Winters in Wyoming? (Laramie, Cody, Jackson: live, cost, trailer)

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by jehu

I appreciate you starting this thread Elkhunter.

For many years, I have said that I HATE winter. I think it started when I spent one winter in San Diego, CA in Navy A school, and then the next winter on the equator aboard ship. I lost all cold tolerance, and when I visited home in Michigan, the only thing I could do is sit by the wood stove.

I have toughened back up some since then. Here in TN we have cold winters too. They are just not as long or as gloomy as in Michigan. In Michigan, they have the lake affect that makes the skies overcast in winter. You don't see much sun from November to March. Not to mention cold, cold, cold, dark, ugly, and oppressively gloomy. The cold complicates life. Cars don't start, the well freezes, and things seem to break more often. The pain of the cold the cuts you to the bone keeps you inside as much as possible. When it thaws, it is mud and still cold.

How does Wyoming compare? I would say you probably don't have the lake affect with constant gloomy skies. Perhaps your cold is less humid (though I know that cold is cold). Perhaps you have a greater variance in day to day temperature? Maybe the environment and scenery make it more tolerable? I am hoping all the above apply and maybe you could add a few more things to make winter in Wyoming a little more positive than how it is in other places.

Thanks

hahahaha That is so funny. I've been to San Diego and it was for "A" school. Been across the equator. Spent 18 years in Uncle Sam's canoe club. haha

But I've spent a lot more years in Wyoming.

You learn to live with it. You abide or you die. Learn to live with it and it can be your friend. Want to fight it??? You die. I've walked in front of the vehicle while my brother drove. Was the only way we could find the highway. 10 minutes, we'd switch. Please, have nobody tell you that the Shirly Basin is a nice place to live. They are lying. hahahaha I'm from Sheridan but did my time down in Hanna so me and Shirley have had an argument or two. hahaha Learn to live with her and she'll take care of you. Fight her, she'll kick your butt. She kicked my butt a time or two. haha

Someplace around here, we have a list of what to carry in the winter. It's a good list that all of us have become comfortable with. But, truth be known, we don't have enough truck to haul all the crap. We can get by with a lot less, and we have. haha

The list was drawn up with what we wanted to be comfortable with. What could we survive with? If you are a novice, pay close attention to the list. If you are experienced, that's different.

[Ticky909]

It's mostly the wind that makes a wyoming winter different right? I can't picture it being drastically colder than colorado, since it's not much further north, but the winds on average higher over most of the state. I hear north dakota has the worst winter in the lower 48, anybody know if thats a fair statement?

[Grannysroost]

And then there is a freeway, a few highways, and the donkey trails, and depending on where you're at when it is snowing and blowing will depend on where you get. We were on a donkey trail near the Keyhole, so not to far to go to get to the highway or freeway, but sometimes just was not going to get there. The donkey trail we lived on was not plowed by anyone, but the people that lived there. So the message was to pay attention and get to town before it would hit, then relax and just enjoy it. I loved the storms if I could just bunk-up in the cabin and watch

Now there is the summer where we were in the trees, and the average temperature for the summer was around 103, sometimes would get to 115, which is when we headed for the mountains by Sheridan or Buffalo, but that is another season!!!

[MRVphotog]

Originally Posted by Ticky909

It's mostly the wind that makes a wyoming winter different right? I can't picture it being drastically colder than colorado, since it's not much further north, but the winds on average higher over most of the state. I hear north dakota has the worst winter in the lower 48, anybody know if thats a fair statement?

Again, it depends on which part of the states your talking about. The front range of CO is warmer than Wyoming. It can get fairly chilly in Denver but it can also be in the 50's in the middle of the winter.

When I lived in Laramie we used to go down to Ft Collins once in awhile for shopping, the awesome bars and see if we could stir up some trouble with CSU students. The weather in Ft Collins tho just 60 miles down the road was always a month ahead. Snow still on the ground in Laramie but flowers blooming and people mowing the lawn in April, for example.

Places like Frazier, CO can get real cold.

Course, that was a few years ago, the weather appears to be abit diferent now.

[ElkHunter]

I think the big thing in Wyoming is the fact that you have miles and miles of nothing. Better fill up now! Cause there ain't no place to fill up later. haha

It was really funny. Somebody posted a while back and said that they had purchased an atlas and they thought it was really stupid that Wyoming didn't print all the roads. They left them all out. Kind of a comic of a map. Then they come up and visited and realized that we didn't print the roads cause there ain't none. hahahaha

Can I get from point A to point B? You betcha. Just gotta pay attention to what your doing. haha You never leave town with a half tank of gas. You never leave town with a half full cooler. Woops, did I say that out loud? haha A cooler full of bottled water is what I meant. haha

But that's the beauty of Wyoming. You can drive miles and miles and see two farm houses. Don't believe me? Drive from Buffalo to Gillette. Count the houses. Course, you'll see a bunch of them when you get close to Gillette, but what do you see about Crazy Woman? If your quick, there's a house way over there. There's just nothing.

So the winters probably aren't any worse then other places, it's just the miles we have to endure the winters. haha

[jehu]

I love anyplace that has a lot of nothing. I don't care much for long, cold, gloomy winters, but there is always a trade off. I also love open country and hate traffic. Where I live here in the cumberland mountains, it is very rural. Our road is a narrow, windy-curvy path with no shoulders and is ten miles until you get to town. You cannot pass anywhere between here and town. It seems that I always get behind an idiot that has to drive slow when going in or coming out. That makes for a lot of frustration. (I wish we could shoot idiot drivers, if for nothing else than to keep them from breeding.) At least out there you can pass, and you probably don't have much traffic anyway. I would gladly trade that for some worse winter weather. The question is, how worse?

[Grannysroost]

Jehu - your road is what I call a donkey trail. There are many of those in Wyoming, to pretty much get to anything remote, or use as a backroad maybe somewhere. I know in the spring where we were in NE WY the ground would turn to slime when wet and the frost coming out, have to keep moving or will be buried up to the door!!! At times of the year - never a dull moment!!!

oh and Elkhunter, what did ya say ya had in that thar 1/2 full-empty cooler???LOL

[jehu]

If you had some or our drivers on those donkey trails, they would be watching you in the rear-view mirror with their mouth open, driving as slow as they can. This is where the term "mouth breathing idiot" came from.

Back to the subject of winters in WY. If there is anyplace that could be said to have the mildest winters in WY, where would that be? Thanks

[ElkHunter]

Yeah, you could say that Sheridan, Buffalo, Banner, Story are all part of the sun belt. Well, kinda. haha

[MRVphotog]

I do remember Sheridan being greener than alot of places in that part of Wyoming. Sure beats Gillette.

There alot of open spaces in Wyo and when I traveled I outfitted my vehicle like a space capsule. If I went off the road I would be warm, waiting for someone to come by, even had a deck of cards for entertainment.

While you might not see many ranches along alot of Wyo roads I found that there are ranches out of sight of the paved state roads. Some are real nice places. You mentioned Shirley Basin, now that might be an exception.