Top Places to Visit in Wyoming

Wyoming's visitor attractions are dominated by two national parks of global significance, but the state's vast public lands contain many gems beyond them.

Yellowstone National Park
America's first national park (1872) and the world's largest concentration of geysers, hot springs, and geothermal features. Beyond the geothermal wonders, Yellowstone has the largest free-roaming bison herd in the US (4,500+), significant wolf packs (reintroduced 1995), grizzly bears, pronghorn, and elk. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1,000 feet deep, with the 308-foot Lower Yellowstone Falls) rivals any canyon in the American Southwest. The park receives 4+ million visitors per year; spring and fall offer better wildlife viewing and smaller crowds than summer.

Grand Teton National Park
The Teton Range rises 7,000 feet from the floor of Jackson Hole in a series of fault-block peaks of extraordinary sharpness. The Snake River Overlook (where Ansel Adams famously photographed the Tetons), the Jenny Lake area, and the String Lake loop are the most visited spots. The 40-mile Teton Crest Trail is one of the premier multi-day backpacking routes in the Rocky Mountains.

Jackson Hole Valley
The town of Jackson (not to be confused with the valley, Jackson Hole) is the tourism hub for Grand Teton and southern Yellowstone. The Town Square elk antler arches, the National Elk Refuge (7,500 elk winter here), and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (one of the finest ski mountains in the US) define the area's character.

Devils Tower National Monument
The first US National Monument (1906), Devils Tower is a 867-foot columnar basalt butte rising from the Belle Fourche River valley in northeast Wyoming. The tower formed as an igneous intrusion; erosion exposed it over millions of years. The columns are the result of hexagonal cracking as the magma cooled. The tower is sacred to multiple Native American nations (Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa). Rock climbing on the columns is popular; a prayer cloth and offering wrap the base.

Wind River Range
Wyoming's finest wilderness — the Winds contain 40+ peaks above 13,000 feet, 300+ alpine lakes, and seven wilderness areas. The Cirque of the Towers (near Big Sandy) is the most spectacular alpine cirque in Wyoming. Fremont and Wind River peaks overlook the headwaters of both the Pacific and Atlantic drainages.