Watch The Sunrise/Sunset At Bighorn National Forest, A Unique Natural Escape In Wyoming
By Celina Colby|Published January 12, 2022
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Celina Colby
Author
Celina Colby is a Boston-based writer and native New Englander who has been covering travel, arts, food, and culture nationally for ten years. When she's not on deadline you can often find her reading, sewing, and searching for the perfect empanada.
Bighorn National Forest in northern Wyoming boasts more than 1.1 million acres of pristine, protected land. It was established as a U.S. Forest Reserve in 1897, making it one of the oldest government-protected forest lands in the country.
Located halfway between Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park, the Bighorn Mountains are a sister range to the Rocky Mountains and provide a unique vacation destination in their own right.
The landscape in this forest is incredibly diverse. You'll spot grasslands, meadows, waterfalls, alpine mountains, and crystal clear glacier carved lakes all in one outing.
There are countless ways to explore the natural beauty of this region. Drive along any of three scenic byways, hike on 1,200 miles of trails or hunker down under the stars at one of the 30 campgrounds.
Preservation is paramount in this Forest Reserve. Though the whole forest is protected and preserved, the Cloud Peak Wilderness, a slice of 189,039 acres within the park, is particularly untouched by humans. When comparing photographs of the alpine region from a hundred years ago, it looks nearly the same as it does today.