If you click on the shot below, you can see one of the many oil rigs which dot the scenery.
As you come down into Ten Sleep, you cross Nowood Creek. Here is a photograph of the old bridge.
downtown Ten Sleep:
The next three shots I took inside of Ten Sleep Saloon (see above).
One of the things that always catches my eye is how many older vehicles are still running and in use on an every day basis here in Wyoming. This unusual hood ornament I found on an older truck.
A cute young lady showed me something I was overlooking.
On the south side of town, I found this most creative entrance to a private residence.
After exploring Ten Sleep, we went south on WY-434.
Before leaving town, we crossed over Ten Sleep Creek.
There are numerous historical markers along Wyoming's highways. The one below describes the Spring Creek Raid of April 2nd, 1909. Here is what it says below:Cattlemen of the Big Horn Basin dominated the range for many years and set up boundaries or "deadlines" where sheep were forbidden. Fierce animosity grew between the opposing sheep and cattle ranchers as several sheep camps were raided during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In late March, 1909, Joe Allemand, a French sheepman, and Joe Emge, a cattleman turned sheepman, left Worland headed for Spring Creek with 5000 head of sheep. They were accompanied by Allemand's nephew, Jules Lazier, and two sheepherders, Bounce Helmer and Pete Cafferall. Talk spread like wildfire across the western slope of the Big Horn Mountains as the deadline was crossed and plans were soon made to head off this intrusion.
On the moonlit night of April 2, 1909, seven masked riders approached the sheep camp's two wagons where the herders slept. Gunfire lit the night as rifles blazed. Emge and Lazieer were killed in their wagon and both wagons were set afire. Allemand emerged from the flames, but was quickly shot down.
The monument on this side of the road is situated at the site of the south wagon. The monument on the north side of Spring Creek is near the location of the wagon where the sheepmen were killed. Five of the perpetrators were convicted and sent to prison. Public reaction against this brutal and tragic act left no doubt that violence on Wyoming's open range would no longer be tolerated.
The following two pictures are those on the sign above.
The marker below states:SITE OF SOUTH WAGON WHERE BOUNCE HELMER AND PETE CAFFERALL WERE CAPTURED BY MASKED RAIDERS AND THEIR WAGONS BURNED ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL 2ND 1909
The road south to Big Trails follows Nowood Creek.
Once the blossom above has matured and died, what is left is found below.
All of these shots are visible from the road. It is a very picturesque drive.
Below is one of the first homes (hidden by the tree on the right) as you approach Big Trails.
Below is one of the abandoned buildings of Big Trails. By the way, there are no signs which announce this location, but you will know when you have arrived in Big Trails because the paved road becomes a gravel one. Here is a satellite map of our route.
The next four shots are of a ranch that has been in the same family for over a hundred years. The lady of the home was most kind in letting us take pictures.
We traveled south beyond Big Trails for a few more miles before deciding to stop and eat our picnic supper. It was raining on an off, and so we ate in the car.
Eventually some of the livestock came to see the newcomers, but they stayed on the other side of the road to watch.
Because it was getting late, we decided to return home to Thermopolis.
The story behind this abandoned truck might be an interesting one. I wonder how many years it will remain exactly where it sits now. 
Here are two more mailboxes I stopped to photograph in Big Trails.
This is another angle of the abandoned home found across the road (also pictured above).
Because of all the moisture and the sun coming out from the clouds, there was a magnificent rainbow. It straddled the highway as we drove home.
If you look closely, you can see the double rainbow.
By the time we got back to Ten Sleep, it was getting dark, but I took this final shot just before entering the town.
For more photographs of Ten Sleep, see the second halves of Big Horn Mountains, part 2 and Castle Gardens near Ten Sleep.
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