1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (84 page)

W
HERE
: 214 miles northwest of Casper.
Visitor info:
Tel 307–587-2777;
www.codychamber.org
.
B
UFFALO
B
ILL
H
ISTORICAL
C
ENTER
: Tel 307–587-4771;
www.bbhc.org
.
B
UFFALO
B
ILL
C
ODY
S
CENIC
B
YWAY
:
www.byways.org
.
C
ODY
N
ITE
R
ODEO
: Tel 307–587-5155.
When:
June–Aug.
C
ODY
S
TAMPEDE
: Tel 800–207-0744 or 307–587-5155;
www.codystampederodeo.org
.
When:
July 1–4.
P
LAINS
I
NDIAN
P
OWWOW
:
www.bbhc.org
.
When:
mid-June.
Y
ELLOWSTONE
J
AZZ
F
ESTIVAL
:
www.yellowstonejazz.com
.
When:
mid-July.
I
RMA
H
OTEL
: Tel 800–745-IRMA or 307–587-4221;
www.irmahotel.com
.
Cost:
from $122.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center offers a crash course on life in the Old West.

Monumental Encounter of the Igneous Kind

Wyoming

An enormous monolith visible for miles around the relatively flat and featureless landscape of northeastern Wyoming, Devils Tower exerts such a hypnotic pull that tribes of the northern plains consider it sacred
and Steven Spielberg had aliens land atop it in
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
. Tales about its origins—in lore of the Lakota, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and other early inhabitants of the region—differ in details, but the essence of the story is that it arose to protect seven sisters pursued by a bear. The bear’s claw marks are the striations in the rock face, and the sisters, thrust into the sky, became the Pleiades (a star cluster also known as the
Seven Sisters). Geologists posit quite a different account: It is an igneous intrusion, the hardened remnant of magma that erupted into softer sedimentary soils, which have long since eroded away.

Climbers test their skills on Devils Tower’s vertical rock walls.

The rock is the center of the 1,347-acre Devils Tower National Monument, the first national monument in the country. It has become a magnet for climbers, who have mapped out more than 200 routes to the scrubby acre-and-a-half at the summit, 867 feet above the base. (A voluntary climbing ban is observed in June out of respect for Native American ceremonies.) The park includes 7 miles of trails, including a paved 1.3-mile trail through the ponderosa pine forest around the tower itself. It is a prime spot for watching birds and other wildlife, including deer and prairie dogs—and yes, some insist you might catch a glimpse of a UFO too.

W
HERE
: 62 miles northeast of Gillette. Tel 307–467-5350;
www.nps.gov/deto
.
When:
year-round; visitors center closed late Nov–early Apr.
B
EST TIMES
: May–June for weather and wildflowers.

Horse Heaven

Dubois, Wyoming

Fifty wild, mountainous miles from Yellowstone, Bitterroot Dude Ranch sits in a remote valley flanked by the Shoshone National Forest on one side and a 52,000-acre game and fish wildlife refuge on the other. Among the
50 states in the U.S., Wyoming ranks 50th in population, with only five people per square mile. You’ll have no reason to question those glorious statistics here.

Mel and Bayard Fox own and operate this 1,300-acre rider’s paradise with a dozen hand-hewn log cabins, some a century old, scattered along the trout stream that runs through it. The magnificent Arabians they breed and train here, plus prize specimens selected from elsewhere, make up a herd over 130 strong kept exclusively for the use of their 30 guests. The high horse-to-rider ratio ensures that mounts can be changed frequently, so they’re fresh and ready to go throughout the season.

Visitors can take riding lessons or take part in cattle drives; trails wind through extremely varied terrain ranging from sagebrush plains and rocky gorges to badlands and alpine meadows, and snow-capped mountains are usually in view. Guests are immersed in a wilderness setting within minutes, in the competent hands of guides who know it intimately. Riders are expertly matched with horses and assembled into groups with similar skills; for the experienced there’s even a cross-country course with more than 70 jumps.

It’s not necessarily all horses, all the time here. Non-equestrians may hike, fish, or just relax, and kids can meet the lambs, foals, and other animals on Bitterroot’s family farm. Evenings feature some of the finest and freshest eating in the area. The quaint tourist town of Dubois, 26 miles away, offers shops and galleries, and square dancing in the summer. It’s also home to the National Bighorn Sheep Center, thanks to the country’s largest herd of bighorns, which roam the mountains above the town.

W
HERE
: 85 miles east of Jackson; 1480 East Fork Rd. Tel 800–545-0019 or 307–455-2778;
www.bitterrootranch.com
.
Cost:
from $1,575 (off-peak), from $1,850 (peak) per person per week, double occupancy, all-inclusive.
When:
May–Sept.
N
ATIONAL
B
IGHORN
S
HEEP
C
ENTER
: Tel 888–209-2795 or 307–455-3429;
www.bighorn.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: June–July for Technicolor carpets of blooming wildflowers; Sept for glorious golden aspen.

Horseback riding is the highlight of a stay at the Bitterroot Dude Ranch.

The West’s Most Scenic Mountains

Wyoming

Craggy, glacier chiseled, and rising up to 7,000-PLUS feet above the floor of Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Valley (itself about 6,400 feet above sea level), the dramatic peaks of Grand Teton National Park win America’s topographical
beauty pageant as the most photogenic of them all. With no foothills to mar the view, the Tetons completely dominate the skyline with a grandeur that’s starkly primeval—and irresistible to Ansel Adams students: These are some of the most photographed vistas in the national park system.

The Tetons are the youngest mountains in the Rockies and constitute a relatively small park area of 310,000 acres—one-sixth the size of neighboring Yellowstone (see p. 676).

The valleys of the Teton range were rich hunting grounds for neighboring Plains Indians. When French Canadian trappers moved to the high valleys in search of beaver pelts in the early 19th century, some lonely Gallic soul gave the divinely proportioned Teton peaks their lasting nickname—
les Grand Tetons
translates, straightforwardly enough, as “the big breasts.” Early homesteaders found the winters inhospitable and the growing season short, but it didn’t take long for enterprising landowners to realize that marketing the beauty of the area to “dudes” provided the best hope of making a living. Guest ranches have a long tradition here; many, such as the handsome and venerable Lost
Creek Ranch, go back to the 1920s. The lodging and dining at Lost Creek are deluxe, a precise mix of rustic and refined. The riding program will turn even a greenhorn into a cowhand and there’s no better place to relax than the ranch’s new full-service spa.

Enjoy the same Western hospitality and gorgeous setting with a more laid-back family atmosphere at Triangle X Ranch. Guests get their own log cabin and a choice of outdoor adventures such as great fly-fishing or rafting on the Snake River, which winds through the property.

At the foot of the range, glacial advance gouged a string of deep, cold sapphire blue lakes, of which Jenny Lake is among the most beautiful and most visited. The popular Jenny Lake Lodge, one of the park’s nicest and best situated, originated as a dude ranch accommodating the eastern effetes who came west to rough it. The elegant lodge is often booked a year in advance by those who don’t care to rough it one bit. Above all else, don’t miss dinner in the lodge’s timbered dining hall, where the food, amazingly, matches the views.

The largest lake, Jackson Lake, is 15 miles long, with cruises to Elk Island and its western shore, where the mountains thrust up from the valley floor. Guided float trips meander down a calm stretch of the Snake from Deadman’s Bar to Moose, while a 45-mile loop drive from Moose via Moran Junction presents much of the same spectacular scenery without leaving terra firma.

At 13,770 feet, Grand Teton is the tallest mountain in the Teton Range, a branch of the Rockies.

W
HERE
: 12 miles north of Jackson. Tel 307–739-3300;
www.nps.gov/grte
.
L
OST
C
REEK
R
ANCH
: Tel 307–733-3435;
www.lostcreek.com
.
Cost:
cabins from $6,200 per week, double occupancy, includes meals, riding, and activities.
When:
June–Sept.
T
RIANGLE
X R
ANCH
: Tel 307–733-2183;
www.trianglex.com
.
Cost:
cabins from $1,335 per person per week (off-peak), from $1,560 (peak), includes meals and activities.
J
ENNY
L
AKE
L
ODGE
: Tel 800–628-9988 or 307–733-4647;
www.gtlc.com
.
Cost:
from $495.
When:
early May–early Oct.
B
EST TIMES
: July–Aug for warmest weather; Sept for fall foliage and fewer crowds.