Visitors could transport themselves back in time by stepping behind the Grand Encampment Museum in Encampment last weekend. At the annual Mountain Man Rendezvous and Living History Days, the smell of campfire smoke drifted over a collection of white tents on a grassy rise as men, women and children in period dress roamed the gathering. Occasional sounds of musket shots punctuated the scene as contestants in the black powder shoot had a go at the bullseye.
“Mountain men” sold their tanned hide products and other crafts. A sign in front of one tent encouraged customers to haggle over prices.
Adults and children alike tried their hands at wielding historic weaponry, including 7-year-old Vivi Bellio, who watched her tomahawk sail through the air, and over the target. She’d just begun her practice of the craft that day, she said.