Mouth of the Canyon Trail

Wednesday - June 25, 2014

I headed out to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in the morning hoping to get a campsite (they do not take reservations).

The campground is 12 miles from Highway 14A.  It is a great drive even if you do not get a site. The visitor center is in the town of Lovell,  but they were paving the parking lot so I was not able to stop to pick up any maps or brochures. There is a $5.00 daily fee to enter the area or you can use a Federal Parks Pass.

There are two campgrounds in this area and I stayed at Horseshoe Bend Campground. The sites are very large and they now have 19 sites with electric and water for a fee of $15.00, the other sites are free.

Horseshoe Bend is a place to go if you like boating, or if you just want a quiet place to getaway. There is no cell service or wi-fi, but I was able to get a weak signal at the top of the canyon to send a message to my daughter with my location.

While circling around the campground loops to pick out a site, I noticed a sign for a short hike. After I got settled in my site and ate lunch, I decided to walk this trail.

The trail starts out on a service road and then you follow a path to the edge of the canyon. When you get to the middle of the trail there is a beautiful view of the water at the bottom of the canyon. It is a circular trail that crosses over itself at a few points, or you can just do an out and back hike. There are not many trees and the trees that are here are short and provide no shade. If you decide to walk this trail, make sure you wear a hat and bring along some water. (Yes, I did both, it is very hot and dry here)

View from the overlook at the center of the trail.

Later in the day I walked down to the marina, there is a small store and a large playground and a swimming beach. There were 2 people fishing from the shore, I did not see anyone else around this area. I wonder if this place is busy on weekends.

It started to rain while I was at the beach area

I walked fast back to the RV

and we had a heavy rain from 8pm to 9pm

lots of wind, rain and lightning.

It was still light out after the rain and I took a short walk around the campground loop hoping for some sunset pictures, there was a lot of lightning far away behind the mountains NE of where I was. I took a bunch of pictures but could not capture the lightning show.