The Salt To Stone Region Of Wyoming

Have you been waiting for the next edition of our Wyoming region tour? In this episode of Wynot Wyoming?, we’re going to explore the fourth area of our beautiful state: the Salt To Stone region. We’ll start in Evanston and end, once again, at Yellowstone National Park.

Welcome To Evanston

Although Evanston is a charming little historic town, don't let that fool you. Evanston is actually considered a suburb of Salt Lake City, even though it's about 80 miles away. Because they consider it as such, they've done a really good job of putting in infrastructure like roads, high-speed internet, and more. This makes it a really good place to commute from or live and work right there in town.

From here, you have access to some of the best skiing around. Evanston is also known as a mecca for the outdoor enthusiast year-round. Because the Bear River flows right through this area, it’s a destination for kayakers and anglers that are looking for that honey hole of fish.

There are two ways to attack the Salt To Stone Region. The first way is to drive east and hit the Fort Bridger Historic Site on the way to Green River; you may recall me talking about the Green River area in one of my other videos. I chose to bring this one up again because you simply can't beat the stunning scenery, the picturesque views, and the amazing reservoir in that area.

Kemmerer And Fossil Butte National Park

The other way to go is to head straight north up to the town of Kemmerer. And just so you know, there is actually a way to get straight from Green River up to Kemmerer if you decide you want to go that route. Near the town of Kemmerer, we're going to stop off at the Fossil Butte National Historic Site. in prehistoric times, this entire area was actually a subtropical lake ecosystem.

The cold lake waters and the natural predation made this a fantastic spot for forming fish fossils. Fossil Butte is actually one of the largest deposits of fresh fish fossils in the entire world. This has created some very colorful mineral deposits that rise about 1000 feet above the Twin Creek Valley.

On a way less natural and more materialistic note, Kammerer is also listed as the home of the JC Penney catalog and department store empire. Of course, as far as empires go, this one has fallen. Still, it still holds a place in the hearts of a lot of collectors of Americana.

Before we head out of town, we’ll grab a pie at Scroungy Moose Pizza. One TripAdvisor review actually called it a magical wonder of the world. The pizza is good, and I'm really glad we decided to eat because we have a bit of a drive ahead of us until we get to our next destination. But don't you worry; it's going to be well worth it.

Afton To Star Valley

Next, we’re heading north to the town of Afton. This town is famous for a couple of things, but the reason we're here is to see the World's Largest Elkhorn Arch. Just kidding: I did not bring us all this way just to take a look at a giant arch of elkhorns, although I guess it's pretty cool.

Afton is home to the world's largest intermittent spring, also known as Periodic Spring. We’ll take a hike that’s about three-quarters of a mile long. It’s a pretty easy incline and moderately aggressive for most physicalities. We'll be able to watch some really picturesque views and watch the intermittent spring go off.

Every 20 minutes or so, you're going to see a cascade of water that forms an entire waterfall and then shuts off. It's also really cool along the way. There's some great signage that will educate you on how that works, including the hydraulics and natural turning on and off of the water. From here, we're going to take in probably one of the most scenic 80-mile drives you can imagine.

This stretch of Highway 89 climbs up over Salt Canyon and then over the Salt River paths before it drops down into the Star Valley. This really is one of the most beautiful drives you can take. When you couple that with your hike up the Periodic Spring, you're going to understand why I said this is worth the drive. This route also is going to take us through numerous little quaint communities that we could explore on our way up to Alpine.

Alpine To Yellowstone

Once we make our way up to Alpine, we might decide to stay over at the Flying Saddle Resort or the Nordic, both fantastic choices. Before we hit the sack at our hotel room, we might head over to Melvin Brewing and sit out on their amazing outdoor patio to take in the stunning view and grab a cold beer. They actually have some really good burgers there, too, so maybe we'll just decide to hang out there for the remainder of our day.

First thing in the morning, we're going to head on over to the town of Jackson Hole. Here, there are a ton of shops and stores for all tastes along with quite a few art galleries and museums. Along with the shops and stores, you'll find some world-class cuisine. I actually read a headline somewhere that called Jackson Hole catnip for big spenders, so don't forget your checkbook. Does anybody even write checks anymore? I guess I'm getting old. Grab your debit card and head on over.

When we're done in this town, we're going to head out to the valley and explore the rest of Jackson Hole. There is no limit to the number of outdoor activities you can take part in year-round. To check out the views, we can jump on the aerial tram at Jackson Hole or take one of the local hot air balloon tours instead. It's an amazing way to catch all of the views. Finally, we arrive once again at the entrance to Yellowstone. As I've said before, all roads lead to Yellowstone.

Experience Beautiful Wyoming

I’m so glad you decided to come along for the ride as we explored the Salt To Stone region of Wyoming. If you have any questions at all on how you can make Cheyenne or Wyoming your home, feel free to hit me up and I’d be happy to help.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of Wynot Wyoming?, and stay tuned to see what I feature next!