Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fall for hunters. Just down the road from Sheridan, the tiny town of Big Horn is home to
the cool
Bradford Brinton Memorial and Museum,
on a gentleman's ranch where you
could easily while away an afternoon. Nearby Buffalo, the starting point for the 47-mile
Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway,
has a historic downtown with a great little museum
and easy access to a number of sites that feature prominently in Wyoming history, including
Fort Phil Kearny
and the infamous
Hole in the Wall
region where Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid were known to hide out. Though not exactly a touristy destination, Gillette
offers nice parks, a terrific public pool and waterslide, and one of the region's best culinary
experiences,
The Chophouse Restaurant.
Summer, late spring, and early fall are the best
times to hit this corner of the state because of the blue skies and easy opportunities to be
outdoors. They're still here in the winter, of course, but one gets the feeling that everyone
is hunkered down, waiting for spring.
Though
Devils Tower
is not exactly on the way to anywhere, it is for many the highlight
of a trip to Wyoming as an obvious recreation spot for climbers, hikers, and campers. The
trip can be made fairly easily in a day from just about anywhere in northeast Wyoming. It's
wise to plan your visit to Devils Tower sometime other than June, when the voluntary ban
on hiking and climbing is in place, or the first and second weeks in August, when bikers
headed to or from the huge Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota's Black Hills can
descend on the tower in crowds of hundreds and even thousands.
Although Sheridan (population 17,517, elevation 3,745 feet) continuously touts itself as the
midpoint between Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills, they are selling them-
selves short. It's true that it is conveniently located, but this authentic Western town has
much more to offer.
Rich with history, Sheridan is the town where Martha Jane Canary transformed herself
into Calamity Jane. In an 1872 battle, she heroically rescued Captain Egan, who dubbed her
“Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.” The town's first building was erected in 1878
by trapper Jim Mason. In 1881 the tiny cabin was converted into a post office and store
named Mandel. The town was eventually platted by J. D. Loucks, who named it for his
Civil War commander, General Philip H. Sheridan, and with the coming of the railroad in
1892, Sheridan quickly became a cattle town. The iconic Sheridan Inn was opened in 1893
(and sadly closed indefinitely in 2012) and was the town's unofficial center with Buffalo
Bill as its operator for two years. He used the inn as a place to audition acts for his Wild
