous canyon is kind of like the very popular Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, only this one has very few people.
We had planned to hike a couple smaller trails, but the wind and cold and ominous clouds kept us driving around instead. My plan was to only go as far as the Devil Canyon Overlook, but the drive was so pretty that we went all the way to Barry’s Landing instead. We contemplated camping there, since it was more protected from the wind, but at this point, we had reached the end of the road, and it seemed too early to set up camp if we couldn’t also go for a hike.
Ewing Snell Ranch
On our way back through the park, we stopped at the Ewing Snell Ranch to have a look around. A few of the historic log buildings featured sod roofs. I can’t imagine having a roof made of dirt and grass, but I think it would be neat if that was still a thing we could do in a more efficient way today!
Bighorn Canyon is a beautiful place that seems like it might fly under the radar in an area so close to places like Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I couldn’t help but take a ton of photos throughout the park. I think it’s definitely worth revisiting if we’re ever in the area again.
On our way back to Lovell, Wyoming, we were stopped by a cattle drive on the highway. We didn’t have to wait very long for them to make the turn around the corner. Thankfully, they went east on Highway 14A and we went west to Lovell. We had another canyon to go find in the Bighorns!
Shell Canyon
We backtracked through Lovell and Greybull, Wyoming to take Highway 14, the Bighorn Scenic Byway, through Shell Canyon. There was a small campground near Shell Canyon that I had planned to find if we didn’t camp in Bighorn Canyon. The drive through this canyon was gorgeous! Who knew there were so many red rocks in northern Wyoming?
Shell Falls
The Shell Falls Interpretive Site Visitor Center was closed when we were there, but we were able to walk around a paved path for views of the canyon and the falls. After mostly riding all afternoon, this was a nice place to wander around and stretch our legs. Our campground wasn’t far from here so we weren’t in a big hurry.
Granite Creek Tornado Site
There used to be a campground called Granite Creek Campground somewhere down in this valley. A tornado destroyed the campground in 1959 and they never rebuilt it. I snooped around on Google Earth to see if I could find anything that would indicate a campground had been there, but there doesn’t appear to be any trace of it left. The road to our campground for the night was the next road after this interpretive pullout.
Shell Creek Campground
Our destination for the night was Shell Creek Campground. We chose site 3 because it had the most space between us and the other campers. The campground wasn’t full, but this was one of the last sites left that was along the creek. We set up the tent and I got to work cooking calzones for our supper!
Cooking Calzones…in the Rain
We loved eating calzones in New Mexico in 2018, so that was high on my list of foods to re-create on a night when we arrived at camp with enough time for cooking. It had rained right around cooking time the previous two nights, and it was not raining after the tent was set up, so this was going to be our calzone night. I don’t think I had the first one in the pan before it started raining, but by that point, I was committed. Calzones require pressing out the dough and adding the toppings before cooking them, so I had to do all of that on the dash of the CRV.
Our camp stove is only big enough for a 10” pan so I could only cook one at a time. Each calzone is pretty big, so I cut them to share while the next one cooked. I don’t think it rained for long, but by then, everything was wet, so…we ate our calzones in the car…again. It didn’t matter where we ate them because they were soooo good!
I’ve included the recipe at the end of the post if anyone wants to try making calzones! Eventually, I’d like to create a camp cooking section with recipes all in one place! Stay tune for that!
Cooking the calzones one at a time took a couple hours and we were treated to an amazing sunset after the rain stopped. Megan was able to get some gorgeous photos with a silhouette of the campground sign.
I couldn’t leave my “camp kitchen” with a calzone in the pan, but I could see the sunset peeking through the trees from where I stood. What a way to end a day that had already been full of so much beautiful scenery!
Calzone Recipe:
Pizza Dough: I mix all of this in advance and place it in a gallon-size ziploc bag. The dough will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge or a cooler.
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
Toppings: I cook the onion, bell pepper, and meat in advance. I’ve kept all three in separate baggies and I’ve mixed them all together into one baggie. My preference is mixing them together because scooping one topping is easier than taking scoops from three different bags.
1 can of tomato sauce
1 onion, sautéed
1 bell pepper, sautéed
1 pound of ground meat, cooked (I used jalapeño breakfast sausage here, but ground beef would also work.)
4 ounces of cheese (I’ve used mozzarella, cheddar, Monterey jack…any meltable cheese will work!)
Assembly:
Take a fist-sized piece of dough and press it into a circle on a paper plate or piece of wax paper.
Spread tomato sauce over the entire crust.
Spread the topping mixture and some cheese shreds on half of the crust, leaving space around the edge.
Pick up the empty half of the crust and fold it over the side with the toppings.
Pinch and roll the dough along the open side to seal the toppings inside.
Cooking the Calzones:
Pour enough olive oil in a cast iron pan to just barely cover the bottom of the pan.
Heat on medium high.
When the oil sizzles with a sprinkle of water, the pan is hot enough.
Carefully transfer the calzone to the pan and cover with a lid.
There should be enough time now to prep the next calzone while one is cooking.
Cook until the bottom is brown, then flip the calzone over and cover again.
The second side doesn’t seem to take quite as long, but don’t take it off the heat too early or the dough could end up…doughy. You want it to have a nice crusty brown look.
Remove the calzone from the pan and have the next one ready to go into the pan.
Cut in half and enjoy!
Repeat for all of the calzones.
This recipe will make six big calzones! We’ve decided that I should probably cut the recipe in half since we’re usually stuffed…and because it takes so long to cook six of them, one at a time. If I were making them at home, I’d put the extras in the freezer.
Who’s hungry for a calzone! I know I am! I don’t usually cook these at home, but I might have to do that since I didn’t make them on our latest road trip.
Be sure to subscribe to find out where we go next in the Bighorns!