Wyoming
Go somewhere new this summer with these hidden Wyoming gems – WyoFile
Most Wyomingites have soaked in the Thermopolis hot springs and have likely camped, fished or biked at Glendo State Park.
But how many of us have visited Names Hill Historic Site near LaBarge or stopped to look at the Ames Monument at the highest point on the original transcontinental railroad route?
Chances are, not many of us. In fact, most of us likely visit the same places year after year, returning to our favorite campsites at our favorite state parks, national forests or reservoirs.
But just as the national park system offers far more than Yellowstone and Yosemite, Wyoming’s state parks supply some pretty remarkable hidden gems, including 12 parks and more than 20 historic sites. Each is steeped in history and adventure, culture and beauty. And as the national parks face a summer with diminished capacity in the face of federal workforce cuts, consider spending these hot months visiting Wyoming’s overlooked sites.
To help you on your journey, WyoFile talked with Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites Director Dave Glenn about his top five overlooked state gems.
Seminoe State Park: Solitude with a side of fishing
“It takes quite a bit of work to get there,” says Glenn about Seminoe State Park. “Which means you can always get a site.”
He’s not exaggerating. Nestled against the Seminoe Mountains, the park sits about 35 miles north of Sinclair off Interstate 80 in southern Wyoming.
The park boasts a reservoir full of trout and walleye with nearby sand dunes perfect for exploring. It also provides easy access to the Miracle Mile section of the North Platte River for anyone interested in floating or wade fishing.
But for Glenn, solitude is the real draw.
“There just aren’t a lot of people there,” he says. “You can wander around the nearby wilderness study area or watch bighorn sheep.”
Bring binoculars for a chance to see hawks and eagles along with migratory birds, ducks, pelicans and geese. Go for the day or stay the night. You likely won’t need a reservation.
Medicine Lodge Archeological Site: Thousands of years of history
Tucked into the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming rests an archeological site with 10,000 years of stories. And learning about those stories became easier with the site’s new interpretive center, Glenn says.
“It’s really one of a kind,” he says. “You walk from season to season and through time, including interviews with tribal members.”
The Medicine Lodge Archeological Site includes a 750-foot-long sandstone cliff with hundreds of petroglyphs and pictographs.
The area also offers a campground in iconic red rock country, a cottonwood river bottom and a creek running through. Fish from your campsite or bring your horses and leave them in the corrals when you’re not riding.
“It’s a great mix of outdoor recreation with past human history.”
Piedmont Charcoal Kilns: Perfectly preserved heritage
Glenn will take just about any excuse to veer off Interstate 80 while traveling across the bottom of the state. And in the southwest corner, that reason is the Piedmont Charcoal Kilns.
The 30-foot-tall cones look like beehives rising from the prairie. They were built in 1869, and used wood gathered in the Uinta Mountains to produce charcoal shipped to Utah. While charcoal kilns exist in other areas, the Piedmont site is one of the country’s most intact and preserved.
“For years, I’d driven by and never stopped to see them,” Glenn says. Once he did, he realized they were more than worth the stop, available to the public to view, explore and learn more about for free.
Wyoming Territorial Prison: See where Butch Cassidy did time
On Laramie’s western edge sits one of the state’s oldest buildings: The Wyoming Territorial Prison. You won’t miss it if you drive by. “It looks like an old prison,” Glenn says.
While the architecture is impressive, as are the surrounding old West buildings — including a church, a mercantile and cabins — the real intrigue rests inside.
Cells fill the inside of the prison, including ones you can walk into and imagine what life was like in a territorial prison. Large plaques hang on the walls featuring headshots of inmates with their backstories, including tales of murder and mayhem, shootouts and cattle rustling.
The prison also contains a small museum dedicated to Butch Cassidy’s story including artifacts from his life.
“It’s a powerful piece of Wyoming history,” Glenn says.
Oregon Trail Ruts: Retrace a journey
Imagine what pioneers must have felt as they traveled through Wyoming’s harsh, high desert landscape on their way west. They hit blizzards and thunderstorms, crossed raging rivers and tangled with rattlesnakes and bears.
And in eastern Wyoming, right outside Guernsey State Park, you can see where those wagons coursed across the landscape. Ruts sometimes up to five feet deep cut through soft sandstone, visible a short walk from the site’s parking lot.
“You look at that sandstone, and go ‘holy cow, how many horses and wagons had to go over this to create grooves that deep?’” says Glenn.
The site has a picnic shelter and restroom. Anyone interested in camping in the area can head over to Guernsey State Park.
If you’re planning on visiting Wyoming, for a truly authentic experience, you must include at least one of the state’s awesome downtowns in your travel plans. Positioned at the southern end of the 60-mile-long valley known as Jackson Hole, the character-rich town of Jackson is one such place to consider. A wonderful place to explore on foot, Jackson’s unique downtown, with its Old West vibe, spreads out from the intersection of Broadway and Cache Street. While it consists of just a few blocks, it is jam-packed with fun things to do, no matter what time of year you visit. Its impressive elk arch makes for an excellent photo opportunity, while the charm of its Old West heritage exudes from the historic buildings, cowboy-themed bars, and art installations across town. The wild past also comes to life in Jackson during the Jackson Hole Shootout at the Town Square, a tradition that has endured since 1957.
Town Square And The Elk Antler Arches
Though Jackson’s Central Park is officially known as George Washington Memorial Park, locals and visitors alike prefer to call it Town Square. Dedicated in 1934, this centrally located public space occupies the block at Broadway and Cache and is famous for the elk antler archers set at each of its corners.
Made entirely from naturally shed elk antlers, the first arch was erected by local Boy Scouts and Rotary Club members in 1953, with the other three added a few years later. Each consists of around 2,000 antlers collected from the nearby National Elk Refuge and is among the most photographed landmarks in Wyoming.
For a truly memorable experience, try to time a visit to coincide with ELKFEST. Held in May, this community-wide celebration attracts visitors from across the country for events like the Mountain Man Rendezvous, a reenactment of the state’s early fur trading years.
The main event, though, is the highly anticipated Elk Antler Auction. Bidders from far and wide turn up at Town Square to purchase antlers, which are then used to make everything from furniture to jewelry (proceeds going back to the Elk Refuge).
Jackson’s Cowboy Heritage
From Memorial Day through Labor Day, Town Square becomes the backdrop of the famous Jackson Hole Shootout. This fun (and free) mock gunfight has been entertaining visitors since 1957 and includes several costumed outlaws and lawmen shooting it out (with blanks, of course). You can add to the experience by hopping aboard the Jackson Hole Stagecoach, a ride aboard a century-old coach that loops around downtown.
The Old West theme is evident in other spots around the downtown core, too. Steps from Town Square, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar has been around since 1937 and is set in what was once the town’s first bank in the late 1890s. Highlights include its hand-carved bar top with silver dollars embedded in it, as well as its cool saddle barstools. Live music is regularly scheduled on the stage that has seen such legends as Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Jr. perform.
The Wort Hotel is another downtown landmark you’ll want to include in your Jackson itinerary. A local fixture since 1941, it’s here you’ll find the famous Silver Dollar Bar with its custom-made S-shaped counter inlaid with 2,032 uncirculated (and therefore rare) 1921 silver dollars. You’ll also want to check out its priceless collection of original Western art.
Other Fun Stuff To Do In Downtown Jackson
In addition to its iconic bars, downtown Jackson also boasts a world-class food scene. Highlights include Persephone Bakery, its old-fashioned stone hearth turning out delicious baked goods, including croissants and artisanal bread. Also yummy, Cafe Genevieve occupies an old log cabin and serves breakfast and lunch with a Southern-inspired menu.
Jackson’s art scene is also worth a mention. Art galleries are plentiful in the downtown area, with establishments like Astoria Fine Art and Mountain Trails Galleries, both on Town Square, featuring works by local, national, and international artists. The Center for the Arts is another cultural high point and features performance spaces, visual arts studios, and an outdoor sculpture park.
Snow King Mountain
Another unique feature of Jackson’s downtown is its proximity to some of Wyoming’s best (and certainly most accessible) ski hills. The base of Snow King Mountain is just six blocks from Town Square and has been in use since 1936, and really took off when Wyoming’s first chairlift opened here in 1946.
Dubbed the “Town Hill” by locals, Snow King now consists of 500 skiable acres, 41 named runs, three chairlifts, an eight-passenger gondola, and night skiing. In warmer months, the action shifts to a thrilling Cowboy Coaster, a zipline, a treetop adventure ropes course, and an alpine slide.
The Snow King Observatory and Planetarium is another excuse to head for the hills from downtown Jackson. Located at the summit of Snow King Mountain, in addition to its large telescope, this must-see attraction features a planetarium theater and a rooftop observation deck boasting incredible views over Jackson and the Jackson Hole Valley.
Explore Jackson’s Not-So-Wild Side
Downtown Jackson has so much to offer visitors seeking an authentic slice of Wyoming life. From its unique elk antler arches to its art galleries and cowboy culture, as well as its unique position steps from the ski hills, few towns in the USA’s Mountain Region can match the long list of fun things to do in Jackson’s downtown core.
The expansion would open the spigot for 550,000 barrels per day of crude, the company says. Although the crude would mostly pass through eastern Wyoming, the venture opens opportunities for Wyoming oil producers in the region for more transportation access to U.S. refineries and shipping ports, according to Bridger and local industry officials.“It would be the biggest project in our history, if it comes to fruition,” Bridger Pipeline spokesperson Bill Salvin told WyoFile on Friday. “We are, however, in the really early stages of the project. But we’re very excited about it.”Industry trade groups speculate the Bridger Pipeline Expansion is part of a competitive scramble to fill a gap left by TC Energy’s Keystone XL project. That company, in 2021, abandoned the controversial project in the face of major opposition and protests. It would have transported Canadian tar-sands oil into the U.S. market via a route extending through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Among many challenges for Keystone XL was acquiring new rights-of-way easements. Though the Bridger Pipeline Expansion proposal requires some new rights-of-way, that’s not the case for the 210-mile Wyoming segment, according to Salvin.“All of that distance is within, or parallel to, existing pipeline corridors,” Salvin said.
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The Wyoming segment would pass through Crook, Weston, Niobrara, Goshen and Platte counties.Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True Companies, submitted a notice of intent to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in January and noted it will formally initiate environmental applications to the agency. Salvin told WyoFile he’s uncertain about the full spectrum of regulatory requirements in Wyoming.However, the company regards the Cowboy State as a great fit for the project, he said. “This [project proposal] just highlights how important the region is and how Wyoming is a very good place for energy projects like this.”Reached for comment, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming said the proposed pipeline only stands to benefit Wyoming producers and the state.“Investments like these, along with continued growth in areas like the Powder River Basin, show Wyoming will continue to play an important role in the nation’s energy markets,” PAW Vice President and Director of Communications Ryan McConnaughey told WyoFile. “Connecting in Guernsey allows product to be transported to refining hubs like Cushing, Oklahoma.” WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
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