The title Snake River Valley town of Baggs is located on WYO 70 (paved, but seasonal) at the southern Wyoming boundary. This town can be reached by driving south on WYO 789 from Creston Junction on Interstate-80. The "out of the way" location actually played an important role in the colorful early history, making the area an ideal "rendezvous" for bad guys.
Baggs, Wyoming
Butch Cassidy and his outlaw “Wild Bunch" came here to celebrate holdups in the four-state areas of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. After one $35,000 haul in Wmnemucca, Nevada, the Wild Bunch actually took possession of the town of Baggs and "threw bullets and money about with abandon." The town folks, it is reported, successfully dodged the former as they gathered in a share of the latter.
The same "off-the-beaten-path" characteristics that once attracted the outlaws and enforcers now hold a special charm for those seeking a vacation spot away from the crowds and the crunch. Good paved and graded all-weather roads connect the area with the North Platte River Valley (WYO 130 and 230) to the east, and provide access to the unspoiled Sierra Madre Mountain Range and the Medicine Bow National Forest.
Wildlife watching is at a premium in this area of Wyoming. It is not unusual to find deer, elk, antelope and fox. Many bird species call the valley home as well.
Powwow is the steady thump of beaters on a hide-covered drum, a cadence of mixed voices singing in Arapaho, Shoshone, Crow, or Lakota, and the sweep and swirl of men and boys wearing brightly colored regalia, of young girls with fringed shawls, older women dressed in buckskin, even tiny tots in beaded moccasins and creamy white buckskin outfits. Begun as a ritual gathering of spiritual leaders and medicine men, powwow is now a social event. read more
In the 1840s and 50s, nearly a half million pioneers, gold rush Forty-Niners and Pony Express Riders embarked along the Oregon Trail during the greatest overland migration the country has even seen. read more
