Can't help think of that song driving through this area with all the cattle and antelope! The town of Buffalo Wyoming reminds me of Sonora. It sits above 4,500 feet in the Big Horn
mountains with lots of history. Those of
you who are our age remember watching “The Virginian” with James Drury and Doug
McClure. That tv show was based on a
book written about Buffalo and the cowboys and criminals who hung out
here: Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the
Wall Gang, Buffalo Bill, cattlemen fighting over land etc. In recent years the town has gained notoriety
through a new author named Craig Johnson and his fictitious stories of Sheriff
Longmire now a Netflix
series (Longmire). We
spent time at the Jim Gatchell museum where there are plenty of interesting
artifacts and history of the battles fought here including the Johnson County
cattle wars. We spent our morning on day
2 taking the drive through Crazy Woman Canyon taking us up to 7,790 feet into
the Big Horn range. The road follows the Crazy Woman creek and we saw lots of
antelope along the way.
We intended to drive to the “hole in the wall gang hideout”
but it is on a private ranch and only accessible once a year when they open it
to tour.
There is a segment of Basque people in Buffalo and
surrounding areas who arrived here at the start of World War II mostly to raise
sheep. Some of their traditional wagons
can be seen around town and there is a Basque festival here.
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| Basque sheepherders carts |
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| looking down on Buffalo with Big Horn mountains above |
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| 137 year old Occidental Hotel and cafe on left is Busy Bee Cafe along Clear Creek |
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| Hotel lobby |
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Clark barbecuing in our campsite in Buffalo
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| museum and log cabin |
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| site of the Johnson County cattle wars |
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| Crazy Woman Creek and Canyon |
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| The fictitious Sheriff Longmire has campaign headquarters--town just celebrated Longmire Days |
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road up Crazy Woman canyon took us to 7.790 feet
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