Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Outlaw Cave Campground, Wyoming: Livin' in the Wild, Wild, West

         


         Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch used Outlaw Cave as a hideout to stash stolen money and cattle during their fugitive days in the late 1800s.
         One hundred and thirty years later Outlaw Cave Campground retains that Wild West spirit.
       
         After setting up camp Tim and I walked the premises, searching for the trail into the canyon leading to the Middle Fork of the Powder River.  We passed a neighboring campsite and spied a young man reading in the shade of his pickup truck.
       
         "Where's the trail to the river?", Tim asked.  "And how's the fishing?"
         "Right across the way", he said.  "The fishing here is great.  It's my favorite place on earth."
       
          As the young man stood to face us we noticed a hand gun strapped prominently to his chest.

          We returned to our campsite where we met another camper, a gentleman from North Dakota.
       
         "Will you two be hiking into the canyon?", he asked.  "My knees are too bad to make the trek, but when my wife hiked down to the river yesterday I sent "The Judge" along with her."
          "The Judge" by the way, is a short-barrel revolver, capable of firing both shotgun and pistol ammo.
       
           Are these folks expecting The Hole in the Wall Gang to reappear?  Do they have their own stolen goods to protect?  No.
          "There's bear and mountain lion around here", said Mr. North Dakota.  (By way of explanation for all this open-carrying, I presume.)
         
           Our plan for tomorrow is to hike into the canyon to the river; we'll take our chances with the lions and the bears.  Humans are more of a threat in the backcountry than wildlife and, in any case, we wouldn't consider taking firearms into the wilderness.

Could these caves by the river be the ones used by Butch Cassidy to stash
his stolen goods?
           The following morning, under crystalline blue skies, we hiked the trail to the river—no bears, lions, or outlaws in sight.  Tim fished for several hours while I hiked back to our campsite to relax on the plateau overlooking the gorge.
           Tim returned in the mid-afternoon and reported fantastic fishing in the pristine, remote waters of the Middle Fork of the Powder.  A little later our neighbor from North Dakota walked by camp.
       
           "How was your day in the canyon?", he asked.  "Did you have your guns?"

                                                                          ****
         
            It's been a long time since outlaws inhabited the isolated high plains and steep-walled canyons of north-central Wyoming.
            But, if Butch Cassidy and his gang ever return to this region of the Wild West, the gun-totin' campers in Outlaw Cave Campground will be ready for them.

You can see our campsite tucked into the shade of the trees.
(Green tent, white vehicle.)

Overview of Outlaw Cave Campground from the rocky outcrop above our site.
Outlaw Cave Trailhead is near the car parked at the center of the photo.
The campground is remote; the nearest town, Kaycee, is 26 miles away
and boasts a population of 274 people.





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here, here.

I lived through Brooklyn in the ‘80’s. Not the hipster-chill place it is now, but a place where my apartment was burglarized five times in three months and I was the only one in my building who hadn’t been mugged. And yet none of us would have ever considered “carrying”. It wasn’t what civilized people did. We’d lived through the tragedy of Bernie Goetz and witnessed the lives ruined because of his racism, his stupidity, and a gun. I learned in my twenties that I could take care of myself and get out of difficult situations without having to resort to carrying a weapon that could end lives.
As I got older and had conversations with gun owners, I saw that this ‘security blanket’ often masked insecurities and fears, and was based not on interaction with others, travel, and broad experience, but on close-minded ignorance and a skewed concept of the world.
I don’t know anyone who has successfully protected themselves or their family with a gun. I do know people who have been killed by a family member with a gun, people who have killed themselves with a family member’s gun, and people who were living their lives as 6 year-old school children and teachers who were killed by guns.
I’ve lived 56 years of camping, hiking, walking inner city streets at 3:00 am, visiting parts of the world that were completely foreign to me and sometimes considered dangerous. Not once did I ever wish that I had a gun.
Grizzly and polar bear country—-those are the only places I can imagine maybe needing a gun, since I don’t hunt. But then most gun owners these days don’t hunt either.

One Day in America said...

Thanks for reading, and for your comments!

Anonymous said...

I've camped at Outlaw Cave and fished the Middle Powder. Both were as splendid as you describe. I've camped, hiked, backpacked, and fished all over the Western US all without the company of a firearm and never felt unsafe. But I as a gun owner, I realize there are people who exercise their right to bare arms either as a political statement or in response to perceived threats. America is a diverse place and it takes all kinds.

One Day in America said...

I appreciate your comments, anonymous. Thanks for reading!

1HappyHiker said...

Well first of all, I love the location of your campsite and the way it was tucked into the shade of the trees. And I love the fact that the campground itself is so remote with the nearest town being 26 miles away, and that the town’s population is only 274 people. All in all, it sounds like my kind of place!

It was interesting to read that even though 130 years have passed since Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch used Outlaw Cave as a hideout to stash stolen money and cattle, the Outlaw Cave Campground retains the Wild West spirit. However, I’m in total agreement with your statement: “. . . in any case, we wouldn't consider taking firearms into the wilderness.”

And lastly, I was happy to read that there was fantastic fishing for Tim to enjoy!

John

One Day in America said...

Hi John,

I had a feeling you would appreciate a place like Outlaw Cave Campground—it truly is a place to get away from it all.

Tim and I would definitely go there again. As noted, the fishing was great, and we also loved the solitude, the scenery and the setting (even with a few outlaw "wanna-be's" sharing the campground with us!)

As always, thanks for being a faithful follower of my blog!

Soumyendu said...

Wonderful writing, Rita! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and its good to see you posting!

One Day in America said...

Hi Soumyendu!

Great to hear from you again!
I haven't checked my "reading list" lately but it seems my list has been hijacked by a blogger who posts something about every hour—so if you've had a recent post it might have gotten buried in my list somewhere!

But, anyway, I'm glad you read and enjoyed this post. I had fun writing it!

Thanks as always for reading and commenting!

Anonymous said...

Currently reading a CJ Box novel with a scene in Hole in the Wall C. Came across your blog. Thanks for encouraging us to get out there! I too have hiked, loved, photographed, and explored the west since '67. The current heat, drought and fires are deeply disturbing to my love of that special part of our world.

One Day in America said...

Dear Anonymous,

I'm happy to hear that you found and enjoyed my blog. Thanks!

I share your dismay about the current state of the natural world in the western US—and elsewhere.

While I'm grateful for the many outdoor experiences I've had—and it sounds as though you've had many decades of western adventuring as well—I fear the special places we've loved are deteriorating and diminishing, perhaps beyond our ability to save them. And it makes me sad.

I appreciate your comments.