From Bighorn Canyon it’s only a short drive to the Bighorn Mountains. Short, but very steep. The road clings to the side of the mountains as it ascends, hugs the mountain tightly as it sharply curves this way and that. The road does an excellent job of keeping me alert. Of course, I’m also gasping at the views as the world gets smaller and smaller below me.
The road seems to be haven for motorcyclists, many of whom pass me along the route.
I stop to visit the Medicine Wheel. This sacred site is still used by American Indians, particularly in the month of June, when individuals or families come to pray and leave offerings in the form of dreamcatchers, cloth or pouches filled with tobacco.
There is a ranger monitoring the site, who is happy to chat about the Medicine Wheel and what archeologists have found at the site. I learn that the road I used to walk to the site has been here for thousands of years, used by the Crow Tribes. It’s magnificent to see that this site that has been used by American Indians for thousands of years, unchanged by modernity (bar the wider road and the vault toilets at the top of the hill.) It makes me sad that more is not known or taught about the indigenous people, their histories, rituals and ways of life, even in Canadian schools…I remember doing one unit on this in elementary school, but mostly the idea is that history in the Americas started when the Europeans ‘discovered’ the land. I aim to read more fiction written by the Indigenous people in hopes to learn more about them. I’ve recently read Louise Eldrich’s Love Medicine, and will soon begin an ‘author binge’ to read some other of her works.
The rest of the Bighorn National Forest is a paradise for people who have ATVs. There are many of them around, pushing dust into the air as they rip along the gravel roads. It does look fun. I try to have fun driving my car along the gravel roads, too, but hearing her makes new sounds forces me to drive a little slower than the ATVs…
The mountains are full of lakes and beautiful forest trails.
The descending drive into Sheridan is equally curvy and fun: check your breaks and drive in a lower gear.
Sheridan itself is a nice town with a vibrant main street. I happen to be there during a rainy afternoon and I’m wearing a rain coat – the rain is heavy: this tickles the clerks at the book shop who immediately ask me where I’m from, the rain coat alerting them to the fact that I am not from anywhere around here, because it never rains here in the summer and so no one would ever think to have a rain coat, or even an umbrella, within arms reach, to use. Now that I know this, I’m a little self-conscious walking through the downtown – they’re right – I am the only one wearing a rain coat, but at least I’m dry; everyone else is drenched, and looking at me, I imagine, with envy 🙂
The book shop doesn’t have the novel I want (Guthrie’s The Way West which follows the book I finished The Big Sky – I long to have Dick Summers as company again.) They direct me to a used book store a few blocks down the street, and once in there I get lost here, on purpose, this maze of sweet smelling, yellowed with age, books. I find 4 books which total $2.o0, two of which are Guthrie – this should satisfy my author binge. Perfect.
My next stop is Black Tooth Brewing Company where I get their taster flight and leave feeling very happy, indeed.
Books and beer. Thanks, Sheridan.