Discover a world of hidden history in the Cowboy State.
The Explorer’s Guide to Wyoming’s Captivating History

Scientists and visitors alike have been discovering dinosaur bones near Thermopolis, Wyoming, for decades. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center, opened in 1995, is dedicated to discovering, educating, and preserving the rich and fascinating prehistoric history found in this pocket of north-central Wyoming. 

Digs in about 130 sites in nearby quarries have uncovered Camarasaurus and Diplodocus fossils, from plant eaters that lived in this area about 150 million years ago. The Allosaurus, an imposing bipedal meat-eater, also roamed these parts. The center is home to roughly 20,000 fossils and over 70 mounted skeletons. It also contains superlative specimens, like the only Archaeopteryx found outside of Europe, known as the “Thermopolis Specimen,” and “Jimbo,” one of the largest-ever mounted dinosaurs. From June to September, join in the discovery at one of the active dig sites.

Like a sleeping giant rising 136 feet up from the flat Wyoming terrain, Independence Rock is not only a geological marvel; it also played an integral role in the development of America. During the late 1800s, when thousands of pioneers were making their way West, the monolith, absent many other waymarkers, sent a reassuring message that the soon-to-be settlers would make it west in time.

Traversing thousands of miles over many months was a risky affair, and travelers knew that, to arrive in Oregon or California in time to beat the harsh winter, they had to arrive at the rock by July 4, giving the landmark its name. 

In a natural process called “windfaceting,” centuries of windblown sand has polished parts of the rock, giving it a smooth, glossy appearance. Beginning in the 1840s, intrepid travelers would carve their names into the smooth sides of the stone, or leave marks using wagon-wheel grease or other materials. The trend became known as “The Register of the Desert,” and many of the names can still be seen today by visitors year round.

Dedicated to the rugged fur trappers and explorers who forged their way through the wild American West, the Museum of the Mountain Man acts as a time capsule commemorating one of the country’s most storied eras. Dozens of accounts from the time period live on through a series of exhibits and living history demonstrations at the Pinedale, Wyoming, museum.  

Lauded for his bravery in the face of a grizzly bear attack roughly 200 years ago, Hugh Glass—depicted by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant—is remembered in a life-sized glass diorama. When other pioneers of the era wouldn’t wait for Glass to get help following his injuries, he was left for dead. Incredibly, Glass crawled roughly 200 miles to safety at Fort Kiowa in a timeless story of survival. 

One of the infamous Glass deserters, trapper and mountaineer Jim Bridger, is also prominently featured in the museum. Known as an accomplished explorer and fur trader, Bridger also established a weigh station at Fort Bridger along the Oregon Trail. His rifle is on display. The museum, which is open seasonally from May 1 to October 31, also shines a light on the lives of the Plains native peoples, and the role of the Oregon Trail in the development of the area. 

Harness the no-frills cowboy vibe at nearby Pitchfork Fondue, a popular outdoor cookout spot known for its buffalo bratwursts, steaks, veggie shish kebabs, and more, cooked on skewers in oil heated over a wood-fired cauldron.

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, located within the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, is a lasting fixture from a dark chapter in U.S. history. In the summer of 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, construction began on a site that would be used for relocating Japanese Americans. Directed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the facility consisted of 30 blocks of residential barracks, 650 buildings in all, plus gardens, and even a cemetery. At its peak, the population of the site—over 10,000 people—made it the third largest city in Wyoming.  

At the center today, powerful oral histories, photographs, artifacts, and interactive exhibits showcase what life was like at Heart Mountain and the complicated series of events that led to its development. Many former incarcerees, their descendants, and scholars continue to be involved in the center’s educational mission today.

But the location carried historical significance well before the war. The mountain, originally named by the Apsáalooke peoples who thought the mountain resembled a buffalo heart, is one of few found on early maps of explorers Lewis and Clark. In 2007, the site was designated as a National Historic Landmark and is protected by the Nature Conservancy for its rare plants and native animals, including elk, antelope, and mule deer.

Kaycee, Wyoming, attracted an impressive cast of characters during American westward expansion. The small town’s location on the Bozeman Trail—an overland route that connected the Oregon Trail to Montana’s gold mines—meant outlaws mixed with missionaries, U.S. military and native peoples often clashed, and explorers came in droves.

Housed in a historic building downtown, the Hoofprints of the Past Museum takes visitors on a journey through this area’s intriguing and varied history. On display are Native American hunting stone points, plus a sword, beads, and pipes from the Portuguese Fort, a home base for trappers led by Portugal native Antonio Montero in the 1830s. The museum also houses items from the region’s cattle boom and the U.S. military’s long-abandoned Fort Reno.

You’ll also find guns and other goods used by the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, a group that included Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch of bandits. The eponymous “hole” is a natural, remote geological formation filled with nooks and crannies that allowed rough-and-tumbles like Cassidy to slip away from lawmen. On the museum’s historian-led Hole-in-the-Wall tour, you can learn all about the outlaws and the posse that was out to capture them. 

The museum also features historic buildings, like a schoolhouse, jail, and post office, plus several other themed tours, including events commemorating the Johnson County War and the Bozeman Trail. Open May 15 to October 31. Just across Nolen Avenue, you can grab a catfish dinner or T-bone steak at Invasion Bar & Restaurant, a low-key, wood-paneled diner.

Near Lovell, Wyoming, about 10 thousand feet above Medicine Mountain in the Bighorn Range, an intriguing collection of rocks have held spiritual, cultural, and astronomical importance for centuries. Known as the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, the formation was constructed by indigenous Plains tribes to hold healing prayers, coming-of-age rituals, vision quests, and other sacred ceremonies. 

The stones are arranged in a circular formation, 82 feet in diameter, with 28 spokes extending from a central rock pile known as a cairn. Now a National Historic Landmark, it’s considered one of the largest stone formations of its kind in North America. By some scientific estimates, Native Americans have visited the site for nearly 7,000 years, and in the 1990s, anthropologist James Boggs led studies that determined that they also used the formation to determine astronomical events, like the summer solstice.

The wheel is largely covered in snow during winter, so the best time to visit is mid-June to mid-September.

Some of the most well-preserved fossils in the world can be found in southwestern Wyoming. Designated a national monument in 1972, Fossil Butte National Monument is home to thousands of fossilized fish, plants, animals, and insects that lived in and around an ancient lake in this area over 50 million years ago. This unparalleled collection makes it one of the best examples of a prehistoric ecosystem. 

In the visitor center, take a journey through time as exhibits lead you from the beginning of the Earth as we know it, through prehistoric times, to today. Other exhibits include a fossil preparation lab, a fossil rubbing table, and interactive ranger programs.

Castle Gardens Petroglyph Site is something of a time capsule: people have likely been visiting this striking sandstone outcropping for thousands of years; about a thousand years ago, central Wyoming’s Indigenous tribes began carving the soft stone. Captured in the stone are hundreds of petroglyphs depicting medicine men, warriors, hunters, turtles, buffalo, deer, and more. 

Over the centuries, the windswept sandstone has been carved into what mimics the turrets of a castle, giving the site its name. Castle Gardens is one of the best-known petroglyph sites in the state of Wyoming, with strong national significance, too. The site was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Know Before You Go

Castle Gardens Petroglyph Site is remotely located in central Wyoming and best suited for adventurous travelers. High-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles are recommended.

The Ames Brothers Pyramid stands 60 feet above the Wyoming landscape, an unlikely structure in the otherwise desolate terrain near Buford. Oakes and Oliver Ames, brothers and train magnates from Massachusetts, commissioned the granite structure in 1882 for the price of $65,000. 

The Ames were integral players in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, an unimaginable feat at the time. While Oliver took the helm at Union Pacific, Oakes met with the movers and shakers of Washington to find the necessary backing. But Oakes’s reputation tanked after he was found guilty of involvement in business fraud, and the team’s reputation was tarnished. About a decade later, they erected this monument to commemorate their trailblazing work.

Renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson built the structure with granite quarried from nearby Reed’s Rock. On the side of the epic structure today, you’ll see bas-relief medallions of the duo by notable artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Hop in your car and take a drive over to the lively Bunkhouse Saloon & Steakhouse and order one of their signature steak burgers. You can also try the “Bunk Nut,” fried Rocky Mountain oysters on grilled Texas toast with American cheese. Live music from the house band Friday and Saturday nights.

A well-preserved example of a mid-1800s American boomtown, Wyoming’s South Pass City consists of 24 historic buildings, with over 30 exhibit rooms, plus living history demonstrations and walking trails. 

In 1867, a group of men from Fort Bridger came across a sizable gold mine, called the Cariso Lode, now known as the Carissa Lode. This discovery instigated an influx of over 2,000 other hopefuls until the effort went bust roughly five years later. At the Carissa mine today, you can get a firsthand look at the tedious inner workings of the gold production process. You can also walk the grounds of the preserved town, visiting modest family cabins, plus a jail, restaurant, hotel, and general store of the era. 

While it may seem an unlikely locale, the town also played a significant role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. William Bright, the town’s saloon owner, introduced a bill that would allow women the right to hold office and vote. It was the first bill of its kind in the world, and was eventually passed into law by the governor in 1869, about 50 years before the 19th Amendment. In 1870, Ester Morris, as justice of the peace, became the first woman in the country to hold public office. 

Since the continental divide passes through the town, the area is also popular with hikers and mountain bikers.