Sand Creek National Natural Landmark

 After my visit to the Territorial Prison State Historic Site and a delicious lunch at Jay's Prairie Rose, I made my way south of town. Stop one was the ruins of the Fort Sanders Guardhouse.

Soldiers at Fort Sanders helped protect Union Pacific Railroad workers who were building the transcontinental railroad through the Laramie Plains in 1868.

From Fort Sanders, I made my way further south to an area on the Wyoming/Colorado border called Sand Creek National Natural Landmark. The area features sandstone formations reminiscent of those that can be found in southeast Utah. Many of these formations lie on private property but can be viewed from a county road that traverses the area.

However, there is one small section of public land on the border of the Chimney Rock Ranch that I walked around and explored for a bit. It featured lots of interesting rock formations, 

natural arches 

and views of Sand Creek.

I climbed to the top of one of the rock formations that offered views of the creek and was treated to the sounds of elk bugling somewhere down below. After about 20 minutes enjoying the view, I headed back to the car for the drive back home. Sand Creek was an interesting, lesser-known area that I would like to return to with Noelle and Sierra some day.

Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site

Today, I made the drive over to Laramie to check out and photograph the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site. It was an uneventful drive, and I arrived before opening at 9 am, and so took a short walk on a paved trail along the Laramie River. 

Then, I was ready to explore the prison, turned University of Wyoming agricultural research station. The first stop was the warden's residence.

Then, I made the short walk over to the prison itself.

Inside, I checked out the processing/intake room and the cell blocks themselves.

There was an interesting exhibit about Butch Cassidy as well. Then, I headed over to the prison industries building where the inmates made brooms and candles. 

Outside the prison proper 

is an area of random buildings that I believe are arranged to give a feel for what Laramie and the surrounding area would have been like during the time when the prison was active. My favorite of these buildings was the St. Mary's of the Plains Episcopal Church.

The Gardens on Spring Creek

It's Sierra's birthday weekend and with Mom T in town, we opted to make the drive down to Fort Collins to eat some Vietnamese food, drink some beer

(Noelle, Mom and I at least) and check out the Gardens on Spring Creek. 

Our first stop in the gardens was the Butterfly House. It was really cool to see all the different species of butterflies flying around and perching on plants, sidewalks, and even ourselves.

After exploring the Butterfly House (which alone was worth the price of admission), we explored the gardens outside. They have some really interesting origami sculptures on display throughout the gardens right now.

Oglala National Grassland: Warbonnet Battlefield and Montrose Church

This morning, I made the drive north into Sioux County to visit the remote Warbonnet Battlefield and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in what is basically a ghost town called Montrose, Nebraska. The drive was scenic, especially the southern stretch of Pants Butte Road after turning off of Highway 20. I even drove past the turn off for Sowbelly Canyon and Coffee Park.

As I approached the location of Montrose, long abandoned homes made appearances along the road.

At the sign for the town,

I parked near the church to have a look around.

Then, it was time to explore the Warbonnet Battlefield site, right across the street. 

There are two monuments at the site. After passing through the gate, the monument to the right marks the site where Buffalo Bill Cody is said to have killed Yellow Hair. 

(Yes, this is the second battle site where Buffalo Bill was present that I've been to in the past week.) 

From the Yellow Hair monument, I made the trek up the hill to check out the Warbonnet Monument.

More information about the "battle" can be found here.

After exploring the site for a bit, I returned to the car for the drive to Fort Robinson State Park. Along the way I passed numerous birds, coyotes, deer and cattle.