July 3, 2014 Part Two The CCC and Guernsey State Park

After leaving the Oregon Trail Ruts SHS, we headed to Guernsey State Park. 

As you know I enjoy finding the statues of the CCC worker as we travel through the country.  I found out that there was a statue here as well as a museum so, of course, we had to go.

Our first stop once we entered the park was to see “The Castle”.  So up we went to the top of the hill”:

Yes, this is a picnic shelter that sits on the edge of a hill.  The inside:

We had lunch here:

And, oh my, the views:

We spent some time here just enjoying the breeze, the views, and our lunch.

One more building there:

And the inside was pretty elaborate for an outhouse:

From there we headed to the museum with even more great views along the way:

Past the Cutoff:

Over the dam:

That was really releasing lots of water:

Up another hill to the museum:

And we found him – Statue Number 53:

The front of the museum – built by the CCC boys – what workmanship:

And the inside – WOW!

Here is an interesting tidbit:

There is so much to see and do in the park and we will be back.  (This was another place that we tried to stay but they were booked too.)

We took the long way out of the park along the reservoir:

And made our way to Hartville, Wyoming – the oldest incorporated town in Wyoming.

Hartville was one of the really “Wild West” towns in its heyday and also has the oldest bar in Wyoming (closed until 5 PM today – Bummer.)  We also tried the visitor center – closed !

The Hartville and Sunset area became the first open pit mine in the world. It was called the Chicago Mine, or the Glory Hole. The Chicago Mine was 650 feet deep and is still one of the largest open pit mines in history.

So we just drove through this now sleepy little town and went to neighboring Sunrise to maybe see the mine and town which is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Can you believe – CLOSED?  Actually there was a gate across the access to the town – not exactly sure why.

So we left, headed back, stopped at the hardware store, the Moose Lodge and then home.

It was another wonderful touristy day!

As we celebrate the fourth of July, let us not forget what we are celebrating – our independence and freedom.