3 Best Sights in Cheyenne, Laramie, and Southern Wyoming, Wyoming

The modern interpretive center at the Grand Encampment Museum holds exhibits on the history of the Grand Encampment copper district and logging and mining. A pioneer town of original buildings includes the Lake Creek stage station, the Big Creek tie-hack cabin, the Peryam homestead, the Slash Ridge fire tower, a blacksmith shop, a transportation barn, and a two-story outhouse. Among the other relics are three towers from a 16-mile-long aerial tramway built in 1903 to transport copper ore from mines in the Sierra Madres. You can take guided tours, and there's also a research area. A living-history day, with music, costumes, and events, takes place the third weekend in July.

As you make your way west to Baggs over the Battle Highway (Highway 70), you'll cross the Continental Divide and the Rocky Mountains. This route takes you through the mining country that was developed during the 1897–1908 copper-mining boom in the Sierra Madres; interpretive signs along the way point out historic sites. Legend has it that in 1878, Thomas Edison was fishing near Battle Pass with a bamboo rod when he began to ponder the idea of a filament, which led to his invention of the incandescent light bulb. Note that this section of the highway closes to car travel in winter, though it stays open for snowmobiles.

The Medicine Bow–Routt National Forest, Hayden District covers 586,000 acres, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the Encampment River, Huston Park, Savage Run, and Platte River wilderness areas.