Length: 68.0 miles / 109.4 km
Time to Allow: 2 hours minimum, but plan for more time to stop and enjoy the backway's scenery and recreation.
Witness for Yourself the Oregon Trail
Come cross the same creek through which the early pioneers waded! During the years of 1841-1868, more than 350,000 emigrants crossed Wyoming on their way to Utah, Oregon, and California. You can still see tracks and ruts left from their wagons.
Enjoy Breathtaking Scenery
Drive this 68-mile Backway to see majestic mountains, colorful bright wildflowers, and willowed river valleys with sheep grazing in the prairies. It's not uncommon while driving this Backway to see moose, elk, eagles, and the enormous sandhill cranes.
View the Rich Prehistoric History
Not far from Big Spring Backway, lies Fossil Butte National Monument. The fossils that come from this historic lake bed are among the most perfectly preserved in the world. Visitors can view complete fossils of mammals, reptiles, insects, fishes, and plants. This monument and surrounding fossil basin represent a series of three lakes. This ancient ecosystem was much like today's Florida Everglades.
Whether you ski the steepest slopes or have never carved more than a snow angel in the stuff, snow – and plenty of it – is one thing you’re certain to find in Wyoming every winter. And while there’s something to be said for appreciating the soothing backdrop of our snowscapes from inside a warm place, you’re not going to hear the phrase “snowed in” often around here. More snow means more excuses to get out in it. Here are a few good ways. read more
Providing visitors access to Yellowstone Park's northeast entrance, the Beartooth Highway makes its way across the rugged Beartooth Mountain Range in Montana and Wyoming. The road is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies and provides dramatic views, read more
