Fort Laramie is an ideal a place to begin any journey on Wyoming's trails. As one of the earliest permanent frontier posts, it was a site most travelers visited. Now a national historic site, Fort Laramie's recreated and restored buildings give a picture of the site's history including details about fur traders, Native Americans, pioneer emigrant trails and military occupation.

During the period of overland emigration, Fort Laramie was the first – and for many years the most important – stop on the trails, a place where travelers could obtain supplies, rest (or recruit as they called it), send and receive mail and get information. It served the Oregon, Mormon, California, Pony Express and Bozeman trails; was a stop on the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Route; and was near the north-south Texas cattle trail.

From Fort Laramie head west along the Oregon, Mormon, California and Pony Express routes on U.S. 26 to Glendo. From there, detour south of town to the Guernsey Ruts, just outside town south of the North Platte River, and to Register Cliff, approximately three miles from Guernsey. Here you will see where pioneers carved their names in the cliff as well as the area where the wheels of 19th-century wagons ground deep ruts into the sandstone.