America’s First National Monument to Buffalo Bill’s Stomping Grounds Devils Tower to Cody, Wyoming
Day One
This tour, beginning on I-90 in the scenic and historic Black Hills National Forest, departs from Sundance or Newcastle to Devils Tower National Monument. Rising 1,280 feet from the valley floor, this monolith was the nation’s first national monument. From Devils Tower, we travel south on WYO 14 back to Sundance and then west on I-90 to Gillette for lunch. Surface coalmine tours are arranged through some of the world’s richest coal country. We continue on I-90 to the city of Sheridan to see the King Ropes Museum and Historic Sheridan Inn, then dinner and overnight at the base of the Big Horn Mountains.
Day Two
There is a tantalizing choice of routes west over the Big Horn Mountains on US 14. “The Mountaintop” route from Dayton through scenic Shell Canyon and Greybull, or taking the spectacular high-altitude US 14A from Burgess Junction to Lovell. Big Horn Canyon Recreation Area, near Lovell, has canyons, boating and wild horse herds that sometimes can be seen from the motorcoach. Continue, after lunch in Powell, to Cody, founded by Buffalo Bill Cody. This Yellowstone Park gateway community offers nightly rodeos, white-water rafting, the Irma Hotel built by Buffalo Bill himself, Old Trail Town and the “Smithsonian of the West” (the Buffalo Bill Historical Center), which features five complete world-class museums under one roof. That night, enjoy an old-fashioned chuck wagon dinner on tin plates, plus an evening rodeo.
Day Three
With the choice of continuing on to the east entrance of Yellowstone, we head south on WYO 120 through the rich cattle country around Meeteetse to Thermopolis, home of Hot Springs State Park, the largest mineral hot spring in the world, and the state buffalo herd. Soaking and swimming in the thermal wonders, as well as sightseeing, are the orders of the day in this community. North to Worland on US 20 and diverting to US 16, we take the “Powder River” route back over the Big Horns from Ten Sleep to Buffalo. The sheer, but safe, Ten Sleep Canyon provides panoramic views of Ten Sleep Creek and the North Fork of the Powder River. In the historic community of Buffalo, center of the bloody Johnson County Range War that pitched sheepmen against cattlemen in the 1880s, we tour the Jim Gatchell Museum.
Optional side-trip for history buffs: South from Buffalo on I-25 is the community of Kaycee, home of Hole-in-the-Wall country--the hideout of Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, and the rest of the “Wild Bunch.”
Yellowstone entertains nearly three million guests annually, but some 99-percent of them never venture more than 200 feet away from a road. Much less deep into the backcountry. read more
Hawk Springs State Recreation Area offers boating, waterskiing, picnicking and camping. read more
