Freddogs - man, did your post ever take me back!!!!!!
In the fall of 1977 I had been living in Casper for just over a year and had just quit one job and had a week off before starting my next job. I had seen a huge mounted elk in one of the gun stores in Casper, and the plaque said it had been taken in the Green Mountains.
So I decided to go there on a backpack hunt. I was able to drive up to some type of a primitive campground (from the highway between Muddy Gap and Jeffrey City). I parked there and headed up into the mountain with my backpack. When I got part way up, I turned east and worked my way in that direction.
One thing I didn't like - I wanted to get back away from the roads. But about every mile or so, I would come across a dirt road heading further up into the mountain. I never saw anyone on those roads, but I still wanted to get away from them.
I made my first camp at the edge of a meadow, a few yards into the woods. I had made a fire, and put it out before I went to sleep. But that fire had worked its way down into the woods duff, and about every hour or two, it would flare-up and the flames would awaken me! I had to get out of the tent and put the fire out, but then a few hours later it would happen all over again. I didn't have much water to spare to really put it out good. But the thing is - when I got up, I could hear elk in that nearby meadow and they were there all night long, but they were gone in the morning. I didn't get a shot that trip - but that might have been a good thing because, as an elk hunting rookie, it never occurred to me to figure out how I was going to get an elk out of there by myself!
Anyway, I really love that area. There is nothing spectacular about the range - It is a long, but narrow, range, trending generally E-W, relatively low (maybe 9000 ft elev at the top) and is wooded all the way to the top. As I recall, there is not much water up there. There are some small creeks but I'm not sure if they have water year-around. The lower edges of the N side of the range have some aspens and open parks mixed with pines. After you get up a bit higher there aren't as many aspens, mostly just pines, and some open meadows.
The road I took in back in '77 is still there, and I think it is now marked with a BLM sign. The other roads I noticed on my backpack may be closed these days - I know the BLM is closing a lot of roads here in Montana, so you may want to check with them or get a BLM travel map and check it out. I'm pretty sure that range is all BLM land, and not US Forest Service (but I might be wrong).
The back side of the range drops right down into the Red Desert. When you get on top, and look south, you can see for miles and miles out into the Red Desert.
