Museum of the Mountain Man - Pinedale, Wyoming

Another museum which had been on my must see list for some time is the Museum of the Mountain Man. It's worth a side trip to see it if you're headed to Grand Teton. It actually has Jim Bridger's rifle !  There have been many books and movies about the mountain man and most are not based on fact. In reality, the era of the mountain man only lasted about twenty years and was made possible primarily because of the popularity of the beaver hat. As soon as that style of hat died out, so did the mountain man. Movies portray the mountain man as a bearded illiterate. In reality, most were very well educated and often sat around reading Shakespeare. Few had beards. The reason they did not grow beards : They wanted to marry an Indian woman to feel safer traveling and living among the various tribes. Just north of Pinedale is a small BLM campground where we parked for $5.00 a night. In the morning two moose were grazing just outside the park. This is a great place to park.