Nine Reasons to Visit Wyoming

By Jack Huber

We lived in the Denver area for several years before going full time, so we had ample opportunities to visit Wyoming, and we took advantage as often as we could. It didn’t hurt that we had good friends who purchased a summer home in Encampment, Wyoming, which was only about three hours away from us. Wyoming offers incredible amounts of solitude basically everywhere except Yellowstone and possibly the Grand Tetons. It is, after all, the least populous and second most sparsely populated state in the country. That leaves a great deal of the state for seclusion and quiet.

We haven’t been everywhere in the Cowboy State, but we have explored enough to give newcomers a pretty good idea of where to visit. Here is a quick countdown of some of our favorite reasons to visit and areas to see.

1 - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

To be honest, this next summer will be our first visit to Yellowstone. Its popular tourist attractions are the exceptions to the isolation of Wyoming, with seasonal crowds in the thousands, and 4 to 6 million visitors to the national park each year. This has kept us away until we could better plan a less-crowded stay. The park covers more than 3,500 square miles, but much of it is wilderness. There are several hotels and cabins in the park and towns like Cody and Jackson act as gateway towns, each with campgrounds and hotels a few miles away.

To be sure, there are many more fabulous reasons to visit Wyoming. Its solitude, privacy, and sheer remoteness is a stark contrast to most states in the lower 48, and well worth your leisure time.

2 - DEVIL’S TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT

Perhaps best known for its part in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the Devil’s Tower is an iconic butte that rises more than 1,200 feet above the Belle Fourche River and is 867 feet tall when measured from its base. Each year, more than 5,000 climbers decide to scale the monolith, with only five reported deaths in more than 100 years. Climbing is the only way to reach its summit, but the landmark can be seen for 10 to 12 miles.

3 - THE GRAND TETONS

Quickly rising 7,000 feet from the valley below, the Teton Mountains are a dramatic extension of the Rocky Mountains and form the western side of the Jackson Hole geologic region. The range is about 40 miles long and sits just east of the Idaho border. The Teton peak is the tallest of several in the Cathedral Group at nearly 14,000 feet in elevation. There are more than 200 miles of trails in the national park, and the Snake River flows southward through the valley before turning west toward Idaho.

4 - EVERYTHING BUFFALO BILL IN CODY

East of Yellowstone National Park, Cody’s Buffalo Bill Center of the West brings the enigmatic character played by William F. Cody to a world-class comprehensive museum. There are five museums in the complex. Of course, everything you did and didn’t want to know about Buffalo Bill can be found throughout the region as well.

5 - SCENIC BYWAYS

With a little investigation, you’ll find many scenic byways where you can immerse yourself in the beauty of the state. A few notables are Battle Pass, starting in Encampment; Beartooth and Bighorn, east of Yellowstone; Black Hills, near the South Dakota border; Bridger Valley, where the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express Route, Transcontinental Railroad, Old Lincoln Highway, and old US-30 all met; Flaming Gorge-Green River Basin and Muddy Creek, traveling to the Utah border; Oregon Trail; Snowy Mountain Range; Seminoe to Alcova, through the Seminoe Mountains; and Star Valley, south of the Grand Teton National Park.

6 - BACK ROAD MUSEUMS

One of our favorite things to do is take the back roads everywhere we can and stop in some of the purely local museums that city folk never get to see. Some of these highlight the Native American past, the homesteads and western migration, mining camps, dinosaur fossils, and yes, Buffalo Bill. We also came across interesting attractions like the “Disappearing River” in Sinks Canyon, Jesse James’ and Butch Cassidy’s Hole-in-the-Wall Outlaw Hideout, and various Native American Medicine Wheel remnants.

7 - DUDE RANCHES

If you want to shed your business attire and experience the old west, Wyoming boasts dozens of old-fashioned dude ranches, one to suit almost any preference and time frame, and scattered around many differing climates and settings throughout the state. I understand many of these are sold out far in advance of prime seasons, but chances are good you’ll find an opening somewhere.

8 - FOUR-WHEELING IN THE NORTHERN COLORADO ROCKIES

The Rockies extend into Wyoming and offer hundreds of miles of 4x4 trails, wildlife viewing, camping, and fishing. Using only these trails, one can drive an ATV 80 miles from Encampment or Riverside all the way to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. During our last tour of that area we saw a moose, several bald eagles, many deer and antelope, and a herd of bighorn sheep. It’s also a birdwatcher’s paradise.

9 - VAST HILLS AND PRAIRIES

With South Dakota and Nebraska to the east and Idaho and Utah to the west, the amount of unfarmed open space in Wyoming rivals the largest deserts in the country, minus the cacti. The grasslands are beautiful, the hills are often green, and the remote feeling is unmatched by most other states. ■

About the Author

Jack Huber is a full-time RVer who also writes books, poetry, and blogs. He is also a podcaster and photographer. You can find more of his adventures on Facebook at JackHuberAuthorBlogger and on his website, jackhuber.com.