Natural Wonders & Historic Treasures
Wyoming may be one of the newer states (became the 44th state in 1890), but the land within its borders can take you back millions of years, revealing long-extinct animals and the beginnings of mountain ranges. more...
Laying Tracks
The largest active dune field in North America (yup, right here in Wyoming), the Killpecker Dunes total nearly 109,000 acres (three times the size of our nation's capital) in the Red Desert and stretch 150 miles each from the Green River Basin across the Continental Divide and into the Great Divide Basin. For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of Wyoming geography, they're generally in the southwestern part of the state. more...
Simple Snowy Range
Skiing at Snowy Range is simplicity itself. It is only a ski area – not a resort with high-speed lifts, ski-in/ski-out lodging, pay parking or other trappings of big-league resorthood. more...
Storming the Fort
The first fort in Wyoming was started as a fur trade post in 1834, known as Fort John. Located near the Laramie River, it had become Fort Laramie by 1849 when the military took control. The fort's grounds just west of the town of Fort Laramie in southeast Wyoming have an open parade ground surrounded by military-era buildings. One structure, Old Bedlam, is the oldest standing building in the State of Wyoming. At or near Fort Laramie, fur traders, overland emigrants, the frontier army and Indians gathered as they came to trade, work and meet. more...
Tale of Two Tribes
The Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indians share the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, but these two tribal nations have distinct histories and cultures. more...
The Story Behind Story
Wyoming has many evocative place names. Ten Sleep. Freedom. Chugwater. Then’s there’s Story, where visitors usually want to ask: So, what’s the story behind Story? more...
Winter Sports
Backcountry Snow Sports
In snowriders' parlance, "backcountry" means a place beyond ski area boundaries, and any on-the-edge skier or snowboarder will tell you that the snow is best and adrenalin quotient highest there. Beyond the thrill of the ride, there is the sense of pride in earning your turns by hiking up before skiing or riding down. more...
Yellowstone's Grand Driveway
Acclaimed among America's most scenic byways by Teddy Roosevelt, the road known locally as the North Fork Highway parallels the North Fork of the Shoshone River, with the Absaroka Mountains rising to the southwest. more...
Small Town Wyoming
You just never know what you might discover in Wyoming's small towns. I remember opening the window of my hotel room in downtown Buffalo to catch whiffs of barbecued steaks, which I'd expect in Wyoming – and riffs of live jazz, which I never dreamed I'd hear in this town of fewer than 5,000 folks. A leisurely three-day loop tour out of Casper will help you discover small-town Wyoming history, hospitality and surprises, too. more...
Interstate 80: Ride with the Legends
Give or take a few, it is 400 miles across Wyoming on Interstate 80. By anybody’s standard that is a solid day’s travel. But hey, don’t just buzz through the state. There is a lot to see and do along the way. So much, in fact, that it’s best done in sections. So instead of hitting Wyoming at Pine Bluffs, putting the cruise control on 75 mph, and blowing out of the state around eight hours later at Evanston, set your sights on just some of the towns.
Begin your trip in Laramie, about 1/4 of the way across. This is cowboy country. more...
A Look at Cheyenne Frontier Days
There is no event in all the land more Western than Cheyenne Frontier Days. This 10-day celebration of Western traditions has been going strong since 1897. more...
Following Pioneer Trails
Fort Laramie is a great place to begin any journey on Wyoming's trails. As one of the earliest permanent frontier posts, Fort Laramie served the Oregon, Mormon, California, Pony Express and Bozeman trails; was a stop on the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Route; and was near the north-south Texas cattle trail. Now a national historic site, Fort Laramie's recreated and restored buildings depict the site's colorful history. more...
Things to See & Do
Dude, Where's My Horse?
I am expecting a beast ready for the glue factory. Let me restate: I am hoping for a beast ready for the glue factory. Saber, a fit and feisty seven-year old gelding, is most definitely not that however. He is most definitely a good teacher. At least that’s what the head wrangler tells me when matching me with him the day of my arrival at a dude ranch tucked into the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. more...
Dogsledding in Bridger-Teton National Forest
Here I am in Bridger-Teton National Forest with six feet of snow on the ground. I’m on the back of a 60-pound sled behind eight Alaskan huskies. And these dogs love to run. I started off my morning the toughest way possible – rolling out of 400-thread-count sheets in my room at the Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, flicking on the gas-burning fireplace and drawing back the shutters to look out on the mountain. more...
Wild Horses Loop Tour
Galloping across the prairie with manes and tails flying and hooves kicking up dust, there is nothing more iconic in the West than a wild horse. Whether you spot them racing like the wind, clustered around a waterhole or grazing contentedly, wild horses evoke a bit of the Old West, erasing the 21st and 20th centuries and shuttling you back to the 1800s. more...
Discover Wyoming
Jackson's Other Mountain
Jackson's Town Square is in the heart of one Wyoming's best-known towns. Snow King, with a 1,571-foot vertical, is just a few blocks from the center of town. When I ski at Snow King, I am sharing trails with locals. Little wonder. Instead of hanging out at a non-existent mall, kids grow up skiing there after school. Supporting “the King” doesn't cost much. Because residents can buy a $99 adult season pass, even big-mountain riders often also purchase a Snow King pass for mid-day ski breaks. more...
Birding in Wyoming
With some-400 species overhead, the word's out about birdwatching in Wyoming. Local birders are happy to share their knowledge of the sport and the state's avian attractions – pick up one of their books or scan our primer; then take to the self-guided nature trail at the Audubon Center in Casper. Too, the National Wildlife Refuge and national park systems host several sites across the state for birding expeditions. more...
Yellowstone National Park 2
Secret Yellowstone
Yellowstone entertains nearly three million guests annually, but some 99-percent of them never venture more than 200 feet away from a road. Much less deep into the backcountry. more...
Tetons
Tetons for Two
While national parks have been a favorite family vacation for years - my family made sure to hit at least a few every summer - they can be surprisingly couple-compatible too. If you know where to go. more...
Places to Stay
Dreaming of a Wyoming Christmas
While I love Wyoming's mountains, wide open spaces, wild animals and infinite skies, most of all I love the state's pretty much guaranteed white Christmases. more...
DT
Devils Tower Centennial
Writer M. Scott Momaday once waxed poetic about Devils Tower, proclaiming "There are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the heart of man." President Theodore Roosevelt showed his love of preservation (and an economy of words) when he declared this "lofty and isolated rock" a national monument 100 years ago. Thirty years ago, Steven Spielberg celebrated the monument's otherworldly appeal by choosing Devils Tower as the UFO landing site in his movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.more...
2007 snowmobiling
Snowmobiling Adventures on the Continental Divide Trail
Of Wyoming's roughly 2,000 marked (and often groomed) snowmobile trails, the 675-mile Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail has been called the top snowmobile route in the West by SnoWest magazine. Arguably the best part is between Lander and Dubois, threading through the scenic Wind River Range and flirting with the Continental Divide itself. more...
