Fort Laramie is an ideal a place to begin any journey on Wyoming's trails. As one of the earliest permanent frontier posts, it was a site most travelers visited. Now a national historic site, Fort Laramie's recreated and restored buildings give a picture of the site's history including details about fur traders, Native Americans, pioneer emigrant trails and military occupation.
During the period of overland emigration, Fort Laramie was the first – and for many years the most important – stop on the trails, a place where travelers could obtain supplies, rest (or recruit as they called it), send and receive mail and get information. It served the Oregon, Mormon, California, Pony Express and Bozeman trails; was a stop on the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Route; and was near the north-south Texas cattle trail.
From Fort Laramie head west along the Oregon, Mormon, California and Pony Express routes on U.S. 26 to Glendo. From there, detour south of town to the Guernsey Ruts, just outside town south of the North Platte
Fort Caspar
River, and to Register Cliff, approximately three miles from Guernsey. Here you will see where pioneers carved their names in the cliff as well as the area where the wheels of 19th-century wagons ground deep ruts into the sandstone.
Return to Guernsey and continue along the emigrant trails to Casper (take US. 26 to I-25 and then travel northwest through Douglas to Casper). As a side trip, you may want to visit Fort Fetterman, a state historic site northwest of Douglas, which was an embarkation point for travelers on the Bozeman Trail in the 1860s and for military troops headed into the Powder River Basin during the Sioux War of 1876. You can overnight in Douglas or in Casper.
On your second day in Casper, visit the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center and the newly redesigned Fort Caspar, a replica of the original military post. The newest attraction there beckons you to climb aboard a stagecoach and take a ride over the trails of central Wyoming. You can also
Bozeman Trail Days Re-enactment
ride a wagon across the river, pull a Mormon handcart and listen to stories told by pioneers and Native Americans.
For your third day, there is much Oregon, California, Mormon and Pony Express country to explore farther west, such as Independence Rock, Devils Gate and the Mormon Handcart Visitor center, where you can actually walk on trail remnants. You can find information at Fort Caspar or at the Historic Trails Interpretive Center to either select a route along Wyoming Highway 220 or over county roads that remain closer to the trail routes.
For a change, travel north to Bozeman Trail country by taking Interstate 25 through Kaycee to Buffalo. There, visit the Jim Gatchell Museum with its collection of wagons and other local history, before continuing north to Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site, where you can learn about the Native American battles that occurred as a result of military and emigrant use of the Bozeman Trail.
End your three-day trip in Sheridan at Trail End State Historic Site, once the home of John B. Kendrick. As a young man, Kendrick followed a cattle trail from Texas north to Wyoming, eventually becoming a U.S. Senator and the Wyoming governor. Or, visit the Sheridan Inn, where William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody – once a Pony Express rider – later recruited cowboys to participate in his Wild West shows.
Candy Moulton is the co-author of Wagon Wheels: A Contemporary Journey on the Oregon Trail.
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