Wyoming
Wyoming Geologist Gets Millions Of Views As YouTube Rock Star
Myron Cook wants to show the world the wonders of Wyoming’s geologic features. His YouTube page is allowing him that opportunity, getting millions of views from his nearly 140,000 subscribers and making him a literal rock star on the platform.
“It’s actually turned into a thing,” he said. “I did it just for the joy of geology and communicating geology and it just kind of took off.”
A former petroleum geologist, Cook wanted to share his love for the science with the world after retiring. His 35 years of professional experience and genuine personal interest gives him a high level understanding of how the geological features of Wyoming and the world came to be.
Cook, who now lives in the small northwestern Wyoming town of Burlington, spent the last few years of his career working in Saudi Arabia when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Due to the rampant lockdowns there, he spent much of his free time watching YouTube videos on photography.
He quickly discovered there was very little geology on the platform, which surprised him. Much of what existed were one-off videos.
After retiring and returning to Wyoming about six months later, Cook took up making YouTube videos to showcase the amazing natural rock features that make up the state and region.
“It almost seems everything was set up perfect for me to do it right at the right time,” he said.
He considers Wyoming as having some of the most interesting geology in the world because it’s easily accessible with the naked eye. Even though geology is everywhere, in order to see the most geologic action, an arid desert landscape is usually required, Cook said.
“Wyoming, especially in the Big Horn Basin area, has just a super high diversity of geology,” he said.
Viral Success
Cook quickly gained a following on YouTube for filling a niche not occupied by many other videographers. Now Cook estimates he gets about 20,000 views per day.
His presentation is rather sophisticated, using multiple cameras and drones to showcase his topics in a visually inviting way to his audience.
“I do everything on my own, every last bit of it,” he said. “The technology to be able to do that … all has come together to not only give people the opportunity to learn, but people like me to produce something.”
Even though his topics could be seen as dry if presented the wrong way, Cook leaps over that hurdle by physically going out to the geologic formations he is discussing, walking and touching the feature.
He expresses genuine enthusiasm while showing off the natural wonders of the world, easily recognizable by his white bushy beard and yellow sun hat.
He also highlights features from different locations to bridge a connection over a single concept.
For instance, in a video released in June, Cook visits a mysterious rock wall in the Badlands. In the same video, he shows how some of the rock formations around the North Fork and Clarks Fork, two visually distinctly different areas outside Yellowstone National Park, were created in the same manner.
He also spends a 90-minute episode explaining the creation of Heart Mountain outside Cody, which came about as a result of an incredible super volcanic explosion and one of the world’s largest landslides, causing the mountain to travel through the air at more than 150 mph until landing in its current space.
Many of the places Cook documents are little known. Sometimes he branches out from Wyoming and the West, doing videos on the geology of Hawaii and the Appalachian Mountains.
His most popular video, which got about 4 million views, showcased a massive salt glacier in the Gulf of Mexico. Cook said less than 1,000 people likely knew about this glacier until his video was released.
“That one I felt really confident about because people like geology in their backyard,” Cook said.
Another extremely popular one was an episode on giant petrified trees outside Worland. In this video, Cook walks the viewer through all the signs that show how the dusty hillside the petrified trees now lay on used to be a muddy creek that eventually ensconced the fallen timber.
Although he does make money off the videos, Cook said he doesn’t want it to feel like a job, so he only makes about one video a month.
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Cook showed off this beautiful rock formation known as a flatiron. (Courtesy Myron Cook via YouTube)
What’s It For?
Cook said it’s his primary goal to get people interested in geology to think and see the world around them differently, which he considers the greatest compliment he could receive. The comments he’s received on his videos, he finds extremely gratifying, with some saying the episodes have changed their lives.
“I’ve had people reach and out say, ‘I was extremely depressed, struggling in life, gone through divorce, whatever it might be, and you’ve inspired me to get out, hike and see some geology, enroll in school,’” Cook related. “It’s been extremely gratifying.”
Although his biggest audience is older adults, he still gets a wide variety of views. One person commenting online who identified herself as a 13-year-old girl from Chicago remarked on how much she loves Cook’s videos.
“I don’t understand why most people in my generation have such little interest in the natural sciences,” she said. “I love all of them, geology in particular. It makes me feel like something as every day as a rock has its own unique story behind it, and that story can be brought out through careful investigation and curiosity.”
The fact that both geologists and regular members of the public follow his videos, he also believes is important.
“I feel like I’ve kind of found that right space where it’s good for everybody,” Cook said.
Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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