Places

Wyoming is unlike any other place on earth. WyoFile takes you to one-of-a-kind communities and spectacular natural settings for a singular perspective on what makes the state unique, compelling and the best place for anyone to call home.

Thumbnail image for The perilous journey of Wyoming’s migrating pronghorn

The perilous journey of Wyoming’s migrating pronghorn

by High Country News January 3, 2012

Writer Emilene Ostlind looks back at four seasons spent tracking and hiking the remote northern corridor of the “Path of the Pronghorn,” the life-line migration route connecting the pronghorn’s summer …

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Thumbnail image for Proposed law could ban bicyclists from some roads in Grand Teton National Park

Proposed law could ban bicyclists from some roads in Grand Teton National Park

by Ruffin Prevost December 13, 2011

A new park road law under consideration by state Congress includes a so-called “bicycle safety” provision that enthusiasts view as a threat to their sport.

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Thumbnail image for Condition of rare Indian artifacts reveals deficiencies at NPS museum

Condition of rare Indian artifacts reveals deficiencies at NPS museum

by Environment & Energy Daily October 25, 2011

Grand Teton National Park’s Indian Arts Museum at Colter Bay was closed recently because the condition of the building placed the artifacts at risk of deterioration.

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Thumbnail image for WyoHistory.org: New Interactive website explores Wyoming’s past

WyoHistory.org: New Interactive website explores Wyoming’s past

by Dustin Bleizeffer October 11, 2011

Wyoming historians are compiling an encyclopedia of Wyoming history into a searchable, interactive website: WyoHistory.org…

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Thumbnail image for ‘From Our Heart’ — New museum tells story of Heart Mountain internees

‘From Our Heart’ — New museum tells story of Heart Mountain internees

by Ruffin Prevost August 21, 2011

Many of the 250 former Heart Mountain internees who made the trip back to Wyoming for Saturday’s museum dedication are in their 80s, and some are in their 90s, so …

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Thumbnail image for Bittersweet Pilgrimage: Heart Mountain museum opens at site of former internment camp

Bittersweet Pilgrimage: Heart Mountain museum opens at site of former internment camp

by Ruffin Prevost August 16, 2011

Nearly seven decades after Heart Mountain first opened as an internment camp for Americans of Japanese ancestry, the site will host the grand opening this weekend of a new facility …

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Thumbnail image for Yellowstone to Yukon: Conservationist advocates for key wildlife corridor

Yellowstone to Yukon: Conservationist advocates for key wildlife corridor

by Ruffin Prevost July 5, 2011

Pluie, a well-traveled adult, female gray wolf tracked in 1991 by Canadian wildlife officials, was the inspiration for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. The joint U.S.-Canada nonprofit group works …

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Thumbnail image for Yellowstone Spring: Early days in park offer quiet, calm

Yellowstone Spring: Early days in park offer quiet, calm

by Ruffin Prevost May 10, 2011

Spring visitors say they cherish the first few days when Yellowstone National Park opens its roads each year. Not all dining, lodging and other services are open yet, and the …

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Thumbnail image for Buried Treasure: Oil & Gas Exploration Leaves Undiscovered Artifacts

Buried Treasure: Oil & Gas Exploration Leaves Undiscovered Artifacts

by Gregory Nickerson April 12, 2011

Southeast Wyoming is buzzing with oil and gas activity. But while companies look for minerals thousands of feet below, other resources will remain buried just under the surface. Most of …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: World Turned Upside Down

Tales of I-80: World Turned Upside Down

by WyoFile March 15, 2011

The truck’s rear wheels slipped, floated right off the pavement, took on a life of their own. In an instant, we were headed towards the right shoulder, still …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: The day I-80 Ruined Christmas

Tales of I-80: The day I-80 Ruined Christmas

by WyoFile March 1, 2011

By Robyn N. Paulekas, WyoFile reader

In the days before Christmas, my husband and I packed up our car and began the drive from our house in Laramie to my in-laws …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: Call for Entries

Tales of I-80: Call for Entries

by WyoFile March 1, 2011

Everyone who has lived in Wyoming has his or her own tale of weather horror or road warrior mayhem on the 401-mile stretch of Interstate 80 that traverses our state. …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: Finding a Lighthouse

Tales of I-80: Finding a Lighthouse

by Geoffrey O'Gara March 1, 2011

Once you are underway on a stretch like that, there’s no turning back, and your elbows and hands lock so Super-glue solid that you probably couldn’t move the wheel more …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: Hydroplaning Semis

Tales of I-80: Hydroplaning Semis

by Rone Tempest March 1, 2011

By far my most terrifying I-80 moment came not in winter but in late August a few years ago in the desert badlands east of Evanston. I was traveling to …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: Heading Home

Tales of I-80: Heading Home

by Laton McCartney March 1, 2011

About half an hour outside Laramie it starts to snow, hard. Soon we’re in a white-out with a semi-truck about two inches from our rear bumper and another maybe a …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: Spring Break

Tales of I-80: Spring Break

by Dustin Bleizeffer March 1, 2011

The road wasn’t packed with snow. Visibility was the issue. When a semi-truck passes, it twists a nasty tornado of snow around you, erasing every possible marker available. You have …

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Thumbnail image for Tales of I-80: A Sudden Storm

Tales of I-80: A Sudden Storm

by Samuel Western March 1, 2011

Then I noticed the traffic heading east towards Cheyenne was a lot heavier than the traffic going west. I shrugged it off. But I did note tiny crystals floating …

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Thumbnail image for Picturing Yellowstone — Photographers Drawn to Park’s Beauty

Picturing Yellowstone — Photographers Drawn to Park’s Beauty

by Ruffin Prevost February 15, 2011

More than 3.6 million people visited Yellowstone National Park last year, but there’s no telling how many millions of pictures they took while there. Photographing Old Faithful, Lower Yellowstone Falls …

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Thumbnail image for BLM considers McCullough Peaks for ‘wild lands’ protection

BLM considers McCullough Peaks for ‘wild lands’ protection

by Environment & Energy Daily January 25, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has identified nearly a quarter-million acres in northwest Wyoming that may have wilderness characteristics and should be studied for possible protection as “wild lands” under …

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Thumbnail image for Hometown Hills: Struggling Community Ski Areas Explore New Financial Models

Hometown Hills: Struggling Community Ski Areas Explore New Financial Models

by Ruffin Prevost December 21, 2010

Running a small ski area in Wyoming has never been a quick path to easy riches, and a flurry of closures and sales among struggling ski hills across the state …

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Thumbnail image for Casper’s Last Neighborhood Grocery Struggles to Survive

Casper’s Last Neighborhood Grocery Struggles to Survive

by Kate O'Hara December 21, 2010

Bill and Nancy Wayte own Grant Street Grocery, the last neighborhood grocery store in Casper. In its heyday, Casper had 99 neighborhood grocery stores. The Waytes sell high-quality goods, donate …

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Thumbnail image for WyoFile’s Wyoming: Hyattville and Medicine Lodge

WyoFile’s Wyoming: Hyattville and Medicine Lodge

by Brodie Farquhar November 16, 2010

Tucked away amid the red, rolling foothills of the Bighorn Mountains in north central Wyoming, Hyattville is only six miles from Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site, home to numerous petroglyphs and …

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Thumbnail image for WyoFile’s Wyoming: The Occidental Hotel

WyoFile’s Wyoming: The Occidental Hotel

by Brodie Farquhar October 19, 2010

On a visit to Buffalo in 1997, at the intersection of Main and Fort Streets, Dawn Wexo happened to glance to the right and saw the old Occidental Hotel. …

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Thumbnail image for New Seeds for Poor Wyo Counties

New Seeds for Poor Wyo Counties

by Samuel Western October 11, 2010

Wyoming agriculture is beginning to plant new seeds, and poor counties, known for monoculture, lead the way. A conference in Torrington late this past summer – featuring delicious meals from …

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Thumbnail image for Sam Knight – The Great Geologist Who Could Take Correction From A Neighborhood Kid

Sam Knight – The Great Geologist Who Could Take Correction From A Neighborhood Kid

by James A. Barlow October 4, 2010

Samuel Howell Knight (1892-1975) or Doc, as he was known to his many friends and students, was the son of the first Wyoming State Geologist, Wilbur C. Knight (1858-1903). …

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Thumbnail image for Hauling Gold on the Chief Joe Montana Cleanup Plan Riles Wyoming Officials

Hauling Gold on the Chief Joe Montana Cleanup Plan Riles Wyoming Officials

by WyoFile August 23, 2010

Cody, Wyoming—Beginning next summer the state of Montana plans to haul thousands of tons of contaminated mine tailings from an abandoned Cooke City, Mt., gold mine over Wyoming’s Chief Joseph …

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Thumbnail image for Fox Guarding Pinedale Henhouse? Critics Call Wildlife Count “Unsound Science”

Fox Guarding Pinedale Henhouse? Critics Call Wildlife Count “Unsound Science”

by Emilene Ostlind July 12, 2010

At first glance the Mesa southwest of Pinedale, Wyoming, is wide and empty. Perched in the sky at 7,600 feet, this table of land is an island floating between the …

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Thumbnail image for WyoFile’s Wyoming: In Katrina’s Wake,The Roost in Pavillion

WyoFile’s Wyoming: In Katrina’s Wake,The Roost in Pavillion

by WyoFile May 15, 2010

PAVILLION—With its gravel parking lot and façade of rough-hewn planks, the restaurant known as Ginny’s Roost looks right at home in this remote ranching town of fewer than 200 people—a …

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Thumbnail image for The Trappers’ Point Antelope Trail – A Precarious Wildlife Corridor

The Trappers’ Point Antelope Trail – A Precarious Wildlife Corridor

by Emilene Ostlind May 10, 2010

Pinedale— Trappers’ Point lies on an unassuming knoll along Highway 191, about six miles west of Pinedale proper. According to a large wooden sign at the top of the …

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Thumbnail image for Wind River Tribes Win Big Voting Rights Case

Wind River Tribes Win Big Voting Rights Case

by John Lancaster April 30, 2010

Lander—A federal court decision ordering Fremont County to scrap its system of electing commissioners on a county-wide basis is a major victory for Native Americans who have long complained they …

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Thumbnail image for WyoFile’s Wyoming: An Insider’s Guide – The Vore Buffalo Jump

WyoFile’s Wyoming: An Insider’s Guide – The Vore Buffalo Jump

by WyoFile February 2, 2010

The Vore Buffalo Jump near here is primal, rough and endowed with all the ambiance of open pit iron mine. On a November day at the site there is no …

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Thumbnail image for WyoFile’s Wyoming: Lander – Climbing Capital of the Rockies

WyoFile’s Wyoming: Lander – Climbing Capital of the Rockies

by Steve Bechtel January 18, 2010

When you’re driving down the hill onto Main Street off Highway 287, Lander looks like any other small Wyoming mountain town: one main drag, a few restaurants, and little in …

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Thumbnail image for Meeteetse Chocolatier

Meeteetse Chocolatier

by gene_tempest November 29, 2009

Tim Kellogg is a Meeteetse ranch hand and bronc rider who is building an international reputation as a maker of fine chocolates. His chocolate shop is on Meeteetse’s rustic main …

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Thumbnail image for Mad Dog and The Pilgrim Booksellers

Mad Dog and The Pilgrim Booksellers

by WyoFile November 17, 2009

If you blink once or your attention drifts for an instant on the two-lane highway between Muddy Gap and Lander, Wyoming, you may miss one of the world’s great road …

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