National Wilderness Areas
in Wyoming

In the day (early 1800's), the Wyoming mountains were quintessential mountain man country. Many famous mountain men came here and made their names and fortunes. Many others disappeared into history, leaving hardly a trace. This was the land of Jim Bridger, Tom "Half-Hand" Fitzpatrick and Jedediah Smith. I mention those three because they were memorialized in the naming of certain National Wilderness Areas in Wyoming. There were others who were perhaps equally famous but they made their biggest marks in other places (Uncle Dick Wootton, Kit Carson, etc.)

Most of the Wilderness Areas in Wyoming are clustered around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the northwestern part of the state. There is also the Bighorn Wilderness in the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming. The other Wilderness Areas are all in south-central Wyoming, southwest of Laramie in the Medicine Bow National Forest. While all the Wilderness Areas in Wyoming feature deer, elk, mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, and bighorn sheep, the northern Wilderness Areas also feature moose, grey wolves and grizzly bears. When you walk in the woods here, you want to be prepared.