Historic Trails

Byway Basics
The Big Spring Scenic Backway is a 68-mile route from Kemmerer to Cokeville in Wyoming’s southwestern Lincoln County. The Backway is crisscrossed by historic emigrant trails, parallels willowed river valleys, and plunges deep into the Tunp Mountain Range in the Bridger National Forest. Traveler services are available in Kemmerer, Cokeville, and Diamondville. Good tires are highly recommended when traveling this Backway. The Forest Service also recommends only high clearance vehicles westward from Kelley Guard Station. 

As Wyoming’s gateway to the Black Hills, the entire area is rich with historic and cultural sites along with scenic natural vistas, archeological interests, and recreational outlets. The proposed 78 mile Wyoming Black Hills Scenic Byway embodies each of the six nominating categories: history, culture, scenic, natural, recreation, and archeology.

When gold fever hit in the late 1840s, cries of “Ho California!” could be heard across the country as eager Forty-Niners and farmers packed up their families and belongings and headed west. For the next 25 years or so, a quarter of a million people headed to California to fulfill their own Manifest Destiny.

Byway Basics
The Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway is the southern-most route across the Bighorn National Forest in the Big Horn Mountains. The designated 47-mile stretch of the Scenic Byway, or U.S. 16, shares its boundaries with the National Forest. The route can be reached via Ten Sleep from the west or Buffalo from the east.

The road is a paved two-lane highway that crests at the 9,666-foot Powder River Pass. Mountain weather can be extreme and snow can fall in any month at these elevations but it rarely affects travel in the summer and early fall. Allow one hour minimum driving time.