The Festival features a parade of antique machinery and cars, most particularly TRACTORS.  The tractors and small engines, old equipment and toys are on display while tractor pulls are major entertainment for visitors.   There is a good, old-fashioned melodrama for indoor entertainment put on by some extremely good actors living in the community.

I am a tractor and farm toy collector, so I’m ‘deep’ into Copper Days and know that you would enjoy every bit of it.

Call Riverside Lodge today to make reservations for your antique visit to the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Just as Wyoming is an historic area, the rest of the WORLD goes round.

When you are visiting the community around Riverside Lodge, you will be shoulder to shoulder with people who have visited history and tracked the history of Wyoming all around the world to Argentina, following the paths of the infamous team, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

In the December 13, 2009 edition of The Argentine Post, an article by John D. Farr reminisces about the Wild Bunch in Wyoming and Argentina. Farr spends part of his time in Encampment, where he visits friends, including Jerry Paxton, Encampment resident and Carbon County Commissioner. Farr spends the rest of his time in Argentina at Junin de Los Andes and Patagonia, where he traveled with Paxton this fall as they through the back roads of the Andes.

Farr’s interesting article tells of the visit to a cabin that is historically connected to Butch Cassidy. There is a photo of that cabin, plus other spots where Cassidy and company were supposed to have been. There is an excellent photo of one assortment of the Wild Bunch that has a much brighter looking group than some photos present. Maybe the photographer had a better monkey than others.

Check out the link to a news source from the other side of the equator which is linked historically with Wyoming. Did the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy survive their ventures into South America and return to the US to become quiet old men? Farr thinks so.

You can participate in the continuing history of Wyoming by visiting the state, the mountains and making yourself very comfortable at Riverside Lodge. Call 307-710-5660  today for your reservations.

A recent article in the Casper Star Tribune about the wilderness around the Sierra Madre Mountain Range entitled “New Help for Beetle Fight” outlines some steps being proposed to control one of Natures little varmints, the bark beetle.   The bark beetle is considered to be responsible for timber destruction in over 2.5 million acres in the Rocky Mountain area.  Of the forests affected, the Medicine Bow NF seems to be the hardest hit.

Nature is TOUGH and one of the principles of multi-use management is to intervene when the wild things become destructive to the ecological system.  Intervention with the bark beetle has been too slow, but any intervention would be better than none.  We want our forests to be managed for the enjoyment and prosperity of the guests who come to Riverside Lodge.

Calvin Hazelwood was declared the winner with a great photo of coyote pups playing. There were some other impressive entries that you can view at the Carbon County Photostream

There is all the information needed to make an entry in the NEXT contest, The Carbon Country FALL Photo Contest. You would expect the certain caveat that the photo must be taken in Carbon County.

When you’re wondering about a project and fulfilling trip to the mountains and high desert country, you can’t miss getting some gorgeous photos that could be profitable, will certainly be therapeutic for the artist in you, will make your mouth water for a chance to try it again.

Riverside Lodge is a perfect starting point for a photographic tour. You will find generous, comfortable accommodations that for the extent of your trip and a warm welcome for you to return in the next photograph and scenery season. Contact us today at 307-710-5660 about reservations. Bring your camera! We have the internet connection for you to be able to put them right up on your own Facebook wall, blog, Flickr account or other online gallery.

In Saratoga, the North Platte is truly a part of Main Street  and when their little hearts are happy or the bugs just right, you can see the trout leap while watching from the bridge or along the shore.  From the beginning the town as embraced the river and the fishing there.

This year, according to a recent article in the Casper Star Tribune, written by Janice Kurbjun, entitled “Saratoga: Where the trout leap in Main Street”,  the library at the Saratoga Elementary School is extending that embrace into a strong learning project about the Valley, the weather, wildlife, the soils, recreation for locals and visitors, and of course, the ability to write about it all.  They will learn what their teachers, parents and the community knows; they can write and express themselves successfully.

Librarian Ceile Fisher arranged for area experts from the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlings Conservation District, the Wyoming Game Commission,  the BLM Fisheries, the USDA Forest Service, the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge and the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery to make presentations to the students in each of their fields about the environment that makes Saratoga the little town where the trout leap in main street and where kids grow up surrounded by mountain beauty and solitary peace.

Presentations were interactive game type activities that let the kids get a picture of ecological life along the river.

The crowning glory of the project that Fisher hopes to maintain and keep on a four year rotation so all kids get to learn through the resources is the LITTLE Fish tank in the Library where everyone at the school anxiously awaits a hatch of new trout grow large enough to be released at the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery.

The news just keeps going around and around till we’ve all seen it Downstream at Riverside Lodge.

Annually, the Grand Encampment Museum opens the season with a active, historical weekend in May. The 2009 event is planned for May 23 through May 25. Hours at the Museum will be 10:00 am until 5:00 pm for tours through the historical collection in the various buildings.

The beautifully maintained grounds at the Museum are open for walking thorough at any time, but researching and viewing of the interior collections is limited to the hours when the buildings are open.

The area around Encampment, Wyoming, a town developed to meet copper mining needs in the very early 1900′s has been home to many interesting characters. Fortunately for readers today, there is a healthy population of writers in the Carbon County area who have chronicled the tales of the early days.

Lori Van Pelt, a local writer, has begun a series of books about the people of the past. The first in the series, Dreamers & Schemers: Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past, features profiles from Carbon County specifically.

The historical elements of the Sierra Madre Mountains feature mining, ranching, logging and recreational adventures. The area has long been attractive for vacation time from larger cities in the region and from all over the world.

Contact us at Riverside Lodge about spending the opening weekend for the Museum or any other time that you can make a mountain get-away to learn more for yourself about the history of these dramatic, quiet mountains. While you are waiting, you can enjoy a good read with Van Pelt’s book

Dreamers & Schemers: Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past (Van Pelt, Lori, Dreamers and Schemers Series, No. 1.)

According to an article on the University of Wyoming News webpage, the Geographic Bee was begun in 1989 to address the need for more geographic understanding and knowledge among students in the United States. http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=29923

Riverside Lodge offers visitors beauty, solitude, and peace in a community that supports the schools which are such a deep part of these mountain roots.

Check in with me at Riverside Lodge to arrange for your visit to our corner of Wyoming.