For immediate release: March 16, 2010
Contacts: Chuck Coon, 307.630-4004 chuck.coon@visitwyo.gov
Lori Hogan, 307.777.2889, lori.hogan@visitwyo.gov
The New Old Faithful
A 26,000 square foot, $27 million, visitor center near the world’s most famous geyser is in the final phases of construction this spring and is to be open by late August. Half of the funding came from the Yellowstone Park Foundation and several private companies made major donations.
The National Park Service expects to serve more than 2.5 Yellowstone park visitors in the center each year. Certification of the facility as a high-performance, environmentally friendly "green" building is being sought. It has also been designed to set new standards for accessibility and for the interpretation of complex scientific information in easy-to-understand fashion.
Most of the exhibits focus on Yellowstone’s geysers and additional thermal features that cannot be found in such numbers at any other location on earth.
We offer a peek at some of those hellacious hot spots here:
Yellowstone National Park Geysers
You can get in touch with the public information office in Yellowstone National Park for complete information and details about the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center grand opening set for August 25 – National Parks Day. Contact: Al Nash, Al_Nash@nps.gov
Kid Cody & the Pony Express
The federal government’s official “Pony Express” historic trail publication states: “Buffalo Bill Cody never rode for the Pony Express…..” and yet the longest ride ever undertaken along the Pony Express line is credited to a 14-year old boy named Billy Cody. We’ll leave the investigation to history detectives but the version most told has it that Cody rode 322 miles, across half of what would become Wyoming and back, in 21 hours - exhausting 20 horses - and safely delivered the mail. The story goes one of the station riders had been killed in a drunken row the night before Cody arrived and thus he was forced into the extra duty. Whatever the case, there is no doubt the Pony Express, a mail by horse and rider route (east and west) from St. Joseph’s MO to Sacramento, CA, operated for just eighteen months. The normal course of business, Cody’s long ride aside, was for a rider to change horses every ten miles or so and travel 75 miles before being relieved:
Kid Cody & Pony Express
The Pony Express private mail delivery system opened April 3, 1860 which makes this the 150th anniversary. Several events are planned this summer in locations including Casper, WY – home of the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. A group of Pony Express enthusiasts will conduct a re-ride across the entire trail in June. You can get more information by contacting their national president, Les Bennington, in Glenrock, WY. PH: 307-436-2233. Website: www.xphomestation.com the National Historic Trails site is: www.blm.gov/nhtic and a very good Wyoming historic trails website that may be of interest can be found here: www.wy.blm.gov/historictrails/
Trails by Bike
Taking on trails across the Wyoming of today is much easier. Contrary to the beliefs of some in metro settings Wyoming does have running water, electricity, and all the amenities of modern city life. It’s just that the cities and towns here are a bit spread out and you’ll want to have plenty of water and snacks in the car with you.
One Wyoming trail system is gaining in prominence among those who like to bike. A favorite trek for mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians in recent years, the Curt Gowdy State Park Trail System, has now been recognized nationally as a world class mountain bike destination. The International Mountain Bicycling Association has given the trail system an “Epic” designation - Wyoming’s first and only such honor. Located less than 30 minutes west of Cheyenne (about two hours’ drive north from Denver), these trails run along and among unique rocks and trees to challenge skilled bikers yet remain maneuverable for the novice:
Mountain Biking: Curt Gowdy State Park Trail System
Horses of Course
If your trail ride preference is aboard a steed the horse of your choice is in Wyoming calmly ready for your seating. Most guest ranch operations are a week-long stay and you will find a good number of visitors who’ve been coming to the same ranch for many, many years. Others like variety and there are an abundance of choices across Wyoming:
Horses of Course
The Wyoming Dude Ranchers Association is a good source of information at www.wyomingdra.com. Their main office in Sheridan, WY can be reached by phone, toll-free: 888-996-9372.
A couple of Jackson Hole area ranches have opened for special activities and tours. Owners of the historic Snake River Ranch continue to work cattle but have added tours via horseback or wagon. The ranch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Contact: Mindy Cooley (307)733-2864.
Game Creek Ranch has a huge indoor riding arena where they are now catering to groups. The ranch offers riding lessons, a private rodeo, horse whisperer, Mountain Man skill demonstrations and even a spa experience. Contact: Anna Schroeder (307) 733-7101 www.gamecreekranch.biz
Native Waters
A unique whitewater rafting and fly-fishing outfitter based in Thermopolis, WY is permitted by both Native American tribes that occupy central Wyoming – the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone. Wind River Canyon Whitewater Rafting is able to do so exclusively and the operation is 100-percent Indian owned & operated. Rapids vary from small to quite challenging and families find the rides a thrill:
Native waters
You can learn more at: www.windrivercanyonraft.com
A Splish Splash
If you’ve a hankering to find the special spots that locals treasure let us let you in on a couple of gems. One was a stop for Native Americans and the other became a favorite overnight camping ground for pioneers opening the West.
Medicine Lodge is known for its Indian petroglyphs. Picnicking is most popular and the paved sidewalks along the clean, cool stream present easy access to inviting pools. The archaeological location is a state park near the town of Hyattville in the agriculturally rich Big Horn Basin.
Water sources were highly regarded by hardy pioneers who migrated across Wyoming territory during the historic period that opened America to the Pacific Ocean. There were long dry spells and harsh conditions much of the way. Not so at a natural rock bridge located near present-day Douglas, WY. A slow-moving creek was, and is, great splashing and although RVs of the 21st Century offer multiple levels of comfort you can still imagine the circled wagons, children playing and campfires crackling during a visit to what is now a county park - Ayers Natural Bridge - located just a few minutes west off Interstate 25. We give you a look at both locations below:
A Splish Splash
Mammoth See Dee
More than 180 mammoth bones and four years of cooperative efforts have landed Dee, at age 11,600, standing tall in the Tate Geological Museum on the Casper College campus. Curator Kent Sundell says Dee represents the largest mounted mammoth in North America. She would have weighed ten tons and stood fourteen feet tall. Most of the bones are real as opposed to castings and Dee was first unearthed on ranchland near Casper. Sundell says everyone did the right thing from the beginning:
Mammoth See Dee
You can learn more at: www.caspercollege.edu/tate
The LeDoux Legacy
No one more appropriately represented Wyoming’s western heritage rooted in ranching and rodeo than Chris LeDoux. He died five years ago and this summer a larger-than-life sized bronze dubbed “Good Ride Cowboy” will be unveiled in the Wyoming town LeDoux called home. Kaycee has a rich past of its own as it is located near the famed Hole-in-The-Wall hideout and safe passage area used by Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and their gang.
Following a pro rodeo career that included a 1976 world championship in bareback riding, Chris LeDoux became one of the most anticipated music acts at rodeos across the American West for many years. His show skyrocketed in popularity after Garth Brooks mentioned LeDoux in one of Garth’s hits – “Much too Young to Feel This Damn Old” in the early 1990s. LeDoux fans will no doubt appear in droves to see the bronze created by Buffalo, Wyoming artist D. Michael Thomas. A foundry in Cody, Wyoming is producing the work:
The Ledoux Legacy
The Kaycee, Wyoming event is scheduled June 19th and will include a live performance byLeDoux’s high-energy band, Western Underground. Updates and further details will be provided both here The Rodeo Hand Blog and on the Chris LeDoux Tribute Facebook outlet in the coming weeks.
Team Wyoming
There are 900,000 ways to see Team Wyoming this year and that is without going to a rodeo. The pro rodeo cowboys are colorfully featured on the reverse side of the 2010 Wyoming Highway Map being distributed free-of-charge beginning in mid-March. There is also a new “Rodeo Road” DVD produced by Wyoming Travel & Tourism that can be obtained by contacting the state tourism office. Additionally, we’ll distribute the DVD at many rodeos throughout the summer in Wyoming and adjacent states:
Team Wyoming
The DVD packaging includes a complete listing of all rodeos in the state in 2010. Wyoming is the only state to endorse, sponsor, and support year-round the efforts of those who undertake the hard road to a world championship in professional rodeo. You can keep up with the riding, roping and wrestling here: The Rodeo Hand and Charlie's Cowboy Blog