Things To Do and See in
the Worland, Ten Sleep, and Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming -
In addition to the obvious attraction of the Big Horn Mountains, like
fishing for cutthroat, rainbow and brookie trout; or hunting for white tail
or mule deer, elk, antelope and bear; there is
backpacking, downhill and cross country skiing, camping, snowshoeing, boating, and photography, the Worland/Ten Sleep
Area offers a lot more.
TOP 30
THINGS TO DO OR SEE IN THE
Worland-Ten Sleep AREA
click on images for larger views
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City of
Worland – To the 5000+ people who call Worland home, this
small city is big on life. Its roots are deep in agriculture, energy and
industry, built to accommodate the workers and growers along the canal
system and the soon after discovered oil fields, Worland continues to
have the largest per capita diversity in industry in the State of
Wyoming.
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Worland Wyoming Indian Brave #36 on the Trail of the
Whispering Giants
– Located on the corner of 10th street and Big Horn
Avenue in Worland ,the thirty sixth wood carving in Peter Toth’s “Trail
of the Whispering Giants” “... to honor the first Americans – the
Shoshone, Arapaho, Sioux – all the Indians that did and still do live in
this state.” Carved in 1980 and given to the State of Wyoming, County of
Washakie and the City of Worland, it is one of 67 in the United States
and Canada.
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Pioneer Park – In celebration of the pioneer spirit, this
park in the center of Worland hosts several sculptures and a bell tower
celebrating those who went before.
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Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce & the Artesian Fountain
– From area
information to the newest happenings the Worland-Ten
Sleep
Chamber of Commerce is there to help the traveler and the locals find
the business or service they need. Spring, summer and fall will find the
Fountain that celebrates our award winning Artesian Water available in
every home or by the bottle (Aqua Vista).
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Original town site of Worland - Located on the west side of
the river near where 15 mile creek enters the Big Horn River “Camp
Worland” consisted of “Dad” Worland’s Saloon, 2 hotels, Dance Hall, a
tent school house, 3 retail stores, 4 residences, a Chinese Laundry and
the Hanover Canal Company Office. Worland slid across the ice in the
middle of the winter 1905 – 1906, to be on the right side of the river
when the rail road got there the summer of ‘06’
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Washakie Museum offers its
visitors an opportunity to relate to the living environment of the early
settlers from thousands of years ago to one hundred years ago. Exhibits,
including a major historical photograph collection, and learning
programs relating to the art, history, geology, archaeology and
paleontology of the region are featured at the museum, as well as
musical and theatrical events. The "Please Touch" exhibits offer fun for
both children and adults. The art exhibits change regularly. Please call
for upcoming events.
Washakie Museum 1115 Obie Sue (12th & Obie Sue), Worland.
347-4102.
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Painted Desert/Bad Lands – most of Washakie County sits in
the basin of five mountain ranges, the volcanic activity that created
our unique area left us with some of the most barren looking colorful
landscape you can find. The browns, tans, reds, and gold mix to create
an artists dream. As the sun rises over the Big Horns or sets over the
Absarokas the badlands blaze in color.
- The
Whales – These formations located about 10 miles by road
south of Worland to all appearances seem to be “swimming” right out of
the hill side. These giant eel like formations complete with blow hole
are a product of our volcanic past.
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Duck Swamp Environmental Education Area
provides an outdoor learning experience
on Bureau of Land Management-administered public lands. This area,
located just north of Worland, on WY Highway 433, highlights the natural
dynamics of a wetland area along the Big Horn River. The 80-acre
tract encompasses an old river oxbow that has become a cattail marsh,
providing habitat for numerous wildlife species.
You can get there by driving two
miles north of Worland on WY Highway 433, or by driving 20 miles south of
Manderson on WY Highway 433. The Duck Swamp Environmental Education Area
is on the east side of the road.
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The Big Horn River provides
boating, fishing, and hunting in northern Wyoming's Big
Horn Basin. It
irrigates farmland and is occasionally fed by small tributaries from
both the east and west sides of the basin. Boaters appreciate its
solitude and ever-changing scenery. Anglers can catch Brown, Cutthroat
and Rainbow trout, and Ling. The Big Horn River is approximately 130
miles long and is publicly accessible in a number of locations; check
with the local BLM office for details.
- Green
Hills Golf Course –This par 72, 18 hole course is truly a
pleasure to play the rolling tree lined fairways with the Big Horns in
the background make it a pleasure to spend the time in the outdoors.
Seldom crowded so tee times are needed normally only on weekends, with a
full time Pro and a club house and snack shack for any needed libations
or equipment.
Daily Green Fees
9 Holes Adult ….. $16 Student …..$8
18 holes Adult ….. $26 Student ….. $16
Season Green Fees
Student …… $105 Single ….. $395
Couple ….. $575 Family ….. $680
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Gooseberry Scenic Area
is named for the Gooseberry Creek south of the site.
This scenic area provides panoramic view of the sculptured landscape.
The overlook reveals a mystical world of bizarre geologic arches,
goblins, hoodoos, mushrooms, and castles. The colorful and banded rocks
of the Tatman and Willwood Formations attract many people wishing to
capture the beauty with their camera.
You can get
there from Worland by driving seven miles south on U.S. Highway
20/26 and turning west on WY Highway 431. Continue driving 23 miles to the
scenic area. The Gooseberry Scenic Area is on the north side of the road.
- Colby
Mammoth Site - The Colby site is
located just outside Worland on private property. This important site
was named after Donald Colby who discovered the first Clovis spear point
there in 1962. Mr. Colby found it while using heavy earth moving
equipment during the construction of a reservoir. The Colby site was
first recognized as an important archaeological site in 1973 when the
first scientific
excavations there began to take place. Most of the site was eventually
excavated during five separate digging seasons between the years 1973
through 1978.
Parts of at least seven mammoths were found in an ancient arroyo
(dry gully or stream) in two areas dating estimates for Clovis could
place this site as early as 14,000 years ago. Other types of animal
bones found on the Colby site include horse, camel, bison, pronghorn,
jackrabbit and possibly musk-ox.
- Sand
Creek Divide –Half way between Worland & Ten Sleep is the
highest location in the badlands from this local you can see the entire
basin including the five mountain ranges that surround it. To the east
the Big Horn Mountains, to the south the Owl Creek Mountains, to the
west the Absaroka Mountains the northwest are the Carter Mountains and
to the north the Pryor Mountains.
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Big Cedar Ridge Plant Fossil Area holds plant
fossils that are 72 million years old. Big Cedar Ridge is located on
public lands about halfway between Worland and Ten Sleep, Wyoming.
When these plants were growing the dinosaur reign was coming to a close.
The plant fossils are keys that may unlock the mysteries of what the
environment was like so long ago. A complete late Cretaceous-age plant
community was buried in place by volcanic ash. Through erosion and
continued research, Big Cedar Ridge slowly unveils its treasure of
fossilized plants. For nearly three miles, the exposed fossils show the
relationship between ancient plants and their landscape. You can help
scientists by reporting your fossil finds to the BLM. Plant fossils
(animals without a backbone) can be collected in small amounts with hand
tools.
You can get
there from Worland by driving 15 miles east on WY Highway 16 to
the Blue Bank Road. Continue driving on the Blue Bank Road 15 miles to Big
Cedar Ridge.
- Town
of Ten Sleep - received its name because of the method of
measuring
distance that was
used by Indians at one time.
There was once a large Sioux Indian
camp on the banks of the Platte River, and there was another
large Indian camp on the Clark's Fork River to the North, near
present-day Bridger, Montana. These camps were important to Indians and
settlers due to the trails leading to
and from them in all directions across the West. According to the
reckoning of the Indians, it was twenty "sleeps," or nights, between the
two camps.
It took ten "sleeps" to get halfway between them. This became the
location of the present town of Ten Sleep.
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Signal
Cliff – west of Ten Sleep was used as an early communication
point for a signal fire the eastern half of the Big Horn Mountains are
visible from this location from the Thermopolis area to the Shell Creek
area 40+ miles in either direction.
- Ten
Sleep Museum – The Museum exhibits cover the everyday life of
pioneer families and include tools and clothing.
- Castle
Gardens – just a few miles off the beaten path outside Ten
Sleep you’ll find Castle Gardens. Where the wind and water has shaped
the sandstone into terrific vistas for hiking & climbing, this has been
a local’s favorite picnic spot for generations.
Castle Gardens Scenic Area gets
its name from some impressive rock formations. A small campground
managed by the BLM, comes with tables, grills, and toilet facilities,
and is cradled by sandstone from the Mesa Verde Formation.
photos by Nanci Harrington
The
easily-weathered sandstone forms the many odd shapes or
hoodoos, in what has been called the Teapot Sandstone member of the Mesa
Verde Formation, because the shapes resemble teapots.
You can get
there by driving two miles west of Ten Sleep on U.S. Highway 16
and follow the signs five miles to Castle Gardens Scenic Area.
- Wigwam
Rearing Station - The Wigwam Rearing Station is situated on
420 acres near the mouth of the Ten Sleep Canyon four miles east of the
town of Ten Sleep.
Two springs and one well
provide approximately 1400 gallons per minute at a constant temperature of
50oF. This constant flow and temperature is important for
raising trout by providing year round growth and allowing personnel to
determine how many fish can be held on station at any given time. The
creek adjacent to the station provides water for the Snake River cutthroat
broodstock held in the pond at the east end of the facility. Using creek
water for a broodstock allows the Wyoming Game and Fish to imitate wild
conditions and natural spawning conditions.
Wigwam contains two captive
broodstocks as well as other various species and ages of fish for release
into the wild. The two broodstocks are Eagle Lake rainbow trout and Snake
River cutthroat trout. A broodstock is the group of adult fish that
provide eggs and sperm, or milt.
- Ten
Sleep Fish Hatchery - Ten Sleep State Fish Hatchery was
constructed in 1939 and is nestled in the beautiful Ten Sleep Canyon, 9
miles east of the town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming off U.S. Highway 16 on U.S.
Highway 435. It is situated upstream form the confluence of Leigh Creek
and Ten Sleep Creek at the base of the popular Big Horn Mountains.
In a typical year, the
hatchery receives between 5 and 6 million green eggs (just fertilized)
some are hatched at the facility, and others are shipped to facilities
throughout the state and the country as eyed eggs. The eggs hatched at
the facility are either stocked in area waters as fish or transferred to
other state operated facilities.
- Ten
Sleep Canyon - From Meadowlark Lake down to the red ridges of
the foot hills highway 16 traverses Ten Sleep Canyon is one of god’s
wonders. Extreme Sports men and women are finding this unspoiled beauty
while rock climbing, caving, hiking or mountain biking. The cliffs take
on a life of their own with shapes and faces carved out by millions of
years of wind and water, with the trees and plants filling in the
detail.
- 1st
Church in the Basin – March 14, 1901 Rev. L.C. Thompson, Rev.
E.E. Tarbill, Mortimer Lewis, J.W. Carpenter, Kate Lynch and Mark Warner
signed papers
incorporating the Methodist Church of Ten Sleep and accepted land from
David Moses. The community raised $600, supplementing $300 given by
Extension Society of Philadelphia. The building started in 1901 by
volunteer labor with lumber donated by Milo Burke, was completed in 1904
and dedicated January 8, 1905. Each assisting family was given a lot in
the cemetery, where many pioneers rest. The church was moved to a
location near the Ten Sleep Rodeo Grounds in 1925 where it remained
until 1975 when it was moved to Circle J Youth Camp in Ten Sleep Canyon.
- Leigh
Creek Monument – Leigh Creek Monument is topped with a cross
and was erected in 1889 in memory of an English nobleman who fell 200
feet off the Ten Sleep Canyon Wall, while in pursuit of a Big Horn
Sheep.
- Rome
Hill Road – Once an Indian trail, just a bit of a horse track
coming down the side of the mountain. Around 1900 Bull & Neal opened the
Rome Store on Canyon Creek east of Ten Sleep, and then created a “rough
lock “road
over
the trail. A “rough lock” was done simply by placing a pole through the
spokes on the wagon wheels and locking them into place to “skid” the
load down the hill or mountain in this case. Over the years it was used
to drag logs off the mountain in much the same fashion. In the 1930s it
was graded into the road we see to day. The Rome Hill Road provides a
back route up to the mountain or off of it with a beauty all its own.
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Ten Sleep Preserve - The Nature
Conservancy's Tensleep Preserve lies
10 miles from the town of Ten Sleep. Violet-blue flowers called
Cary's penstemon, a rare and threatened wildflower, grow better on the
10,000 acres than almost anywhere. Mule deer, mountain lions, a variety
of birds of prey like bald and golden eagles and merlins, Merriam's
shrews, black bear, elk, beaver, and the rare spotted bat, as well as
other wildlife live in the preserve's canyons. They are worth the
watching.
The Ten Sleep
Preserve is a spectacular example of the wildness and diversity
of Wyoming. The heart of this protected natural area is a 12 mile stretch
of Canyon Creek, carving a deep canyon through the southwestern flanks of
the Bighorn Mountains. A rugged collection of canyons, uplands and
forests, the Preserve is home to eight plant communities, and over 120
bird species.
Ancient
pictographs and Indian gathering sites reveal a long history of
people and the land. The ecological richness that first attracted early
American peoples to this site continues to attract visitors as The Nature
Conservancy manages this preserve for both people and the environment.
Tensleep
Preserve is located in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains
in north central Wyoming. For any visit to Tensleep, we request that you
call the preserve to plan your visit before you arrive. From mid-April to
mid-December, contact: Tensleep Preserve, HC-30, Box 101, Ten Sleep, WY
82442, (307) 347-2671. During the winter months, contact: Wyoming Chapter,
258 Main Street, Suite 200, Lander, WY 82520, (307) 332-2971.
- Spring
Creek Raid – Cattlemen of the Big Horn Basin dominated the
range where sheep were forbidden. Fierce animosity grew up between
opposing sheep and cattle ranchers as several sheep camps were raided
during the late 1800s and the early 1900s.
On a moonlit night of April
12th 1909 seven masked riders entered the Allemand sheep camp
at Spring Creek killing Joe Allemand, Joe Emge & Jules Lazier and both
wagons set on fire. Five of the perpetrators were convicted and sent to
prison. Public reaction against this brutal and tragic act left no doubt
that violence on Wyoming’s open range would no longer be tolerated.
- Canyon
Creek Golf Course – More than a game it’s an adventure. This
course set in the valley of Canyon Creek plays 9 holes along the creek,
more fun and better scenery you couldn’t ask for, but bring plenty of
balls.
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The Middle Fork of the Powder River
Campground attracts hundreds of anglers yearning to fish
the clear waters of this blue-ribbon trout stream. Flowing through the
rolling hills of the southern Bighorn Mountains, this river is home to a
small BLM-administered campground nestled on its bank.
You can get there from Ten Sleep by
driving 20 miles south on WY Highway 434 to Big Trails, turn east onto the
Dry Farm Road and continue on this road 10 miles to the Hazelton Road.
Continue driving south on the Hazelton Road 10 miles to the campground
located on the east side of the road. From Buffalo drive 23 miles west on
U.S. Highway 16 to the Hazelton Road turnoff and continue on this road 40
miles to the campground. From Casper, drive west 50 miles on U.S. Highway
20/26, and turn north at Waltman. Follow the Thirty-Three Mile Stock Drive
42 miles to the campground.
30.
Medicine Lodge State Archaeological
Site Located at the mouth of Medicine
Lodge Canyon, six miles northeast of Hyattville, off Hwy. 31 along the
western slope of the Big Horn Mountains, is Medicine Lodge State
Archaeological Site. The sandstone cliff does not look much like someone's
home, but beneath this towering wall archaeologists discovered evidence
that people have lived at this site contiguously for over 10,000 years.
The petroglyphs and pictographs etched and painted on the wall's surface
indicate a human presence to the early white homesteaders, but not to such
an ancient degree.
In 1969 Dr.
George Frison, then Wyoming State Archaeologist, began a series
of investigations that involved digging through 26 feet of soil and rocky
sediments at the base of the cliff. He discovered 60 cultural levels
spanning some 10,000 years of human occupancy. Also, found during the dig
were fire pits, food storage pits, manos and metates, projectile points
and a bone pile. This unique find has enabled archaeologists to study
lifestyle changes over time and in fact, has provided a key to
interpreting the archaeology of the entire Big Horn Basin of Northern
Wyoming.
Today Medicine
Lodge State Archaeological Site, administered jointly by the
Division of State Parks and Historic Sites, Wyoming Department of Commerce
and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is a favorite camping spot for
people who come to relax, fish, hike, hunt, bird watch, bike or learn
about the rich cultural past of the area. The dig site itself has been
back-filled for protection, but there is a Visitor Center on the site to
provide information and pictures of what took place.
For more
details about the Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site
contact Superintendent Dave Taylor at Box 62, Hyattville, WY 82428,
307-469-2234 or Division of State Parks and Historic Sites, Wyoming
Department of Commerce, 6101 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82002,
307-777-6323.
Northeast of
Hyattville you will also find the Elk Wildlife Habitat Site.
Just past the turnoff to the Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site is Cold
Springs Road. Travel 4.5 miles to the entrance to the Elk Wildlife Habitat
Site.
Worland /
Ten Sleep Loop Tours
If you're
looking for a day-long excursion, pick one of four "loop tours". Three of
the four tours involve less than 115 miles of driving, and, depending on
your choice for the day, you can see prehistoric petroglyphs and
pictographs, beautiful waterfalls, thermal hot springs, the beauty of
mountain splendor or the "painted desert", the medicine wheel, bison,
deer, elk, coyote, antelope and variety of other wildlife and waterfowl.
Guided tours are available.
For more information and a
brochure, contact the Worland-Ten Sleep Area Chamber Commerce
at the address on the bottom of this
page.
Non-paved roads can change with
the weather;
contact BLM office for current road conditions.
Follow the links
below for a tour of the Worland - Ten Sleep area of Wyoming
