#cloud peak

CLOUD PEAK  クラウドピーク

Another one bites the dust.........

Excerpt from this story from the Casper Star Tribune:

Cloud Peak Energy, the coal giant that operates two Wyoming mines, filed for bankruptcy Friday amid mounting debt and declining demand.

The filing follows months of troubling signs for the Powder River Basin operator, which for a time avoided the economic difficulties of its competitors but had of late experienced growing financial challenges as the market for its product diminished.

The company chose not to make a $1.8 million debt payment on March 15 and received additional extensions in April. A new deadline to pay its debt was set for 11:59 p.m. Friday. Instead, the coal firm filed bankruptcy paperwork in federal court in Delaware hours before the deadline was set to expire.

The company’s filing indicated it had, as of the end of the year, nearly $929 million in assets and almost $635 million in total debts.

“Glacier at foot of Cloud Peak, Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming, looking west, northwest. Johnson County, Wyoming. August, 1902. Published in U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 51, Plate 36-A. 1906. Published in U.S. Geological Survey Folio 142, figure 9. 1906.”

Photographer: Nelson Horatio Darton

After seeing some familiar faces still working in the forest, we left for a long day. We were going to explore the southern end of the forest. This area is known as Longmire Country, as the beloved book series by Craig Johnson takes place here. Since we are both Longmire fans, we took a required pit stop in Buffalo. This is an adorable little town just on the east side of the Powder River district of the Big Horns. This is also where Longmire takes place, though renamed as Durant. This book/show series has accidentally infiltrated my life in more ways than one: Husband worked for the Forest Service when it was being filmed in the little town he lived in, in New Mexico, and I worked for the Forest Service where the books were written and take place. My favorite shop here is Gigi’s Upscale Retail. I think they must have a time machine secreted away somewhere, because the overwhelming abundance of vintage dresses here, many still with tags, is astounding (and at amazing prices, too). We spent way too long digging through rack after rack of items, adding to our try-on piles, trying them on and flouncing about like the ghosts we are.

On to a few shops, where we petted Craig Johnson’s dog, Annie, but did not pet Craig Johnson. After eating at the Busy Bee Café, of Longmire fame, we headed out of town towards a hike into the Cloud Peak Wilderness. A designated wilderness means that only those on foot, pack animal, or devices assisting the disabled may enter. No cars, motorbikes, ATV’s, or even bicycles are allowed. In fact, no machines allowed at all – trail work in the wilderness must be done with saws since chainsaws are outlawed. This means there is as little human influence as possible, mostly all you’ll see from humans are trails. This trail actually plays an important role in the first Longmire book, even though I didn’t know it when I first hiked it years ago. 

I didn’t expect to complete this hike either, since it’s harder, longer, and over rougher terrain, but I did. I was definitely pushing myself during it and felt it afterwards; but to be able to show someone this gorgeous place after experiencing all of these things along in the past was special. 

During this hike we noticed something interesting: 

Bears had clawed up a tree! Or just one bear, more than likely, who am I to know what they’ve been up to. One bear or three bears; it’s a super cool thing to notice. 

Mirror Lake was our destination; surrounded by alpine mountains, lodgepole pine, and wildflowers. It’s a serene and cold lake that’s great for feet with degenerative joints; but I can’t go in above the ankles or I’d become a popsicle. I can’t expect Ashton to carry a popsicle my size all the way out of the wilderness.

The very long drive home was filled with the stink of the Worland oil fields, a rogue giant herd of elk in the road (really the road is rogue, not the elk), and a group of stranded young men in a van. They didn’t know how to use their gears going down a steep mountain and burned out their brakes. It was almost midnight, and when they flagged us down, they were distraught to say the least. I offered to make a call for them at a place I knew had service, but after I explained how to use their gears and coast down the mountain, they felt they could make it to the little town of Shell at the base. I hope they made it down safely. Strange end to a long night!

“Cloud Peak,  from the east, looking up south fork of South Piney Creek, Bighorn Mountains, Johnson County, Wyoming.  August, 1902.”

Photographer: Nelson Horatio Darton

Published in U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 32, Plate 26-A. 1905, Published in U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 51, Plate 32. 1906.

“Glacier, Cloud Peak,  Bighorn Mountains. Photo by J. Stimson. Johnson County, Wyoming.”

Taken 1903

Published in U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 51, Plate 36-B. 1906.