The Wild West

We spent two days bouldering around Cody, Wyoming, which turned out to be surprisingly good. An added bonus is that it is all sandstone and limestone. So nice on the fingers! The first day was a bit of a bust, as we just went to the first area in the guidebook (note to guidebook authors: please add useful descriptions for the various areas!). It had a couple of decent problems, but some less than ideal landings, and little shade to protect us from the baking sun.

On day two we managed to find the sweet spots. A large number of concentrated problems, with good landings, all nestled in a large gully filled with pines to shelter us from the sun. We later learned, talking with a local at the gear shop, that a LOT of landscaping had been done to make the landings decent. Thank you locals.

We didn't take a lot of pictures, as we were too busy enjoying the problems, but here is Kristal on Hat Trick V2.

And me on Ripple Mark V3.

Cody itself is a pretty interesting city, named after none other than William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody. It is claimed to be the 'Rodeo Capital of the World', and after spending a couple of days there it is hard to argue. They hold a rodeo every night from May to October. That's right, every night.

The wild west is everywhere. The first building we parked in front of in town had a 50 foot long model of a rifle on the roof. They close one of the streets downtown every night to stage a mock gunfight. For the most part it is extremely touristy, but there is some really cool history there.

The most interesting is the old town they have set up.

All of the buildings have some signifigance and were painstakingly moved from their original locations.

Here is the saloon that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid would regularly frequent.

Complete with bullet holes in the front door.

We camped in Buffalo Bill State Park and snagged an awesome site, complete with privacy fencing (okay, it's actually a wind break) right on the water.

When we arrived the attendant informed us, somewhat apologetically, that the campground had no showers. All Kristal and I could think was, 'Really? There's a big friggin lake right in front of us!'. Any fresh water near a campground is a luxury by our standards.