Visitors to Sweetwater County are delighted to discover there's no place like it on earth
An early explorer of Sweetwater County on a scouting mission for the Transcontinental Railroad recorded his impressions in a journal. Writing of the incredible beauty and unusual landscape, he observed, “The whole area looks as if it had at one time been covered by a lake.”
Forty million years ago, Sweetwater County was indeed covered by water, a prehistoric lake that receded over millions of years until one day it was no more. The former lake bed is now high desert country, an expanse of exotic-looking, diverse lands. It’s a place that never fails to spark a sense of wonder in all who encounter it.
Day 1
Wild Horse Encounter
The wild horse is a long-standing symbol of the West. There are an estimated 6,000 wild horses in Wyoming, more than any other place in the nation, and 2,500 of them roam the lands of Sweetwater County. The spirited creatures are said to be ancestors of horses brought to the New World by Spaniards in the 1500s.
The county produces a map and brochure detailing the best sites to observe the horses. The 50-mile long “Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop Tour” never fails to disappoint tour-goers with its remarkable scenery and sweeping views of high-desert country. Thousands of wild horses roam freely on lands once home to infamous outlaw hideaways and strangely silent ghost towns, where rare elk graze surrounded by shifting mounds of sand and colorful rock formations act as sentinels of the desert.
Day 2
Tales & Trails
Some of the most remote and sparsely populated lands in the US are in Southwestern Wyoming. Yet, during the mid-nineteenth century, millions of souls passed this way.
Evidence of the journey taken by gritty American pioneers is seen in the northeastern part of the county, where miles of ruts made by the wheels of covered wagon are are still visible. These are considered the finest remains of The Oregon Trail.
Yet, The Oregon Trail is just one of many historical trails weaving across the county. There are paths taken by Pony Express riders, the faithful of the Mormon Church, and fortune hunters blazing a path to the hills of California. Long abandoned stations are all that remain of stagecoach routes and hideaways carved into the desert hills mark the trail once taken by the infamous pair of outlaws, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
Day 3
Flaming Gorge Adventures
Wyoming has one of the highest concentrations of public land in the nation and more than half of it is found in the 10,500 square miles of Sweetwater County, where anglers, rock hounds, mountain bikers and water sports enthusiasts explore miles of country without man-made barriers. There’s year-round recreation at the 91-mile Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Green River where some are content to just take in the magnificent scenery and wildlife and others go after trophy-sized fish. It may seem unlikely, yet some of the best cold-water fishing in the nation is found in the arid environment. (Many a lake trout taken from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, weighing more than fifty pounds, hold state records)
