If you want to truly experience the most spectacular American views, why not try doing it on horseback? What better way to experience our rich western heritage than a trip to Wyoming. It has some of the greatest sights that the American outback has to offer. To begin your adventure all that is needed is your time to finding a great location.

You will have several options to choose from. You may want just a half day ride, or you can opt for a full day, or even an overnight adventure. Either way, you will enjoy the beautiful sweeping prairies, the mountainous trails and the beautiful winding rivers.

One of the greatest locations for a horseback riding adventure is the fabulous Yellowstone National Park. Most tours offer individual or small group packages that provide for more individualized attention. You won't have to be contending with a large group so you can feel free to ask questions and to go at a relaxed pace.

Another great location is the Big Horn Mountains. You can see the views of Shell Canyon with its wide open spaces, cliffs, rivers and mountain views. One of the most interesting sights is the Shell Canyon Waterfall. If you are choosing an overnight adventure then this is a great location for camping. You can even provide your own supper by catching Rainbow or Brown trout for the evening meal. This is experiencing the old west at its very best.

Planning a horseback riding vacation in Wyoming will be an adventure that you will not soon forget. You will branching out of the regular vacation routine for a real old west, boot stomping, rodeo roping, good time!

Wyoming is a leader in preserving historic trails.  In this historical state, the trails are preserved as they were in the 1800s, with visitors invited to explore the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, California and Pony Express Trails.

In Casper, The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center is the place to begin your tour.  At Wyoming's best museum, visitors explore pioneer life.  Tourists particularly like movies of crossing the North Platte River.  Under the leadership of the Bureau of Land Management, the National Historic Trails Center Foundation and the City of Casper, the pioneer story is being told.  The BLM also has developed monuments along the trails to tell the story.

Many significant sites line the Oregon Trail.  A favorite stop is the Grattan Fight monument, commemorating a fight started after a Sioux Indian killed a wagon train cow.  The incident, which was bungled by a bad interpreter, resulted in the death of the Indian and the Army soldiers, and started years of Indian/settler attacks.

Tourists may drive the dirt road of the Oregon Trail for more than 41 miles, learning about Emigrant Gap, Avenue of Rock, Willow Spring and Prospect Hill.   A tour of Fort Laramie, which the National Park Service runs, is a must.  Built in 1841, Fort Laramie was a major hub for the Pony Express, stage transportation and the telegraph.  Several programs and exhibits are close by.

Dozens of well maintained sites educate tourists.  Children are particularly fascinated by stops at Ayres Natural Bridge, Fort Caspar, Independence Rock, Devil's Gate and South Pass Overlook.  Visitors gain a real appreciation for the hardships of the pioneers from this period of history.  Living history highlights the physical and cultural struggles of the American Indian, mountain man, and fur trade.

Native Americans called Wyoming ‘home’ since the 1860s.   Indians were the first residents on this land, and the name ‘Wyoming’ actually comes from an Algonquian Indian word.  Originally, four tribes inhabited the land which is now Wyoming: the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow and Shoshone.  Today, two tribes, the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho Indians, share the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Residing in western Wyoming, Native Americans are surrounded by the beauty of three mountain ranges.

With a population of about 23,250 residents (2000 census) living on the reservation, only 6,728 claim Native American nationality.  While the Wind River Reservation is large in acreage, most residents are very poor.  Historically, the reservation was established for the Shoshone population, but after General Custer was defeated, the federal government relocated the Northern Arapaho tribe in 1876 to the same reservation.  These two tribes, who had been enemies, fighting each other since the 1860s, were now expected to live peacefully side by side.  Bad feelings hindered good government on the reservation for more than a century but gradually the bitterness subsided so that the two tribes jointly govern the reservation.  Each tribe retains its own culture, identity and tribal government.

Students who remember their Indian lore will recall the legends of Sacajawea, a well known Shoshone woman, who traveled with her infant son on the Lewis and Clark expedition.  She is believed to have died at the reservation in 1884, and is buried west of Fort Washakie.  

Reservation residents are plagued with high unemployment and live in poverty.  Sources of income are construction, casinos, mining and tourism, with over half of the 46 percent of Native Americans who are employed, working for the government.

When you’re in Wyoming, you’re in rodeo country.  Rodeos abound in Wyoming.  The true western rodeo is alive and real with cowboys, cowgirls, bucking broncos, bull riding and more!   The folks in Jackson Hole have a rodeo twice a week in the summer.  Billed as the Wyoming Rodeo, the JH Rodeo Company holds eight events per night. A rodeo with a local flavor, this event is a family event, which invites young cowboys to join the action.  Events include barrel racing, calf roping, bull riding, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding and a just for kids event.

The rodeo is on every night June 1 through August 31 in Cody, which bills itself as the rodeo capitol of the world.  These cowboys should surely know what they are doing since they have been hosting this rodeo for the last 50 years.  In a rodeo event, cowboys have a chance to showcase their skills, which are used every day on a working ranch. Cody also hosts the Cody Stampede, a 4-day event, annually over the 4th of July and the Cody Country Classic Bullride coming up on September 2.

Another rodeo based event, Cheyenne Frontier Days, takes place annually in July. Western hospitality includes the rodeo events, cowboys, cowgirls, chuckwagon food, parades, and exhibits.

While you’ve just missed the 78th annual Sheridan Rodeo Week (July 10-12, 2008), you can plan for next year (July 16-18, 2009) or 2010 when it will be July 15-17.  The Sheridan event is ranked as one of the top professional rodeos in North America and features competition from the most skilled cowboys and cowgirls in the world.  Related events for the three-day event include an Indian relay, a parade and the queen pageant.

Wyoming, the 44th State, is also the 9th largest state in the nation. The very mention of the word Wyoming evokes the essence of the American West.  This Western spirit thrives to this day in the Cowboy State. Wyoming has its origins in an Algonquin word meaning "large prairie place." From its broad high plains to its soaring mountains, from its storied past on the frontier to its role in the ancient histories of native peoples, Wyoming is like no place on Earth.

The most known place of attraction in this state is Yellowstone National Park.  Located in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, this National Park is the first and oldest in the world.  The park includes Geysers; there are also grizzly bears and wolves, as well as herds of bison and elk.  Rich in land and history, tourist can visit few museums to get a better idea of what this wonderful state is all about.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center, located in Cody, interprets the experiences of the American West; it includes a museum dedicated to Buffalo Bill himself, a Plains Indian exhibit, the Cody Firearms Museum and the Draper Museum of Natural History.  In Pinedale, you will find Museum of the Mountain Man.  The museum interprets the romantic era of the mountain man and the significance of the western fur trade; exhibits include western exploration and early settlement of western Wyoming.  Lastly, Washakie Museum, located in Worland, provides visitors an opportunity to relate to the lives of the earliest settler of the area; there are exhibits honoring the wagon train settlers of the 19th century, and displays devoted to the culture of the Sheepeater Shoshone Indians.