| s/y Nine of Cups Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge May 2012 |
| Though Seedskadee is not a national park, but rather a national wildlife refuge, it deserves its own page. We learned about it in a tiny blurb on the bottom of a page in the 2012 Wyoming Official Travelers Journal. |
| Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge is located in the very southwest corner Wyoming near the Utah border and includes 26,400 acres (106 km2) of protected lands. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Shoshone Indians inhabited the region since c. 1300 and its name is a derived from the Shoshone word "Sisk-a-dee-agie", which translated means "river of the prairie hen". The refuge lies along the banks of the Green River for a distance of 36 miles (56 km) and the river provides a water source for shrubs and cottonwood trees which flourish in an otherwise arid region. The refuge area was first visited by white explorers in 1811 and was later a crossroads for the Oregon and Mormon Trails; many of the original wagon tracks left by early pioneers can still be seen. |
| We got a kick out of the signs posted along the Refuge's gravel roads. |
| There was lots of wildlife here despite it being mid-day. Left, a red-tailed hawk eyes us suspiciously. Antelope were plentiful and not as shy and timid as they usually are. |
| Four white antelope bums head away... would this be called the bum's rush? |
| Moose browse and tramp along the Green River. A pair of nesting osprey. |
| View en route to Seedskadee...multi-colored buttes on a dun-colored prairie. |
| A trumpeter swan couple calls the Green River home. |
| Lots of wildlife viewing for such a short visit and well worth the gravel road detour. We did not see any sage grouse which inhabit the area nor any bald eagles although we did see nests. Next, we're off to Dinosaur National Monument... with, of course, a few stops along the way. |
| More National Parks and Monuments? More American Odyssey trip? Roadside Americana? Birds of North America? Wildflowers of North America? |
