The Cowboy State
The Old West lives — no, thrives — in Wyoming. The Cowboy State has working cattle ranches, powwows, big-time rodeos, reservations where visitors sleep in teepees, open spaces for wagon train and campfire experiences, Yellowstone National Park and the Little Bighorn Battlefield.

It retains unspoiled natural wonders, ideal for those of all personality types who like outdoor activities ranging from fishing or skiing to rock climbing and mountain biking.
Wyoming also is defined by something it lacks: a large population. As a result, cities aren’t a prominent feature on its menu of attractions. Cheyenne, the largest metropolis, counts fewer than 60,000 people.

About Wyoming
Tourists from across the U.S. and abroad come to Wyoming, in part because they want to get a feel for the oft-romanticized Old West (even with modern elements) and because the state offers great natural beauty in big doses. Its parks include a couple of the best-known of all (and most popular among Wyoming visitors) — Yellowstone and Grand Teton — which offer dramatic landscapes and lots of space to relax or play hard at hiking, mountain climbing and other adventurous outdoor activities.

Yellowstone and Hot Springs State Park offer another of nature’s surprises, the rumbling, grumbling and sometimes brightly colored results of lots of underground geothermal activity. That’s how we get Old Faithful, but that is only one example.
Several historic western trails were used by gold seekers, settlers, outlaws, the military, Indians fleeing the white man and the Pony Express. There is more evidence of this in Wyoming than in any other state. The three best-known trails, the California Trail, the Mormon Trail and the Oregon Trail, converged at the South Pass, a relatively gentle break in the mountains, after which the trails went their separate ways. As a result, many traveled through Wyoming, but few stayed.

Predictably, Wyoming attracts those who like spending time outdoors and who appreciate the state’s natural, unsullied beauty. In the U.S., they come mostly from the Southwest and Midwest plains states, with a sprinkling from both coasts. Those who want a retreat from civilization often seek out Wyoming. Travelers frequently comment favorably about Wyoming’s low-density population, peace, serenity and isolation. One female traveler described her favorite things about Wyoming: “Fishing, taking lots of pictures, no people, no phones, no radio, no papers. That’s Wyoming!” And, by the way, that’s no understatement.

Yellowstone has nine on-site lodging options, offering a range of comforts, but all are nonsmoking establishments, and none have air conditioning, radios, televisions or Internet access. Summertime in Wyoming provides an oasis for travelers escaping hot weather or humidity at home. Skiers obviously wait for winter.

• Go mountain climbing in the Teton Range. Exum Mountain Guides and Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, both in Jackson, offer classes and guided trips year-round.

• Join an archaeological dig at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis.

• Put on the snowshoes or cross-country skis for a trek in the Uinta Mountains, staying overnight in a yurt (with some modern comforts) at, say, 9,000 feet above sea level.
This business of yurt camping was born in 1995 when the U.S. Forest Service and Bear River Outdoor Recreation Alliance teamed up to erect first one yurt, then a few others. They are available year-round.

• Sign on for a trail ride in the Cowboy State. That could be as short as half a day, but outfitters also offer considerably longer treks out on the state’s wide-open prairies.
Or, join the annual Outlaw Trail Ride, riding the escape trail of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch. This is not a trip for dudes.

• Spend a few nights at the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, sleeping in a teepee, touring the reservation on horseback, participating in evening powwows and hearing the tribe’s stories. Or, take a guided horseback ride across the Little Bighorn Battlefield and gain new insights into the West’s most famous battle.

• Take a half- or full-day dogsledding excursion in Jackson Hole. Or, better yet, arrange with Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Tours to go on a training excursion with the owner’s Iditarod team.

• Go mountain biking in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. Start with the three-mile Turtle Rock Trail (which is shared with hikers), but there are numerous others, enough to occupy a full day or several days.

• Try the dune buggy experience at the Killpecker Sand Dunes north of Rock Springs in southwest Wyoming.

• Don buckskin, pitch a teepee and be a mountain man for a weekend. Each summer, Wyoming hosts a series of rendezvous roughly modeled on 19th century gatherings of trappers, traders, mountain men and Native Americans. For the trappers, that meant selling their furs and getting supplies. Today’s largest gathering occurs in Fort Bridger and attracts 40,000 for the socializing, the period food court (kettle corn, Indian fry bread, etc) and competitions such as a frying pan toss, plus archery, skinning and shooting.

• Go whitewater rafting in the Wind River Canyon, or on a portion of the Snake River at Jackson Hole.

• Drive the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop Tour for a look at wild horses, plus a lot of other wildlife including antelope, deer, desert elk, coyotes, eagles.

• Stay at the Ivy House Bed & Breakfast in Casper. It is said to be haunted by its first owners and their cats. The current owners throw haunted slumber parties in October and lead tours on summer nights to the town’s haunted sites.

• Most of Wyoming’s larger lakes are managed by the Bureau of Reclamation and are there for you to use for boating, fishing, waterskiing and other water sports.

• Hunt for big game in Wyoming. Licenses are issued based on a lottery system. Apply well ahead of your trip.

• Hike in the Grand Teton National Park. The National Park Service offers information on trails, their length and difficulty. You decide what to take on.

• Go skiing, but sample winter’s other opportunities in Wyoming, as well: ice skating, sleigh rides, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing. Find the ski report at www.wyomingtourism.org/cms/d/ski_report.php.

• See the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, then have dinner at — or overnight at — the Irma Hotel, which Buffalo Bill built more than 100 years ago and named for his daughter. FYI, the hotel is said to be haunted; watch out for rooms 16 and 35.

• Attend a powwow at the Wind River Reservation, home to Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indians. Sacajawea, who was Shoshone, is buried west of Fort Washakie.

• Travel for several days with a covered wagon train along the trails used by pioneers, or do this in the Tetons. You may find comforts our forebears did not: rubber tires, foam padded seats and deluxe bunks.

• Stay at the rustic Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone, right next to the Old Faithful Geyser. When the snows start, stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, the only Yellowstone property accessible by car in winter, and go cross-country skiing.

• Play golf in Jackson Hole or Sheridan. Your ball flies farther here than at sea level. There are close to 100 courses in the state.

• Drive through the Shoshone National Forest, the nation’s first national forest, and look for antelope, bears, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, moose and mountain goats.
Then, take that search for bears (black and grizzly) into nearly Yellowstone National Park. Take time for some bird-watching in Yellowstone (home to hundreds of species) and be amazed at the burbling waters along the side of the road. Old Faithful is only a part of a larger geothermal phenomenon.

• Attend a cowboy poetry gathering. Cowboy poetry sessions are a tradition born of long and isolating stays out on the range when there was little do at night around a campfire. The 21st century events include ballads, historic presentations, seminars, storytelling and western singing.

• Go fly-fishing in the Platte River. Wyoming has 22 species of game fish.

• Stop at a classic diner and order shepherds pie and cobbler. Or, book a chuck wagon, cowboy cookout or dinner camp for a meal reminiscent of the Old West.

• Plan a driving tour that lets you mimic (to a degree) the routes taken by 19th century forebears as they traveled any of a number of well-worn trails on their westward journeys. The Oregon Trail is the best known but there are quite a few others, used to move cattle, to move troops, to accommodate fleeing Native Americans, to move the mail (Pony Express).

• Get an idea of travel by covered wagon at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper by taking a virtual ride in an ox-drawn wagon fording the North Platte River.

• Attend a big rodeo: Cheyenne Frontier Days, in July. Alternatively, attend the Cody Nite Rodeo which runs through summer.

• Stay at a dude ranch. Many ranches are near parks or national forests. The ranch experiences can vary widely, with options for quiet fishing, hiking and biking, horseback riding or — just like in the movies — a chance to rope and brand a steer or help move cattle from one pasture to another. You decide.

• Select a hotel or resort with good spa facilities and treat yourself to some pampering.