In the Shadow of Wyoming’s Wind River Range : Wild and Empty, the Old West Lives On in a Region Not Far From Yellowstone

I knew the Old West--the real West--was alive and well the minute my wife and I stepped into the noisy Outlaw Saloon in Dubois, a dusty little ranch town in the shadow of Wyoming’s Wind River mountains. It was a Friday night, and on the dance floor, sun-weathered ranch hands were spinning their partners in a sprightly cowboy two-step to the tunes of a four-piece Western band. We joined them, more or less managing the fancy footwork. But I couldn’t quite duplicate the cowboys’ oddly formal, stiff-legged style, which I guess comes from a life in the saddle.

Actually, we would be spending some time in the saddle ourselves. Enamored of the lore of the West, we had journeyed to one of the wildest and emptiest places in America: Wyoming’s beautiful Wind River country. In our new Stetsons and pointy-toed boots, we aimed to play cowboy for a week and a half.

And what a spectacular playground we found. Commanding our view daily were the perpetually snow-capped peaks of the Wind River mountains, Wyoming’s loftiest range, many of which rise above 13,000 feet under an often dazzling blue sky. On their rugged slopes and rolling foothills, and in the long, green valley of the rushing Wind River, the proverbial deer and the antelope still play, and we saw herds of them, along with bighorn sheep and moose and elk.

With the 100-mile-long Wind River Range as our scenic backdrop, we immersed ourselves last summer in America’s Western heritage. One day we explored the vast Wind River Reservation, home of the Shoshone and the Arapaho tribes, and chanced upon an all-Indian rodeo that drew bronco busters and calf ropers from throughout the Rocky Mountains. On another day, we walked the old streets of South Pass City, a historic mining town named for the famous pass over which the wagon trains of the Oregon Trail struggled to cross the Rockies. In little Pinedale, another ranch town, we discovered the Museum of the Mountain Men, a tribute to 19th-Century fur trappers such as Jim Bridger, whose exploits in the region are legendary.

For a full week, we stayed at a small guest ranch, where our private cabin beside a pond took in a beautiful view of the Wind River Range. Every day we went horseback riding, often into the mountains but sometimes as “assistant cowboys”--or so we considered ourselves--helping the wranglers check the cattle grazing on the sage-covered range. In no time at all, my polished boots were scuffed and scarred and my hat bent and dusty. I think--anyway, I hope--I had begun to look like a real cowboy.

Twenty-six Wyoming peaks rise above 13,000 feet, and 23 of them are in the Wind River Range--most clustered within nine miles of each other. Craggy, glacially sculpted pinnacles, they thrust above the tree line, sheltering in their rocky crevices glaciers and permanent snowfields. This is the Wind River high country, and it is a sometimes inhospitable wilderness. Even in summer, snow is apt to fall at any time. One afternoon, venturing deep within the mountains, we watched a blizzard raging on the barren peaks above us. Amid the flurries, I imagined we had stumbled into the icy realm of a mythic snow god.

Forests of evergreens and aspens blanket the lower slopes of the Wind Rivers, and here the mountains shed their intimidating aura. In my mind, I’ve kept the picture of a clear mountain stream racing through a verdant meadow ablaze in wildflowers of all colors. On one end of the meadow is a hilltop grove of aspens, their leaves seeming to sparkle in the dappled sunlight. And just emerging from the trees is a startled elk into whose habitat we had intruded. This is the sort of scenery through which we hiked, rode on horseback or drove every day of our trip.

Yet, as majestic as they are, the Wind Rivers tend to be overlooked by most travelers bound for bustling Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, which are located just to the west and north. As a result, the Wind River region has been spared the throngs that all but overwhelm the two popular parks in the summer. In many ways, it remains the West of 50 years ago, where herding cattle is still as important as catering to tourists. The mountains themselves have been protected as part of both the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton national forests.

Stretching southeasterly, the Wind River Range begins at 9,600-foot Togwotee Pass, about 40 miles northwest of Dubois, and it ends fairly abruptly at South Pass, about 80 miles southeast of Dubois. The Wind River, tumbling from the mountains as white water in early summer, traces the eastern foot of the range through rolling grasslands and irrigated fields of hay. The western slope gives way to a vast and arid plateau, where large herds of bounding antelope sometimes seem to outnumber cattle.

To see the Wind River mountains in all their variations, we decided to make a circle drive around the entire range, beginning and ending in the sophisticated, boutique-filled resort community of Jackson. In 10 days, we covered a little more than 1,000 miles, most of it over nearly empty highways and rutted U.S. Forest Service roads. Several routes, most of them unpaved, penetrate the mountains. But only a couple of narrow, winding dirt roads cross them, and we would bounce over one at the southern tip of the range.

We got our first glimpse of the Wind River mountains soon after crossing Togwotee Pass, about 60 miles northeast of Jackson. In truth, though, Togwotee is not the place to stand in rapt awe of the Wind Rivers. No, at Togwotee, if you are headed east toward Dubois as we were, it is best to stop, get out of the car and face in the opposite direction. For behind you rises one of the great views of America--the jagged, saw-toothed peaks of the Grand Teton Mountains stretched in bold relief against a clear, blue sky. Grand views of the Wind Rivers would come later.

Soon after we started our descent of the pass, the Wind River made its appearance, and we followed its rushing path the rest of the way to little Dubois. Almost immediately, we spotted a group of cowboys riding horseback in the heart of town, and I instantly took a liking to the place. There is an authentic Western look to Dubois and the neighboring countryside. On the outskirts, lush pastures full of fat cattle contrast sharply with crumpled ridges of eroded badlands, a hint of the sometimes harsh life in the Old West. And in town, the sidewalks along Ramshorn, the main street, are made of wood--as was the custom a century ago. The town is a center for guest ranches and outdoor adventuring, including horse-packing, fishing and hunting trips into the mountains. Here we could wear our hats and boots and jeans and blend in nicely with the locals.

We spent two nights in Dubois, staying at a small bed and breakfast inn, Sunshine & Shadows, located on a 1,300-acre hay ranch five miles north of town in the Horse Creek Valley. The inn, run by a doctor and his wife, has only one guest lodging, a beautifully restored 100-year-old log cabin--a former bunkhouse--that stands alone beneath a tall shade tree. In the tall-grass pasture alongside, two playful goats romped, and strutting geese patrolled our front yard from morning until night. Rocking on the porch, I had no trouble imagining myself a rancher surveying his empire, stretching miles before me.

One day we drove south to visit the 2.5-million-acre Wind River Reservation, home to about 4,500 members of the Northern Arapaho tribe and 3,500 members of the Eastern Shoshone tribe. My primary goal, as a Western history buff, was to visit what is believed by many to be the grave of Sacajawea, the Shoshone woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the Rockies to the Pacific Coast and back in 1805 and 1806. The cemetery, named for Sacajawea, is perched atop a wind-swept hill overlooking the reservation community of Ft. Washakie. In the background, the Wind River mountains stand sentinel.

The old cemetery looks ill-kept and overgrown with weeds, and yet the open, hilltop setting gives it the dignity befitting a person of Sacajawea’s stature. Most of the graves surrounding hers are decorated with multicolored plastic flowers, evidence that they have not been abandoned. An impressive six-foot-tall gray granite block marks Sacajawea’s burial site, and it notes the date of her death, April 9, 1884, and her path to immortality as “guide with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Her identity was verified by the minister who knew her and buried her.

Back in Dubois again, we took a before-dinner peek into the handful of surprisingly good tourist shops on Ramshorn, including one American Indian crafts shop, Stewart’s Trapline Gallery, offering excellent beaded work made on the Wind River Reservation. But I was most intrigued by Green River Traders. It specializes in “trade” beads, the glass beads that fur trappers and traders carried West to give as gifts or trade for pelts. On one wall hung dozens of strands of brightly colored beads, all more than 100 years old.

Both nights in Dubois, we ate at the Rustic Pine Steak House on Ramshorn. The restaurant isn’t fancy, but they do know how to prepare beef, and it is a bargain. One evening, I ordered a 20-ounce T-bone steak, and it was served up medium rare as ordered with salad, baked potato and rolls for an unbelievable price of $11.95. The next night, a hefty, one-inch-thick slice of prime rib--tender, juicy and delicious--filled my plate for just $13.50. I’m not a big beef eater normally, but at cattle country prices, I couldn’t afford not to indulge. Afterward, I danced away some of the calories at the Outlaw Saloon down the street.

We crossed the Wind River mountains over a steep, narrow, 25-mile-long dirt road called the Loop Road that begins at Sinks Canyon State Park, just south of the town of Lander. Sinks Canyon is the spot where the Popo Agie River, cascading out of the mountains, suddenly disappears into the mouth of a deep cave as if it were the drain of a giant tub. A quarter of a mile downriver, the Popo Agie, a tributary of the Wind, re-emerges as a bubbling spring in a large, calm pool. While we observed this phenomenon, a pair of bighorn sheep ambled by, stragglers from a herd of about 50 that shelter beneath the canyon’s soaring cliffs.

From Sinks Canyon, our route quickly ascended the nearly perpendicular side of a mountain in a series of awesome switchbacks. We could see the road slicing across the face of the slope on six levels stair-stepped above us. Much of the road is not much wider than a car, so we were forced to keep perilously close to the ledge to avoid an occasional oncoming car or, worse, a large van. I am accustomed to difficult mountain driving, but even I was sweating this trip for a while.

Once we reached the summit, the road leveled out, and we breathed easier. The drive took us through a forest of evergreens and past several lakes, each a good location for a picnic. Our immediate destination was South Pass City, a state historic site on the other side of the Wind River Range. South Pass City was once a gold-mining boom town, flourishing briefly from 1867 to 1872. About two dozen of the town’s old structures have been preserved as an open-air museum. It was at South Pass, at the foot of the Wind Rivers, where early 19th-Century travelers on the Oregon Trail entered what then was known as Oregon Country.

The drive north from South Pass via Farson yields splendid views of the Wind Rivers, but the highway traverses an otherwise bleak desert landscape of sagebrush and rocks for many miles. Gradually, though, it begins to edge up alongside the mountains, and the terrain again becomes refreshingly green. Like Dubois on the far side of the range, Pinedale is a headquarters for guest ranches and outdoors outfitters. More than 150 years ago, the area was famous as a site for the annual Rendezvous, a rowdy gathering of trappers, traders and Indians. A more sedate Rendezvous is re-created in Pinedale every summer; this year it will be held July 11-12.

The historically famous Green River spills out of the Wind River Range, flowing through Pinedale and eventually making its way to the Colorado River. The Green played a curious but significant role in America’s westward movement, a story that is interestingly told at Pinedale’s Museum of the Mountain Men.

Just west of Pinedale, Route 352 makes a winding ascent into the Wind River mountains alongside the Green River, tracing its flow to its headwaters at Green River Lakes. The drive is lovely but rather long and slow-going. From Pinedale to the lakes, the one-way distance is about 40 miles, and the last half of the road is--you’ve guessed it--unpaved and deeply rutted. The round trip took us an entire afternoon but was well worth the effort. Several scenic hiking and backpacking trails begin at the end of the road.

Having explored the Wind River country by car for several days, we settled down at the Flying A Ranch to see it on foot and horseback for a week. About 25 miles north of Pinedale, the Flying A is tucked into a high, green valley surrounded by three mountain ranges: the Wind Rivers to the east, the Gros Ventre Mountains to the north and the Wyoming Mountains to the west. The ranch accepts only 12 guests at a time, and they are housed in six cozy individual cabins. The cabins are scattered beneath a shelter of pines alongside a pond, where I counted 11 ducklings swimming with their parents. Twice we awoke to see a moose browsing outside our cabin window, and every day we took in a wonderful view of the Wind River mountains.

Actually, my wife and I settled into the ranch’s routine very easily. Breakfast was served between 8 and 9 in the main lodge building, and the morning ride got under way from the barn at 9:30. Lunch was at noon, and the afternoon’s ride began at 1:30 p.m. We always reserved late afternoon for a long soak in the large outdoor hot tub. At 6:30, everyone gathered for drinks and appetizers in the little Gilded Moose Saloon beside the pond, and a fire was usually going in the stone fireplace. Dinner was at 7, and afterward guests got up a poker game or joined in other card or board games. Since there were so few of us, the week took on the ambience of a weekend house party with friends--except, of course, we had to pay at the end.

Maybe this isn’t how real cowboys lived in the Old West, but it was close enough to suit me just fine.

GUIDEBOOK

Winding Into the Wind River Range

Getting there: The gateway city to reach the Wind River Range is Jackson, Wyo. The Jackson airport is also the nearest to Grand Teton National Park and the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park. From Los Angeles, Delta offers one direct flight to Jackson daily plus several connecting flights. Round-trip fare is $350, based on a 14-day advance purchase and a Saturday night stay.

Where to stay: One of the pleasures of the Wind River country is that tourist traffic is relatively light compared with the throngs flocking to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Accommodations are limited, but a choice of several good motels is available in the towns of Dubois, Lander and Pinedale. Dubois, Atlantic City and Pinedale also offer bed and breakfast lodgings, and there are numerous guest ranches in the vicinity. For lodging information, contact the Wyoming Division of Tourism.

At Dubois, we stayed at the Sunshine & Shadows Bed & Breakfast (800-472-6241 or 307-455-3279), a quiet retreat on a 1,300-acre hay ranch about five miles north of town. The inn, reached over a lightly traveled dirt road, has only one lodging, a beautifully restored and furnished cabin. The cabin has a private porch from which to take in the lovely setting, there’s a hammock beneath a shade tree and mountain bikes are available. The cabin for two, with a full breakfast, is $60 a night.

North of Pinedale, we opted for the Flying A Ranch, which accepts 12 adults only in six cabins for seven-day stays from Sunday dinner through Sunday breakfast. The cabins are nicely furnished and scrupulously maintained. Ours had a living room with a fireplace, a full kitchen (although we only used the refrigerator to store beverages), a bedroom, a modern bathroom and a shaded front porch with rocking chairs. The ranch’s mountain valley setting--at an altitude of 8,300 feet--could not have been lovelier. The cabins sit at the edge of a forest beside a large pond, with good views of both the Wind River and Gros Ventre mountains.

The cost for a seven-night stay for two people is $2,360. The price includes three full meals daily, soft drinks, unlimited riding with experienced trail wranglers, a 15% service charge for the staff and a 3% state tax. You supply your own alcoholic beverages for the 6:30 p.m. cocktail gathering and meals. Transportation between Jackson and the ranch is $100 round trip per couple. For information: (307) 367-2385 during the summer and (800) 678-6543 in the winter (when the ranch is closed).

For more information: Contact the Wyoming Division of Tourism, Interstate 25 at College Drive, Cheyenne, Wyo. 82002-0240, (800) 225-5996 or (307) 777-7777.