3 Best Sights in Big Horn, Cody, Sheridan, and Northern Wyoming

Big Horn is an access point to the 1.1-million-acre area, which has lush grasslands, alpine meadows, rugged mountaintops, canyons, and deserts. There are numerous hiking trails and camping spots for use in the summer, and it's a popular snowmobiling area in the winter.

A hand-hewn-log blacksmith shop, built in 1879 to serve pioneers on their way to the goldfields of Montana, houses the Bozeman Trail Museum, the town's historical repository and interpretive center. The jewel of its collection is the Cloud Peak Boulder, a stone with names and dates apparently carved by military scouts just two days before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which was fought less than 100 miles to the north in 1876. The staff is very friendly to children, and there are some old pipe organs that kids are encouraged to play.

If you're not staying at a ranch and you want to get a look at one of the West's finest, visit the south of Big Horn on the old Quarter Circle A Ranch. The Brinton family didn't exactly rough it in this 20-room clapboard home, complete with libraries, fine furniture, and silver and china services. A reception gallery displays changing exhibits from the Brinton art collection, which includes such Western artists as Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington.