Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

Imagine sitting on your porch enjoying a refreshing beverage, cool ocean breeze blowing gently through the yard. Now, imagine that same scenario in Wyoming! Well, millions of years ago, this could have been a reality if we happened to have people, porches or yards. Yes, it’s true; Wyoming and Montana were covered in about 5 inches of water and were considered a tropical marsh land, with dinosaurs feeding on the conifer trees!

Our most recent outing from The Cody brought us to the Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area outside of Lovell, Wyoming. Our first stop was the Visitors’ Center where display cases exhibited the many fossils found  15 miles upstream from Yellowtail Dam in Fort Smith, Montana;  including shark’s teeth, marine corals, brachiopods, crinoids (tiny star shaped fossils), and mollusks.  Also at the Center, are displays of dinosaur bones, petrified wood samples, enormous wasp’s nest that can still be seen outside in the trees, and mounts of the native animals seen in this region today.

The focus of this area is the 71 mile-long Big Horn Lake, created by Yellowtail Dam in Montana. Dedicated in 1968, this dam provides electric power, water for irrigation, flood control and recreation. The main attractions of this area are boating, fishing, waterskiing (my favorite) and swimming. “Time and water are keys to the canyon, where the land has been shaped by moving water since upheavals of the Earth’s  crust built the Pryor and Bighorn mountains millions of years ago.” The canyon walls are magnificent and wildlife can be seen at every turn! If you have a chance to take the trip from Horseshoe Bend to Fort Smith, it’s totally worth the time. As a matter of fact, a good friend of ours runs Hidden Treasure Charters & Wyoming Eco-tours, which offers summer scenic boat tours of the canyon.

From Lovell, we took the scenic drive up Hwy 37 to The Lockhart Ranch in Montana. Along the way we stopped at Crooked Creek hoping to see some of the wild mustangs found in this area. The Wild Horse Range was established to provide a well-maintained sanctuary for wild horses, which boasts a herd of more than 140. We then headed to Horseshoe Bend – one of the boat launch sites along the canyon and from there drove to Barry’s Landing - another launch site - still not seeing any of the horses.  Along the way we passed the Ewing Snell Ranch, which is one of four historic dude ranches found on this rugged landscape.

Next stop was Devil Canyon Overlook, which in a word, is stunning! After parking the car, we walked about ten yards to look down hundreds of vertical feet to the shimmering waters of Bighorn Lake. To understand how the river carved the canyon over millions of years, this spot is a must see! “Here the canyon cross-cuts the gray limestone of the Devil Canyon Anticline, a 1,000-foot high segment of the fault blocks that makes up the Pryor Mountains.”

There are over 25 miles of hiking trails running throughout the South District – one of which is the state line trail which straddles the Wyoming/Montana border and leads to amazing views of the canyon. We were unable to walk any of these trails on this adventure and didn’t make it to the dam, which can only be accessed by boat on the South End or a drive to Fort Smith, MT. Maybe next time…..

Stay tuned for more exciting trips around the Big Horn Basin…