Western road trip, day 8: Wyoming

We got breakfast in Billings and did a little work before hitting the road. We drove to Sheridan, WY as a home base for some hikes and breweries through the day. 

Buffalo sculpture in Sheridan, WY

We stopped at Frackelton's for lunch, where we split an appetizer of some tasty roasted Brussels sprouts with chile sauce and peanuts, Dave got the steak melt sandwich, and I got the winter beet salad. 

We visited the Bighorn National Forest for a couple of hikes in the afternoon; it was nice to get out into the country again.

On the way to Bighorn National Forest

The rise in elevation was over 6,000 feet from Sheridan to the mountains of the forest. The Toyota did it without a problem! We first tried to visit a waterfall hike, but the trail was so rocky and bumpy it was basically undrive-able. Instead, we started with the Medicine Wheel national landmark trail.

Gotta love the retro signs

The trail is 1.5 miles there and back again, visiting a Native American ceremonial arrangement of rocks on a plateau. Super beautiful hike.

Trail for Medicine Wheel hike

The trail snaked up a mountain past the trees and some wooden fences. Easy to social distance here.

Medicine Wheel hike

The whole national forest is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited, definitely one of the most picturesque in the United States (if not the most so). It was like we walked into a Bob Ross painting. 

Wildflowers

Afterward, we caught a cute little hike on our way down the mountain around Sibley Lake; the trails are used for cross-country skiing in the winter time, but right now they were about the cutest little hiking trails I've ever seen.

Sibley Lake

We headed back to Sheridan to try some breweries and hit the hay.

Fabulous cowboy sign in downtown Sheridan

Our thoughts:

• Smith Alley Brewing Co.: very tasty food, we enjoyed the Mexican lager, hazy IPA, stout, and double IPA
• Luminous Brewhouse: very nice roasted poblano beer; the other styles (orange wheat, white IPA, and red ale) were OK
• Black Tooth Brewing: we didn't particularly enjoy any beer here and would recommend the above two breweries before this one. We had the ginger-lime take on a Moscow Mule, a grapefruit beer, the IPA (the best one), and I can't remember the last.

I definitely recommend Sheridan as a stop on a western road trip, especially for the local hikes.

Not staying super long in Wyoming; we're on our way to South Dakota tomorrow!