Page 576 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

574  THE ROCKIES

Wyoming g Jackson
* 9,840. ~ @ n 532 N Cache St,
The Wyoming state insignia, an image of a cowboy waving (307) 733-3316. ∑ jacksonhole
his Stetson hat while riding on the back of a bucking horse, chamber.com
says it all. This is classic cowboy country, a land of wide-open
grasslands stretching for miles in every direction, where a A popular stop since the days of
the fur-trapping mountain men,
half-million people inhabit an area of nearly 100,000 sq miles Jackson is perhaps Wyoming’s
(260,000 sq km). For visitors, the main draws of Wyoming most visited city. Located at the
lie in its northwestern corner, where the twin spectacles of southern entrance to Grand
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks attract some Teton and Yellowstone National
six million visitors annually. Parks, much of its natural beauty
is giving way to ski resorts. But
despite the boutiques and art
galleries that surround its tree-
lined central square, and the
congested summer traffic,
Jackson retains its Wild West vibe.
Alongside the national parks,
dude ranches, and Wild West re-
enactments, the main attraction
is wildlife. The 39-sq-mile
(101-sq-km) National Elk Refuge,
stretching between Jackson and
the Grand Teton National Park, is
home to some 7,500 native elk
that congregate here in winter.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody Its entrance lies one mile (1.6 km)
northeast of Jackson. Guided
d Cody nation’s longest-running rodeo, tours on horse-drawn sleighs are
* 9,700. n 836 Sheridan Ave, held daily between late June offered between mid-December
(307) 587-2297. ∑ yellowstone and August. and early April. In summer, the
country.org Aerial Tram at Jackson Hole Ski
E Buffalo Bill Center of the West Area (rated as one of the
Cody was founded by Wild West 720 Sheridan Ave. Tel (307) 587-4771. country’s most challenging) lifts
impresario “Buffalo Bill” Cody Open 10am–5pm daily (May–mid- sightseers over 4,000 ft (1,219 m)
in 1896. Long the symbol of Sep: 8am–6pm daily; mid-Sep–Oct: to the top of Rendezvous Peak
the American West, the city 8am–5pm daily; Dec–Feb: 10am–5pm for a grand panorama.
maintains its frontier look and Thu–Sun). Closed Jan 1, Thnksg., Dec 25.
& 7∑ centerofthewest.org
is home to two museums that O National Elk Refuge
document this unique era. The E Broadway at Elk Refuge Rd. Tel (307)
smaller of these is Trail Town, a f Yellowstone 733-9212. Open 9am–5pm daily
homespun collection of artifacts (8am–7pm Memorial Day–Labor Day).
and buildings assembled on National Park Closed Thnksg., Dec 25. & sleigh
rides. ∑ fws.gov/refuge/national_
the original site of Cody. One See pp576–7. elk_refuge
highlight here is a log cabin
reputedly used as a hideout
by outlaws Butch Cassidy and Buffalo Bill
the Sundance Kid.
Cody’s main attraction, One of the most colorful Wild West figures, William Frederick
however, is the Buffalo Bill Cody (1846–1917) started out as a teenage rider for the Pony
Center of the West, a 240,000-sq- Express. He then served as US Army scout during the Civil
ft (22,300-sq-m) complex of War. When the war ended in 1865, he began supplying
galleries that traces the natural, buffalo meat to workers of the transcontinental railroad,
cultural, and military history of earning himself the nickname “Buffalo Bill.” Cody was
the Wild West. It holds more than the model for a series of newspaper stories and
500 weapons, a superb collection “dime novels” written by Ned Buntline. The real-life
of Western art, and Native Buffalo Bill soon parlayed his credentials into world-
wide fame and fortune. Star of a spectacular circus in which
American artifacts, as well as a historical scenes were acted out by cowboys and Native
museum on Buffalo Bill himself. Americans, including such figures as Chief Sitting Bull,
In keeping with Buffalo Bill’s Cody toured the world between 1883 and World War
pursuit of public spectacle, I. Despite his fortune, by 1913 he was bankrupt, and Statue of
Cody’s other great attraction died four years later in Denver (see pp580–81). Buffalo Bill
is the Cody Nite Rodeo, the
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp592–3 and pp594–5

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