Best Wyoming Attraction (2017)

In the Pryor Mountains just outside of Lovell, wild horses still roam freely. This herd, derived from the horses of Portugal and Spain, have lived in the region for nearly two centuries. At the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, visitors learn about the historic significance of the horses and view live mustangs in the surrounding natural scenery.
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, Matt Dillon

Located on the grounds of Quarter Circle A Ranch in Big Horn, the Brinton Museum features a collection of Western and American Indian art from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Photo courtesy of Wyoming Office of Tourism

Historic Sheridan is the quintessential American West town, where legendary cowboys and outlaws once walked the streets, still to this day surrounding by the wild Bighorn Mountains. Visitors can grab a drink at the Mint Bar, a 1907 saloon, or browse cowboy memorabilia at the King's Saddlery museum.
Photo courtesy of Wyoming Office of Tourism

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West comprises five smaller museums, each covering a facet of the American West: the Draper National History Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Buffalo Bill Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum and Cody Firearms Museum. 
Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bill Center of the West photo by Nancy McClure

The limestone within Fossil Butte National Monument contains one of the world's richest deposits of freshwater fish fossils – a testament to the time when a great lake once covered the land. More than 300 specimens are on display in the visitor center, while several scenic drives and interpretive trails guide visitors through the park.
Photo courtesy of NPS Photo / John Collins

Every 24 hours, some 8,000 gallons of mineral-rich waters flow from the ground over the colorful terraces of the Big Horn River within Hot Springs State Park. While the spring water maintains a temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit, the park operates a bathing house where visitors can soak in 104-degree water before or after exploring the park's 6.2 miles of trails.
Photo courtesy of Travel Wyoming

America's first national park is also one of its most iconic. Home to the world's largest collection of geysers, including the famous Old Faithful, Yellowstone attracts some 3 million visitors a year to its bizarre geological formations and teeming wildlife, including bison, bear, bighorn sheep, trumpeter swans, moose, elk and river otter.
Photo courtesy of NPS photo / Neal Herbert

Towering over Jackson, in the Snake River Valley of Wyoming, the peaks of Grand Teton National Park seem all the more dramatic due to the lack of any foothills to ease the transition. Twelve summits rise above 12,000 feet, and with extensive hiking trails and sparser crowds than nearby Yellowstone, it's easy to get off the beaten path, where bald eagle, elk, bear and moose sightings are possible.
Photo courtesy of D. Lehle

Stepping through the front door of the Occidental Hotel in Buffalo is a bit like stepping back in time to the days when Calamity Jane or Butch Cassidy might have walked its halls. The embossed ceilings in the lobby and the back bar are originals, so even those not staying in the hotel will find it worthwhile to swing by for a drink in the restored 1908 saloon (while keeping an eye out for bullet holes).
Photo courtesy of Paul Hermans / Wikimedia Commons

Long before Close Encounters brought this natural monument to the surface of the collective American consciousness, it already ranked as one of the most visited attractions in the nation. President Theodore Roosevelt declared the 1,267-foot-high rock formation the first national monument in 1906. Once a sacred Native American site, it today attracts rock climbers and geology geeks.
Photo courtesy of S. Carter/NPS