Wyoming geology: Look, learn on the way to Yellowstone

Below are just some of the stops worth making along the way to witness extraordinary Wyoming geology.

Select a route to browse stops or scroll through the entire list

•  I90W—RED/CIRCLE ROUTE 
•  I80W, HWY287—BLUE/CROSS ROUTE 
•  I80W, I25N—GREEN/PENTAGON ROUTE 
•  I80E—ORANGE/SQUARE ROUTE 

Devils Tower was the first U.S. national monument and is one of Wyoming’s most iconic geologic features. The tower is composed of phonolite, a sodium- and potassium-rich igneous rock that intruded underground as magma around 50–46 million years ago. The magma cooled and contracted quickly, forming the hexagonal columns and vertical fractures. Erosion of softer surrounding rock has exposed more than 850 feet of the tower that can be seen from Interstate 90.  More info 

The main feature of Keyhole State Park is Keyhole Reservoir, an approximately 13,700-acre body of water fed by the Belle Fourche River. The rocks exposed along the shore of the reservoir were mostly deposited during the Cretaceous and record water level fluctuations when Wyoming was covered by a large ancient inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway. The rocks were later folded and faulted during a mountain-building event (the Laramie orogeny). Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

Dry Creek Petrified Forest is located just north of Interstate 90 on a dirt access road, but the detour is worth it. Petrified stumps of Metasequoia trees preserve evidence of the swamps that covered the area 60 million years ago as the ancient Western Interior Seaway was retreating. Growth rings are still visible in some of the petrified stumps that are up to four feet in diameter. The Bureau of Land Management provides detailed directions to this site  here .

Approximately 9 miles from Dayton on Highway 14, a pullout and interpretive site provides a safe place to stop and view the Fallen City rock slide in the Bighorn National Forest. Large blocks of Ordovician-age Bighorn Dolomite broke off when precipitation worked its way into fractures on the steep slope and lubricated underlying shale units. The massive boulder field resembles overturned buildings of a “fallen city.” Provided coordinates are for the highway pullout mentioned above.  More info 

Twin Buttes makes you feel like you’re seeing double. Two large outcrops of Mississippian Madison Limestone form mirror-image buttes that are visible from the Burgess Junction Visitor Center. A butte is formed by weathering, and is usually an isolated, flat-topped mound with steep slopes. To stop at the observation site (found at coordinates mentioned above), take Highway 14A and turn north onto Forest System Road 15 for 2 miles.  More info 

Shell Creek has cut a scenic canyon into the Precambrian granitic rock along the Bighorn Scenic Byway (Highway 14) on the west flank of the Bighorn Mountains. Paleozoic rocks rest on top of the granite—the cliffs above the canyon are made of dolomite and limestone. Shell Falls are found at the head of the canyon, where an interpretive center and trails (see coordinates) provide more information and a closer view. The center is typically open Memorial Day through Labor Day.  More info 

Did you know Wyoming used to be home to dinosaurs? Hundreds of fossilized dinosaur footprints are preserved in the Sundance Formation of the Middle Jurassic Epoch at this 40-acre tracksite. It’s believed the tracks were left by two-legged, meat-eating dinosaurs. Visiting the tracksite requires a detour from the highway. The Bureau of Land Management provides directions  here .

This small, 115-acre patch of colorful badlands exposes the Cretaceous Cloverly Formation. Badlands are formed from extensively eroded and dissected soft sedimentary rocks. They usually contain steep slopes, narrow gullies, buttes, hoodoos, and other strange features of erosion. The Cloverly here is exposed at the center of an eroded dome structure, bordered on three sides by younger rocks and to the south by Shell Creek.

The Sheep Mountain anticline is yet another geologic structure in Wyoming related to the Laramide mountain-building event. Movement on deep faults next to the nearby Bighorn Mountains caused the overlying rock to buckle and deform, creating a 15-mile-long structure that runs along the Bighorn River, which cuts through the anticline near the north end. The anticline consists of younger rock formations on its flanks—the Sundance, Gypsum Spring, and Chugwater red beds, and older formations at its core—the Goose Egg, Tensleep, and Amsden formations, and at the very center, the Madison Limestone, the oldest rocks exposed here.

These rugged badlands are composed of the Eocene Willwood Formation. The red, gray, and purplish bands of colored mudstone are paleosols, or fossil soils, and were deposited in the floodplain of an ancient river system that drained the surrounding mountains. The color variations reflect cyclic changes in aridity, temperature, and drainage patterns of the depositional environment through time. The mammal and plant fossils found throughout the Willwood Formation tell a story that parallels that of the evolving Eocene environment. The Bureau of Land Management provides more information and driving directions to the McCullough Peaks Wilderness Study Area  here .

This unique mountain is the namesake for an unusual, nearly horizontal fault known as the Heart Mountain detachment. The Paleozoic limestone that forms the upper cliffs of the mountain is a remnant of a much larger block that detached from the flank of the Absaroka Range and slid 30 miles southeast some 50 million years ago. This displaced block covered an area of at least 1,300 square miles, and other remnants of it can be seen at McCullough Peaks (previous stop) and west of Buffalo Bill Reservoir (next stop). The lower, gentle slopes of Heart Mountain are composed of much younger rocks of the Eocene Willwood Formation, which here represents the basal surface on which the detachment block slid.

Highway 14/16/20 runs along the northern border of Buffalo Bill State Park, just east of the Absaroka Range. The north and south forks of the Shoshone River flow from this mountain range and provide nearly all of the water in the park’s reservoir. In Shoshone Canyon between the dam and the town of Cody, the tan Flathead Sandstone overlies pink and black crystalline rock. This contact, which is visible from the highway, is known as the Great Unconformity and marks a more than 2-billion-year gap in the geologic record. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

This prominent northwest–trending ridge summits at over 9,000 feet. Coordinates are for the actual mountain top, but we recommend you view it from the Buffalo Bill State Park dam and visitor center (previous stop). The ridge is composed of Paleozoic carbonate rocks that overlie Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks. The mountain is part of an anticline (a type of geologic fold) that formed due to compressional forces during the mountain-building episode known as the Laramide orogeny. Highway 14/16/20 cuts through the southern part of the mountain; the tunnels were blasted through the Precambrian crystalline rocks that form the core of the anticline.

Near the end of the Laramide orogeny—the major mountain-building event in Wyoming—a period of extensive volcanic activity occurred in the now-dormant Absaroka volcanic field. During this time, volcanoes deposited large amounts of igneous and volcanic-derived sedimentary rocks, forming the Absaroka Range. Intrusive dikes formed in the subsurface when magma moved through fractures in these rocks and cooled below ground; erosion has since exposed many of these dikes. Several dikes can be seen west of Wapiti on the north side of the valley and are visible as sharp, linear rock fins. This volcanic field is much older than the current Yellowstone calderas.  More info 

The Laramie Mountains run nearly parallel with, and west of, Interstate 25, stretching from Cheyenne to Casper. There is a great view of the mountain range from the Dwyer Junction Rest Area at the provided coordinates. The highest point in the mountains is Laramie Peak (seen in photo), measuring 10,275 feet in elevation at the north end of the range. Laramie Peak is very conspicuous from the east, and pioneers migrating west used it as a major navigational feature. The Laramie Mountains are separated into two parts by a large structure known as the Cheyenne belt. North of the shear are 2.1- to 2.4-billion-year-old rocks of the Wyoming Province; to the south are rocks younger than about 1.78 billion years old from the Colorado Province.

Guernsey State Park is within the Hartville Uplift—a structural arch that extends from the northeast flank of the Laramie Mountains (previous stop) to the south end of the Black Hills, separating the Denver and Powder River basins. Some of the area’s exposed rocks are enriched in iron, copper, and chert, which has driven a rich mining history. Activity at the mine sites can be traced back 12,000 years, when Native Americans mined for silica-rich chert and the iron mineral hematite (“red ochre”), making them some of the oldest identified mines in North America. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .   More info 

Glendo State Park is near the edge of the structural arch that forms the Hartville Uplift. As a result, most of the park's exposed rocks in the park are younger than the rocks exposed in nearby Guernsey State Park (previous stop), which is located in the middle of the Hartville Uplift arch. Sedimentary rocks exposed at Glendo were deposited in a wide range of environments dating back to over 300 million years ago. They tell a story of migrating seas, changing inland environments, mountains rising, and regional volcanic eruptions. Some of these rocks record a time when dinosaurs roamed the area. The notable rusty-red beds get their color from iron. After the waters retreated, dinosaurs roamed the area. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

The Ayres Natural Bridge is a sandstone arch that spans Laprelle Creek. The meandering creek eroded downwards into red sandstones of the 300-million-year-old Casper Formation, forming a narrow, sinuous canyon. The creek channel wrapped around the fin of rock that now forms Ayres Bridge. Over time, a hole was eroded through that fin, and the creek then continued to expand the hole, creating the arch we see today.  More info 

Edness K. Wilkins State Park is on the North Platte River. Bedrock exposed around the edges of the park records the final retreat of the Western Interior Seaway, a massive body of water that once covered the continent before the Rocky Mountains became mountains. Cut into this bedrock are terraces of the North Platte River, which elsewhere in the Casper area are known to contain fossil mammals and prehistoric artifacts. Across the river to the north, the subtle, rounded forms of partially vegetated sand dunes overlie the bedrock. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

When approaching the city of Casper westbound on Interstate 25, look left to see Casper Mountain, a fault-bounded anticline, uplifted some 70 to 35 million years ago during a mountain-building event. Most mountain ranges that formed during this event are oriented roughly north–south. Casper Mountain, however, is unique. Along with a few other nearby ranges, Casper Mountain trends east–west, at a right angle to the usual direction.

Despite the name, this site is not a half acre in size, but rather about 320 acres. These colorful badlands are surrounded by miles of flat-lying, dry plains. The unusual topography is due to erosion of loosely consolidated sedimentary rocks of varying resistance. You may notice that some rocks are tilted while others are flat—that is an "angular unconformity" between older uplifted rocks (about 55–70 million years old) that are covered by flat-lying sediments about 50 million years ago. Does it look familiar? You probably saw it in the science-fiction movie, “Starship Troopers.”  More info 

Boysen State Park sits in the center of the state and on the northern edges of the Wind River Basin, with the Owl Creek Mountains to the north and Wind River Range to the west. Boysen Reservoir is fed by the Wind River, which originates as snowpack from surrounding mountains. The reservoir is surrounded by rounded hills and small buttes of the Eocene Wind River Formation, which is composed of a mix of multicolored to light-brown claystones, siltstones, and sandstones deposited in ancient rivers and floodplains. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

Highway 20 parallels the Wind River, which carved the Wind River Canyon through the Owl Creek Mountains. A variety of rocks are exposed in the canyon, including granite, basalt, metamorphosed volcanic rocks, limestone, dolomite, sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The three highway tunnels you’ll drive through are cut through Precambrian rocks. The northern end of the canyon winds through cliffs of Madison Limestone and Tensleep Sandstone. Watch for road signs that label the rock formations throughout the canyon. Coordinates are for a camp area with parking alongside the Wind River.  More info   

The Wind River flows into the Wind River Canyon, changing to the Bighorn River before flowing out of the canyon. The spot where the river’s name changes is called the “Wedding of the Waters.” It likely didn’t take long for settlers to realize that these two rivers, separated by a mountain range and deep canyon, were one and the same, but the two different names stuck. The Wind River begins in the Absaroka Mountains, flows southeast through the Wind River Basin, and then makes a sharp turn to the north and cuts straight through the Owl Creek Mountains. On the other side of the mountains, the river, now called the Bighorn, continues across the basin and into Montana. Coordinates are for a parking lot at the site, where there’s also an interpretive sign.

Make this stop for a relaxing soak, especially if it has been a long road trip. The water in the park’s hot springs starts as rain and snowmelt in the nearby Owl Creek Mountains, where it soaks into the ground, flows deep under the surface, and is heated through geothermal processes. The heated water returns through fractured rock to the ground surface, creating the natural hot springs. The hot springs also make travertine deposits, a limestone formed when the water, rich in dissolved carbonate minerals, interacts with the atmosphere. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

More than 300 petroglyphs adorn the cliff face called Legend Rock near Thermopolis. The Native American symbols are etched into sandstone bedrock of the Cretaceous Cloverly Formation. Coordinates are for the actual site; visiting this site requires a slight detour from Highway 120. More information on how to access the site can be found on the Wyoming State Parks  website .

Visiting Curt Gowdy State Park requires a detour to Highway 210, which runs parallel to Interstate 80 and links Cheyenne and Laramie. The park spans more than 5 square miles in the southern Laramie Mountains. Rocks exposed in and around the park are mostly associated with the Sherman batholith—a large mass of igneous rock that crystallized from magma deep within the earth more than 1.4 billion years ago. Hidden Falls, a small natural waterfall on Middle Crow Creek, was created by uneven weathering of granite along the streambed. The falls are accessible via a 2-mile hike on the Crow Creek Trail. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

It is difficult to not see the rocks north of Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, which have been eroded into precariously balanced beautiful shapes. The 1.4-billion-year-old granite rocks are part of the Sherman batholith—composed of igneous rock solidified from magma deep in the earth’s crust. When they were uplifted to the surface, the change in pressure caused them to break into cubic shapes that weathered into unique forms. Coordinates will take you to the Vedauwoo camping and picnic fee station. Look for the Survey's interpretive sign for more on the area’s geology. Additional information can also be found on the WSGS’s  website .  More info 

The Snowy Range Scenic Byway is a beautiful mountain drive alternative to nearby Interstate 80. It gets its name from its white Precambrian quartzite rock and glistening snowfields. Rocks in this mountain range are 1.5–2.5 billion years old. Another interesting find in the area is  stromatolites —remains of marine bacteria that lived 2 billion years ago in an ancient ocean. If a leg stretch is needed, there's plenty of geology to check out on various trails, like the Lakes Trail to Medicine Bow Peak. Coordinates will take you to the Medicine Bow Overlook off Highway 130; look for the Survey's geology interpretive sign. The byway is only open during the summer and fall months.  More info 

Take this detour if a nice hot soak sounds wonderful. The Saratoga hot springs consists of five springs, with the largest in the system flowing at 120 gallons per minute and 119°F. At these hot springs, water from deep underground rises to the surface quickly along fractures, so it is still hot when it comes out at the springs. The springs are free to the public and are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  More info 

A visit to Seminoe State Park requires a jaunt north from Interstate 80 but offers a spectacular view of Wyoming geology. The granite and metamorphic rocks at the north end near the dam are 2.7 billion years old; these rocks make up the core of the Seminoe Mountains and anchor the dam. The red rocks, or “red beds,” visible south of the dam are another view of the same Triassic Chugwater Formation visible at the upcoming site, the Rawlins Red Beds. Seminoe Reservoir takes up a majority of the park, and gets most of its water from snowpack from nearby mountain ranges. Coordinates take you to the park’s headquarters. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

Stop at the pullout on the west side of Highway 287/789 to view hills that are part of the 40-mile-long Rawlins Uplift. The uplift rises a thousand feet above the plains, with rocks exposed along its crest and slopes that are 10 million to 2.6 billion years old. Notice the red rocks. These 520-million-year-old rocks are Cambrian Flatstone Sandstone and contain hematite, a red iron mineral that was mined in the late 1800s to early 1900s and used for paint pigment. Known as “Rawlins Red,” the paint was used to paint the Brooklyn Bridge in 1893.

About 13 miles north of Rawlins, a stretch of red rocks parallel Highway 287/789. A pullout on the east side of the highway offers a safe stop. These “red beds” are part of the Triassic Chugwater Formation found throughout Wyoming. The red layers of sandstone, siltstone, and shale get their color from oxidation of iron. The light-gray Alcova Limestone Member caps the upper bench of the red beds. Continuing north, you will descend Willow Hill, crossing the Bell Springs fault. You then drive through the historic Bell Springs natural gas field in the Separation Flats, discovered in 1924 and currently abandoned. Production was last reported in 1997.

While heading north on the long, straight stretch of Highway 287/789 between Rawlins and Muddy Gap, look at the mountains toward the northeast and see the white “fins” of the Mississippian-age Madison Limestone that follows the southern flank of the Ferris Mountains. The fins dip steeply as a result of the 35–70 million-year-old Laramide orogeny, a mountain-building event that formed most of the mountain ranges in Wyoming. These striking fins are easily seen from the roadway, including Interstate 80 farther south.  More info 

Split Rock is a prominent knob in the Granite Mountains on the Sweetwater River used as a landmark for pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The cleft in the summit was caused by the weathering away of mafic dike that intruded along fractures in the Precambrian granite, which is about 2.6 billion years old. The Granite Mountains trend west to east, and once had peaks as high as other mountain ranges in Wyoming. More information can be found on interpretive signs at the Split Rock Historic Site just off Highway 287/789.  More info 

Stop at the pullout on the north side of Highway 287/789. You may feel as if you are on top of the world, as you look out across the Wind River Basin and get a panoramic view of the Owl Creek and Absaroka mountains to the north and Wind River Range to the west. The rocks of Beaver Rim formed from ash-laden ponds and rivers of the Eocene and Miocene Wind River, Wagon Bed, White River, and Split Rock formations. Also, these formations used to fill the valley below, but many millions of years of erosion removed these soft sedimentary rocks, leaving behind the scarp of Beaver Rim.

This is a stunning minor detour from the main route to the park. Pull over at the Red Canyon Scenic Overlook off Highway 28 and look north. The brightly-colored view is a well-known example of the Chugwater Formation “red beds” found throughout Wyoming (in fact, you may have stopped to look at these north of Rawlins and at Seminoe State Park). Red beds get their color from the presence of oxidized iron, or rust. The right (east) wall of the canyon consists of Triassic sandstones, shales, and siltstones, overlain by buff to tan aeolian cross beds of the Jurassic Nugget Sandstone. The dip slope on the left (west) side is Permian Phosphoria Formation. Table Mountain is visible in the far distance. In the pioneer days, part of the canyon was worked for gold.  More info 

The coordinates lead you to Sinks Canyon State Park’s visitor center off Highway 131, where the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River completely disappears into a cave in the Mississippian Madison Limestone (330 million years old), known as the “Sinks.” The Popo Agie re-emerges about a half-mile downstream on the other side of the highway at what’s known as the “Rise,” then continues its course down the canyon. The river begins high in the Wind River Range and cuts through the rugged canyon on its way down to the city of Lander.  More info 

Crowheart Butte is a prominent landmark north of Highway 26/287, and is composed of claystone and sandstone of the Eocene Wind River Formation. This sediment was deposited around 50 million years ago in lakes and rivers before it was buried, lithified, and exposed by erosion to form the rocks you see today. A sandstone layer forms the caprock that gives the butte its flat top and makes it more resistant to erosion than the underlying claystone. Stop at the pullout and read the interpretive sign about how the butte’s name is connected to an 1866 battle between the Crow and Shoshone Native Americans.

Before ascending to the Continental Divide at Togwotee Pass, travelers enjoy views of the colorful badlands leading into and out of Dubois on Highway 26/287. The bright red and white outcrops are of the Eocene Wind River Formation. The relatively soft claystones of the Wind River Formation are highly susceptible to erosion, allowing running water to easily downcut and sculpt the intricate gullies and hoodoos characteristic of badland topography. Coordinates are for the North Parker fishing access site, which has nice views of the badlands and the Wind River.

Look for the cliffs visible over the treetops to the northeast. These cliffs expose layered volcanoclastic rocks (sedimentary rocks formed from volcanic deposits) that are part of the Wiggins Formation—deposited 47–44 million years ago. The Wiggins is the youngest unit of the Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup, which consists of widespread lava flows and volcanoclastic rocks that were deposited in the Eocene across the Absaroka volcanic field in northwestern Wyoming and southwestern Montana. Coordinates will take you to a pullout off Highway 26/287 to safely view the buttes.

Use the pullout and picnic site off Highway 26/287 to access Wind River Lake in the Shoshone National Forest. The lake lies in a topographic depression formed within the hummocky deposits of glacial till from the Pinedale glaciation—the most recent glaciation in the Rocky Mountains that occurred about 15–24 thousand years ago. The glacial till hosts the forested ridges ringing the lake. Beyond the lake you can see Sublette Peak (right) and the southern extent of the Breccia Cliffs (left), the latter of which forms the Continental Divide.

Pull off on the north side of Highway 26/287 for one of the first views you’ll get of the iconic Teton Range when traveling toward the park. Drive down the short side road that leads to a turnaround with ample parking and interpretive signs. The mountain range is 5–13 million years old—the youngest range in the Rocky Mountains—and is still actively rising along a fault. Despite only recently being uplifted, the Teton Range exposes some of the oldest rocks in North America.

Coordinates for this site place you at Bear River State Park. The Bear River flows through the center of the park. It begins high in the Uinta Mountains to the south and eventually drains into the Great Salt Lake, merely 75 miles from where it began. But the river follows a 350-mile-long route to get there, winding through the long, narrow valleys of the Wyoming Overthrust Belt (a large corridor of mountains and narrow basins), crossing back and forth between Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. The river has strongly shaped what is seen here today, eroding the surrounding landscape into stair-step-like terraces, and leaving behind a series of abandoned river channels known as oxbows. Additional details about the park’s geology can be found in this  WSGS pamphlet .  More info 

Flaming Gorge Reservoir stretches for more than 90 miles in southern Wyoming into Utah. It is fed by the Green River, which comes from mountains to the north. Outcrops of Green River and Wasatch formations surround the reservoir in Wyoming. The Green River Formation consists of lake deposits, while the Wasatch Formation is made up of river and floodplain deposits. The lakes expanded and contracted over time, causing these different deposits to overlap one another. As a result, units of the Green River and Wasatch formations interfinger throughout the region. Along the shores of the reservoir, you can see the slope-forming oil shales, marlstones, and claystones of the Green River Formation interspersed with sandstones and mudstones of the Wasatch Formation.  More info 

The north–south-trending Oyster Ridge borders the east side of Kemmerer and flanks Highway 189. The ridge is composed of white to brown resistant sandstones, which contain abundant fossilized oysters in its upper beds. These sandstones are part of the Cretaceous Frontier Formation, which was deposited more than 90 million years ago in shallow marine waters and along shorelines of the Western Interior Seaway. During subsequent mountain-building events the sedimentary layers were uplifted, folded, and moved several miles eastward along thrust faults, forming Oyster Ridge.

The listed coordinates will take you to Fossil Butte National Monument, which is a little further west on Highway 30. Fossil Butte is known worldwide for the fossils preserved in the Green River Formation, which contains rocks deposited by a series of lakes that stretched across southwestern Wyoming and Utah 55 to 50 million year ago. During this time the Fossil Butte area was covered by Fossil Lake, which had conditions favorable to preserve detailed fossils of plants and animals. Fossilized fish are abundant in these beds, including the Wyoming state fossil Knightia. Other fossils found in the area include crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, bats, a horse, birds, insects, cattails, seeds, flies, and mosquitoes.   More info 

The Green River is the second longest length of river in Wyoming. It originates in the snow fields in the northern Wind River Range, flowing south across the Green River Basin. The river parallels Highway 189 much of the way between the intersection of Highway 372 and Big Piney. Within the Green River Basin the river hosts two major reservoirs—Fontenelle and Flaming Gorge (see previous stop). Locally, these reservoirs provide water to Wyoming agriculture, industry, local towns, and habitat for wildlife. More historical information about the river can be found on the interpretive sign at the pullout found at coordinates provided.

Lying at the foothills of the Wind River Range, Fremont Lake is the deepest lake in Wyoming at more than 600 feet. The lake occupies a steep-walled trough scoured by glaciers that flowed out of the Wind River Range around 20 thousand years ago. These glaciers deposited rubbly, unsorted sediment along their margins, which remains today in the ridges—known as glacial moraines— and scattered boulders that ring the lake. The moraines around Fremont Lake are so prominent that early geologists named the most recent glacial period in the Rocky Mountains after the nearby town of Pinedale.  More info 

Traveling north on Highway 191 from Daniel provides a good view of the high glaciated peaks of the Wind River Range off to your right. Visible as the most prominent, broad-shouldered mountain from this vantage is Fremont Peak, the third highest in Wyoming. The rugged crest of the Wind River Range was sculpted by glacial erosion during the most recent geologic time period—the Quaternary—that began 2.6 million years ago. Today, this mountain range holds the highest concentration of glaciers in the Rocky Mountains outside of Canada.

Look for a triangular-shaped butte on the north side of the Hoback River—that’s Battle Mountain. Its cliffs are made up of the resistant Jurassic-age Nugget Sandstone, which was thrust eastward over the softer and younger Paleocene-age Hoback Formation along the Cliff Creek thrust fault. This is one of several thrust faults visible along Highway 189/191 through Hoback Canyon and marks the eastern edge of the Wyoming overthrust belt, a mountainous region of folded, faulted, and steeply tilted sedimentary rocks.

The secluded Emma Matilda Lake is concealed from visitors driving through Grand Teton National Park and can be reached by a pleasant hike from Jackson Lake Lodge. This lake occupies one of several valleys that were scoured by glaciers around 20 thousand years ago during the Pinedale glaciation, the most recent glacial episode in the Rocky Mountains. The glaciers that formed this valley flowed westward from the highlands of the Two Ocean Plateau before merging with other glacial lobes coming off the Yellowstone Plateau to the north and the Absaroka Range to the east.  More info 

The incredibly scenic Colter Bay provides an excellent view of steep-sided, flat-topped Mount Moran from the shore of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. The Skillet Glacier, one of 11 active glaciers in the park, is visible on the left flank of Mount Moran from this vantage. Moran Canyon, immediately to the right of the mountain, was carved by much larger glaciers that flowed out of the Tetons during multiple periods of glaciation in the not-too-distant geologic past, most recently around 20 thousand years ago.  More info