Away from the Crowds in Wyoming

Devils Tower is the first declared National Monument in the US. It is not really known how this formed into such a unique shape. Legend has it that two girls were playing, and along came giant bears. They tried to run away from the bears and climbed to the top of a rock, praying to be saved. Then the rock rose high up into the air, and the girls were saved while the bears left their claw marks on the side of the mountain trying to climb it but failing. The Devils Tower received the honor of becoming the first National Monument in 1906, 13 years after the first recorded climb of the mountain by William Rogers and W.L. Ripley in 1893.

Located in Yellowstone National Park, Isa Lake is the only natural lake on Earth that drains into both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Located at the summit of Craig Pass, the narrow lake swells its banks when the mountain snows melt in the spring. Isa Lake sits on the Continental Divide. The explanation comes in a 1905 book, “The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States." It states that the lake was named for Miss Isabel Jelke of Cincinnati, Ohio. Throughout the year, the western end of the lake flows into the Firehole River, which meanders east to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. In spring, the eastern end runs into nearby Shoshone Lake, which then drains, via a very convoluted path, into the Lewis, Snake, and Columbia rivers on its way west to the Pacific.

Douglas is the home of the world’s largest jackalope. A jackalope is a mythical creature with big ears and horns. The creature comes from North American folklore, and Douglas is the self-proclaimed “Jackalope Capital of the World." The town is home to several monuments honoring this critter, including the largest.

In 2007, the city bought a larger jackalope from a man in the northwest. This one, almost double the size of its nearby cousin, sits in front of the Douglas Railroad Interpretive Center. The Douglas Chamber of Commerce offers jackalope hunting licenses, but the hunting season is two hours a year.

Located in Laramie is the Lincoln Highway Monument with a massive version of the US 16th president Lincoln's bust. The monument was built in 1959 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the president’s birth. The two-ton bronze head sits on a 30-foot granite spire.

Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone National Park was formed half a million years ago by cooling lava. This is a historic site of the Eastern Shoshone tribe. At one time the cliff was a safe place for women and children to hide during raids from other tribes. The columns that make up these cliffs were composed when basalt lava cooled around 500,000 years ago. Visitors enjoy climbing the columns, and there are picnic tables to use.

Smith Mansion is located in Cody. The mansion sits in the Wapiti Valley and was the home of builder and engineer Lee Smith. It is a random collection of wooden staircases and terraces. Smith began building the home for his wife and children with locally harvested logs and wood. Once he had finished building, he continued adding extra floors and balconies. Even though his devotion to the project ended in divorce, he continued building winding organic staircases and scenic terraces on the upper floors. It was tragic when Smith fell from one of the upper balconies. The mansion remained a local landmark but sat empty. It was sold to a buyer running nearby tourism and lodging companies in 2019.