Big Horn Mountains

Which direction will you be going thru Shell Canyon?

Steep and curvy going down the mountain towards Shell. Keep it slow and you will be fine. The speed limit is very low anyway through that stretch. Check out the Devil's Kitchen down towards Greybull of you get a chance. Really unusual and colorful rock formations.

We will be traveling from Wisconsin on I 90.

schl44, Be aware, roads and passes in the Big Horns are fairly steep and curvy. NOT unsafe! But, use common sense. Believe the highway signs, and if you have engine/exhaust/jake brake.... use it! Save the brakes in case you need them!

On the Big Horn Basin side.....

Much to see and do in area: Near Shell... Medicine Wheel, dinosaur tracks in stream (almost always dry) bottom, beautiful off roading in area (BLM & National Forest). Thermopolis, Wy (give us a wave when you pass by Winchester)......Wyoming Dinosaur Center (ranked as one of the best privately owned dino museums in US) and very nice Hot Springs State Park. Also at Thermopolis... The Wind River Canyon, with rafting and great trout fishing. Meeteetse, Wyoming... Very neat museum, Pitchfork Ranch (many Marlboro commercials filmed here), up the Wood River to Kirwin (an old abandoned mining town). Amelia Earhart was having a cabin built here at the time of here disappearance. To get to Kirwin, you need to go later summer(after snow melt runoff), many river crossings and two track road for several miles.

Then on to Cody.... you've probably heard about it and Yellowstone!
:).

Enjoy your trip and "Happy Trails", memtb

follow

schl44 wrote:
We will be traveling from Wisconsin on I 90.

When you are west bound on 14 you will be going down into shell Canyon.
This is steep and crooked, gear down, slow down, use your trailer brakes and you truck breaks alternately. stop at the pull out and let traffic clear, and you brakes to cool. You will want to stop anyway, it is a stunningly beautiful area, and you'll need to take a lot of pictures.

14 is doable. 14A is the one folks call "o my God hill" because that's what you will say when you start down it (going west). the Medicine Wheel is on 14A, so leave your 5th wheel in camp. :)

When are you going to be there?

We have used route 14 across the Bighorns three times, all east bound, the latest being last July. Good advice from other posters regarding use of lower gears, especially going down hill. Going down the west side stop at the Shell Falls rest area to cool the brakes and see the falls.

The Medicine Wheel is about 25 miles west of Burgess Junction and we visited last year as a bucket list item. Route 14A that far was not difficult at all but the steep, curvy narrow entrance road to the parking area at the Medicine Wheel isn't suitable for towing a long trailer. From the parking lot it was a 1-1/2 mile walk to the Medicine Wheel at nearly 10,000 feet elevation. Even for our old legs it was well worth the effort.

We camped at the Bald Mountain Forest Service campground a mile or so east of the Medicine Wheel, which has been added to our short list of all-time favorite campgrounds.

The five mile gravel road to the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite is a few miles west of Shell on route 14. Really nice scenery on the way in and we had a great time exploring the tracksite.

profdant139 wrote:
When are you going to be there?

Will be there approx 2nd week in June. Planning on camping at the Shell Way RV park.