Clear Creek Trail, outside of Buffalo, is one of the most idyllic, serene places in the world. In terms of unmatched beauty, there are few places like this trail anywhere in Wyoming, let alone the world.
The trail starts at the Bozeman Trail in Buffalo, winds through the city, through the amazing City Park, around the Soldiers and Sailors Home, parallels Clear Creek, and climbs to the top of Grouse Mountain. The last section of the trail is a series of seventeen switchbacks.
While the entire trail is beautiful, the stretch that runs beside the creek, from Mosier Gulch to Ft. McKinney, is spectacular.
The running creek, the trees, and the landscape make for a wonderful, gentle hike.
The peace on that trail was shattered on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 13.
Two women were walking their dogs on the Clear Creek Trail west of Buffalo. Then, allegedly, Mitchell Robert Wilcox began bludgeoning them with a rock he'd picked up along the trail.
According to police reports, Wilcox, grabbed them, hit them with rocks, shoved them, kicked them, and forced them off the trail, down an embankment, through the creek, and into the brush while they screamed for help.
The women, although seriously injured, hit him back with rocks. They pulled his hair. One of them hollered that there were other people coming up the trail, which there weren't.
Whatever made him stop, he stopped. The two of them climbed out of the creek bottom and sought help.
After a prompt investigation by Johnson County law enforcement, Wilcox was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of aggravated assault and battery. He is held on a $2 million bond.
He is presumed innocent. He will get his day in court.
I have read on social media what people have been saying to each other in Buffalo this week.
Don't go down there. Not alone. Not early. Take the dog, take a gun, take a friend, or don't take the trail at all.
I understand every bit of that concern.
Sometimes, really bad things happen that are out of our control. This was one of those really bad things.
But if avoiding that trail hardens into a habit, one man will have accomplished something no stranger ought to be able to accomplish. He will have wrecked one of the most scenic trails in the world.
Think about what that trail is.
Johnson County leaders had the sense and the patience to build it and keep it up.
Nobody made them.
It got built because people in Buffalo wanted a place where a retired schoolteacher, a kid on a bike, a young mother walking a child outdoors, and an old fellow walking a slow dog could all be out in the same pine shade on the same morning, for free, without asking anybody's permission.
Don't pretend nothing happened. Two women were nearly killed, and they will carry that a long time.
Nobody gets to tell them how to feel about a walking path.
If a person in Buffalo decides to walk in pairs from here on, or carry, or stick to broad daylight, that is a reasonable answer and it is nobody else's business.
What cannot be the answer is an empty trail.
We can't let one man steal our beauty. We have to stand against that kind of loss.
How we respond to terrible things is a measure of our character.
Focusing on the good in life amplifies joy. Giving energy to good things helps them flourish.
Don't let one man take the trail from us.
Be prepared. Be sensible. But do not let anyone steal our beauty.
Take the time. Go take a walk.
And if you get to Buffalo, make sure you hike the Clear Creek Trail.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 to 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House. He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
