Wyoming, Montana's sibling
Written: Dec 03 '03 (Updated Dec 09 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Grand Teton National Park
Cons: A lot of ugly areas, camping, road construction
The Bottom Line: Much like Montana, the western side of the state is generally attractive, while the east is anything but attractive.
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| tch7's Full Review: Wyoming |
On the whole, Wyoming is not a nice place to visit. There are small parts that are great areas to visit, such as Grand Teton National Park, but the majority of what I did see was only marginally better than salt flats of Utah. Similar to Montana, the western side of the state is where you get the nice mountain scenery - and people - whereas the east side is a dry and desolate area. The eastern side of the state is like Utah's salt flats, but with more topography and trees dotting the landscape. There aren't really any big cities in Wyoming, just a few small cities and towns here and there - Denver is the closest metropolitan center.
The road system is good for the most part, and the pinkish roads in northern part of the state are unique and interesting to look at. However, road construction on the interstate occurred every 50 miles and lasted for 20 miles, and it really slowed things down. I don't know why there were so many repairs going on; perhaps the red rock used in the pavement caused the quality of the road to degrade quickly, or maybe the road crews just needed some work. Other than Yellowstone National Park, traffic wasn't bad anywhere - excluding a few people that just didn't know how to drive.
Around Sheridan it is green, hilly, and a fairly attractive place. It's big enough to have a K Mart and similar stores, but we only visited the outskirts of it and therefore I don't know what it offers for accommodation. As you go south, the scenery goes downhill until about the Colorado Border. The sight of Casper was so bad that it actually caused my urge to find a bathroom go away for a short little while. If there is a nice part to Casper, I didn't see it. Cheyenne, close to the border, wasn't too bad of place, but we only drove through it on the interstate and therefore didn't see all that there was to it. From what I did see, it was clean and well kept, and looked like a place for retired couples and young, well-to-do families.
Between Sheridan and Cheyenne is Glendoe State Park, which was nearly deserted, and where we spent the night before going to Vail, CO. Other than a large lake, there's nothing much of interest to the park.
The campgrounds were maybe 1/8 full, yet a man and his wife came and set up right next to us even though there were hundreds of unfilled sites, his only reason being that he lived about 20 miles away and always camped in that exact site. Enjoying solitude, I was angry but there really wasn't anything we could do. Then came trying to sleep (ugh); the two of them stayed up until approximately 12:30 pm playing loud country music, smoking, and playing cards. Then they got up at about five, and he started the music up again and made pancakes outside, even though he could have made them inside his trailer. What a terrible night that was, but it was only the first part to my wonderful camping experiences in Wyoming. Other than to try and sleep, don't waste your time visiting Glendoe State Park.
After spending some time in Colorado and Utah, we went to South Dakota, and then we decided to go to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. First though, we paid a visit to Devil's Tower National Monument. Although a very interesting sight, it quickly lost its appeal as there wasn't much to do except walk around it. If you're a climber it would be quite fun to climb, but it's not one for beginners.
Following our short visit to Devil's Tower, we continued heading west and found ourselves back at Sheridan, where we just kept on heading west until reaching the rodeo town, Cody. Between Sheridan and Cody lies an interesting area known as the Bighorn National Forest, which was a pleasant mountainous area, at least in contrast to what lies on either side of it (especially to the west of it). We went by a small ski hill called Antelope Butte, but almost every sign for it had the "e" removed/scratched out from the end - it's odd how such stupid things can be somewhat humourous. I thought that from the Bighorn National Forest all the way to Yellowstone was in a mountainous and forested area; boy, was I shocked. As you begin descending, the view just gets worse, and worse, and worse. It actually develops into a replica of Utah's salt flats - now you can understand why I was so shocked. Until you reach Cody, there is nothing enjoyable at all; you just wish you had one of those rocket cars.
Cody, wasn't a bad place, but the prices were ridiculous for everything. The Super 8 Motel was $145(Canadian - Approx $100US) a night, and that was cheap. So, not willing to shell out that much money, we just camped right off the road in a small campground/cabin place. It was $22 a night, and the noise was constant so you could fall asleep without too much difficulty. The only reason for the high prices is because there isn't anywhere even remotely close that offers the same services, and they are well aware of that. We were going to just keep on going so we could get closer to the Yellowstone border, but given that there was no way of knowing if we could get a campsite, we settled with where we were - but there were a lot of places that we saw the next day, so I'm sure we could have gotten a spot somewhere.
The next day we got up early and headed for Yellowstone so we could get a place in the park before it was too late. After setting up, we went to Old Faithful and around that area. The following day we went to Grand Teton National Park, and we saw most of it - at least the touristy things. Then, the following day we went north from our campground to look at various waterfalls. The next day we left and made it to Helena, with a short stop at Mammoth Hot Springs. More on Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks can be found using the links at the bottom of this review.
That concludes my time in Wyoming, with everywhere but the southwestern corner being visited, but that area isn't heavily used anyways. Wyoming has its nice parts, but the only place I thoroughly enjoyed was Grand Teton National Park. I'd give it a 3.5/5 if that option existed, but since it doesn't, I just can't find enough reason to round it up to a 4. I don't know if I should recommend it or not - it is really on the borderline. It's similar to my opinion of Montana; if you're in the general area you should try to visit the western side of the state, but don't make it a main destination.
If you're interested in the rest of the road trip, here are links to the other portions of it:
Montana
Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Colorado
The Vail Area
Rocky Mountain National Park
Arches National Park
Jewel Cave National Monument (South Dakota)
Recommended:
Yes
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tch7
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