The Bottom of Wyoming

That girl and I overnighted at the bottom of Wyoming.  The bottom of Wyoming is a countryside of high plateaus and open views.  Clouds might take all day cross a place like this.  Pewter-colored mountains assemble in the distance.

The landscape seems perpetually rising up or swooping down.  Often, raw earth and stone lie exposed to the elements.  Where good grass is found, you either find a horse grazing or you imagine one.

To arrive here, we drove ten hours and crossed-over four mountain passes.  Two of these passes reached summits above 9,000 feet.  We crossed red deserts and chocolate-colored rivers.  We traversed vast inclines filled with bare aspen trees and patches of snow. We skirted coal country and oil fields.

The bottom of Wyoming is fine, thank you.  But the best part is that this place is connected to Montana above us.

Today, we will drive eight-hours through the handsomest measures of Wyoming and then ruffle the loose skirts of Idaho.

Today, we drive home to Montana where the mountains finally shake hands with the clouds.

--Mitchell Hegman