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| Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and Buffalo Bill Dam, WY | | -
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| | Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and Buffalo Bill Dam, WY | | | |
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Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and Buffalo Bill Dam, WY
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| Scenic Drive | 63.00 Miles |
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| | Scenic Drive | 63.00 Miles | 63 Hrs | | 1.00 mph |
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| no partners | | After leaving our base camp at the K-Bar-Z guest ranch Mrs. OH and I drove 55 miles to the town of Cody, WY. In Cody we would set up our second base camp of the trip starting in a hotel and then in a VRBO apartment. Both places were within walking distance of restaurants and other sights in town. This did me no good with my recently acquired hiking disability but was much more to the liking of Mrs. OH compared to the isolated rustic guest ranch.
The drive to Cody started out on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (HW296) which descends through part of the Absaroka Mountains from its intersection with the Beartooth Highway (HW212) on its way to connect to HW120 in the Bighorn Basin. We had planned on spending a couple days hiking on trails along this route but had to cross those off the list. We found the CJ Byway to be worthy of a scenic drive triplog.
This highway was named for Chief Joseph because it follows part of the route his band of Nez Perce Indians took to elude the US Cavalry in the Fall of 1887 on their attempted escape to Canada. (The Nez Perce War) Our first stop was the Sunlight Bridge Overlook. This bridge crosses the deep cliff walled gorge of Sunlight Creek which flows northeast to its confluence with the North Fork Yellowstone River.
Next was a stop at the Dead Indian Pass Overlook on Dead Indian Hill. According to accounts the Nez Perce left a wounded warrior on this hill during their escape. He was discovered and killed by Army scouts. Thus the origination of the name “Dead Indian Hill”. The highway switchbacks up a steep hillside to the pass and there are some great views from there.
We arrived at Cody too early to check into our hotel, so we drove out to the Buffalo Bill Dam on the North Fork Shoshone River. It’s only 7.7 miles from downtown Cody on the highway which leads to the Yellowstone Park East Entrance. This was a worthy side trip so I’ve included it in this triplog.
William “Buffalo Bill” Cody along with a consortium of businessmen founded Cody in 1896. Foreseeing a need to provide irrigation water for the Buffalo Horn Basin, they formed the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company. Their plans envisioned a dam on the Shoshone River to meet that need. In 1902, the Newlands Reclamation Act created the U.S. Reclamation Service and decreed that all funds received by the federal government from the disposition and sale of public lands in the 16 western states were to be used to construct dam and irrigation systems that were too large and too costly to be undertaken by the private sector. The Shoshone River Valley Project was the first begun after the passage of the Newlands Act, a dam site was selected, and construction began in 1905 followed by completion in 1910. At the time of its completion it was the tallest dam in the world at a height of 325 feet. |
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