Visiting Casper and Wyoming

Casper is located in central Wyoming.

The Casper Planetarium is a good place to learn all about the night sky. You can get a full dome view of celestial wonders and the planetarium offers the universe in HD. Visitors can attend educational events such as the laser show talking about various constellations.

Downtown Casper has historic buildings, unique shops, and great restaurants. Here you can see how the locals live and find out about the history of the city and its culture.

The Nicolaysen Art Museum exhibits artwork by both local and national artists. The arwork dispalyed changes every month. There are a variety of art programs for children and adults can meet artists in person.

The Ayeres Natural Bridge in Douglas is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Wyoming, It is among only three natural bridges in the US with water beneath. The scenic park is a great place to relax, hike, picnic, and fish.

Casper Mountain stands at 8,130 feet above sea level. It overlooks Casper. There are several public parks, camping spots, hiking trails, and a folk museum to catch up on history.

Fort Casper Museum is an 1865 military reconstructed post. The first was the final river crossing of the California, Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express trails. The museum showcased the history of the natives, the energy industry, and the frontier army. There is a display of a recreated Mormon ferry. Behind the museum is a fort with all its initial buildings reconstructed.

Fort Laramie was established in 1834 as a trading location for fur and later became the most significant fully-equipped military post on the Northern Plains. It was there to protect settles moving west and was effective until 1890.

Hell's Half Acre is a one of a kind geologic oddity with a hilly gorge that is shaped like a horseshoe. The 150-foot deep gorge covers 320 acres. It is a great place for hiking, camping, and exploration.

Independence Rock is a giant granite 128 ft high, 1900 ft long, and 700 ft wide. It was named after the 1830 fur traders' celebration. It is among the most famous landmarks along the Oregon Trail. The "Great Register of the Desert" a spot along the trail has more than 5000 early emigrant names carved on this special boulder.

Another thing to do in Casper is to rent a kayak and explore the waterways of Fremont Canyon. The canyon is four miles southweast of Pathfinder Dam and is a wonderful tourist destination. Lovely rock walls rise up on either side of the river. People come here to sightsee, canoe, kayak, and fish.

The Oregon Trail can be explored on horseback along the Platte River with the Independence Rock nearby. You can choose to take an overnight wagon trip or a half or full days' horse ride.

Fremont Canyon has amazing rock wall on both sides of the North Platte River. It is a place with rare plants and animals. Activities include rock climbing, hiking, and mountain biking.

Pathfinder Dam is one of the most amazing engineering feats. It stands at a height of 65 meters and offer fantastic views of the surrounding landscape. Exhibits can be viewed at the Pathfinder Interpretive Center.

Amazing Wyoming

Two major attractions are Yellowstone National Park with geothermal wonders

Grand Teton National Park with a diversity of wildlife from grizzlies and golden eagles to wolves, elk, moose, bison, and black bears.

Seeing both these national parks bring tourists to Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park is the world's first and oldest national park, It is home to huge herds of bison roaming free. Other wildlife includes grizzly and black bears, gray wolves, elk, antelope, trumpeter swans, and bald eagles.

You can see four types of geothermal features throughout the park: hot springs, mud pots, geysers, and fumaroles (steam vents). In some spots like the Lower Geyser Basin and Norris Geyser Basin you can see all four in one place.

Highlights are:

Old Faithful Geyser

Yellowstone Lake

Lower Falls

Hayden Valley is the best place to see wildlife particularly bison herds.

Grand Teton National Park includes the craggy Teton Mountain Range.

The park is home to over 300 species of birds, 60 species of mammals, and many freshwater fish. Popular activities are climbing, hiking, and kayaking.

Jackson, Wyoming sits in a valley at the foot of the Teton Mountains. The town has rustic wooden buildings and boardwalks, shops, galleries, and restaurants. It is the gateway to the Grand Teton National Park.

The National Elk Refuge borders the town protecting the largest herd of wintering elk in the world.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art has over 4,000 paintings and rotating exhibits.

Hot Springs State Park was built around the world's largest single mineral hot spring. The gushing mineral water is channeled into bathhouses and kept at a constant 104 degrees F. Visitors can saok in the warm waters indoors at the State Bath House or in two outdoor pools.

There are hiking trails, summer flower gardens and the Rainbow Terrace where water from another steam tumbles into the Bighorn River.

See bison grazing in the hills.

Bridge Teton National Forest offers rugged mountain wilderness.

There are three Wilderness areas:

The Bridger Wilderness in the Wind River Mountains has some of the world's largest glaciers.

The Teton Wilderness is a critical habitat for wildlife like grizzlies, wolves, and bison.

The Gros Ventre Wilderness has fascinating geological features.

Crisscrossed by miles of trails, the entire region is excellent for hiking, hunting, fishing, ski touring, and mountaineering.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area was named for its red sandstone cliffs. The area stretches from Green River in Wyoming into Utah. It is a popular spot for boating, fishing, swimming, camping, and kayaking. Adventure seekers can also raft the area of the Green River downstream from Flaming Gorge Dam.

Perched above the canyon, the Red Canyon Vista and Visitor Center offers impressive views of the gorge. From the visitor center, the Canyon Rim Trail threads along the lip of the canyon, with lookouts along the way.

In addition to the colorful rock formations, some of the rock walls display petroglyphs, and prehistoric fossils are often found in the area.

The Wind River Range is great for hikers and includes Continental Divide Scenic National Trail that stretches from Canada to Mexico.

This is grizzly country, but you can also see moose, mountain lions, deer, elk, wolves, and hundreds of different species of birds.

For rock climbers there is the famous Cirque of the Towers in the southern region of the range.

The rustic town of Pinedale is the gateway to this remote section of the Bridger Wilderness.

Devils Tower National Monument rises over 1,200 feet above the eastern plains and the Belle Fourche River. This is amazing to see in northeast Wyoming.

The Devils Tower Visitor Center details geology and the history and culture of the area.

There are eight miles of nature trails circumnavigating the rock and thread through the surrounding forest and meadows.