Western Skies Campground
Riverton, Wyoming
A couple of years ago a campground called Boony Bash opened in Riverton, Wyoming and the owner posted several glowing ads on Facebook for equestrian travelers. So, I made a reservation to stop here and paid for a week in advance.
Imagine my dismay to learn the place had sold and been re-christened Western Skies. The new owner agreed to let us stay and honor our pre-payment.
For $50/night, we got full hook-up and the horses had a large one acre pasture. There are only about five campsites available and for most of our stay there was one other non-equestrian camper. They were working as vendors for the local County fair. No laundry room, no shower house, a couple of picnic tables, and a fire ring. The pipe corrals and pastures for the horses are in desperate need of maintenance and have been neglected.
We visited the County Fair on the last day and it was the smallest county fair we have seen. No midway rides, a few vendors and food trucks, and a couple of exhibition halls featuring quilts and crafts. Mostly, the fair belonged to the 4Hers - kids who raise farm animals and exhibit them.
This bunny rabbit was the most unusual bunny I have ever seen. We could have stayed at the fairgrounds for about $20/night after the county fair was over, but the fairgrounds are pretty shabby.
It rained on and off most of our stay. Apparently, Wyoming has a monsoon season and we are in it. This means most days a large thunderstorm comes through with winds up to 70 mph and hail the size of grapes. The storm lasts one to three hours and then is gone as if it never happened. The landscape is mostly flat with buttes and canyons. There are trails around the campground and we did manage to get a short ride in. I didn’t want to ride more than 30 minutes due to Lennox’ heart condition. He did fine, but we are at 5,000 ft elevation. The trails are mostly flat and take you through the prairie.
The town of Riverton is a decent size - about 1,500 people. It has a Walmart, the usual array of fast food places (Wendy’s, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.), but not a lot of much else. We had gone into town for lunch and our truck wouldn’t start when we finished our lunch. We got a jump start from a local and drove to a Les Schwab auto repair. No available Uber to get back to our campsite, so we walked around the area while we waited for the repair. We left $1,000 poorer, but we now have two new batteries and a new alternator in the truck.
On to Thermopolis this morning…