Fort Laramie

I'm presently sitting in Granite Creek campground - 20 miles from nowhere in Bridger Teton National Forest in Wyoming.  We are 10 miles up a bumpy dirt road at the end of a box canyon surrounded by massive mountains, and are the only people at this campground.  It's Thunder-storming and I'm trying to get caught up on blogs due to hectic schedule and no internet.  I'm putting the blog together and will upload it when I have some sort of connection.

But that's my present circumstance - lets get back to the Trail.

Just prior to visiting the Gurnsey ruts, we visited Ft. Laramie.

Holy Crap...  a lightning bolt just hit 100 feet or so from here....

Anyway - Ft Laramie was built in 1839 and saw service till 1890 at which point the frontier was considered closed.

It served as a resupply point for westward bound emigrants, a military base from which to protect the settlers, and finally a base from which to wage the indian wars.

This is the outside of the Calvary Barracks 120 enlisted men on top floor and 27 NCO's  (like seargents) on the first floor along with a mess hall, and other service facilities.

this is the inside. top floor ..  60 men per side

All the surviving buildings were decorated with authentic period pieces.  We are including just a few pictures here to give you a flavor of the place.

This is one of the officers quarters.

I tell you - If you like historic Army stuff - this place would knock your socks off cause it's full of it.

There must be 15 buildings and they are chock full of China, Weapons, Uniforms, and all of the things that a 19th century Army base would have needed to function.  Very impressive.  There were alot of Europeans here, we spoke with a gentleman from Germany and he said they were there to see the old American West.  Seems that Cowboys & Indians and the Old West is a big draw in Europe.