Greybull: 40 miles E of Cody; 60 miles W of Sheridan

The prehistoric past of this region is written in the rock, and nowhere in Wyoming is that more true than in Greybull, named for a legendary albino bison sacred to American Indians. The town lies amid red-rock formations rich in fossils and archaeological treasures. The Greybull Museum, 325 Greybull Ave. (tel. 307/765-2444), houses one of the largest fossil ammonites in the world, as well as petrified wood, agates, and American-Indian artifacts. This fine museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 8pm from June to Labor Day, and more restricted hours in the winter, with free admission. Just north of town you'll find a spectacular 15-mile-long, 2,000-foot-high natural fortress named Sheep Mountain, a textbook example of a "doubly plunging anticline," geo lingo for a natural arch folded into layered rock.

Greybull is a gateway town to the Bighorn Mountains on scenic U.S. 14 up Shell Canyon. Just 7 miles outside of town heading east is the Stone Schoolhouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The one-room schoolhouse was built in 1903 of locally quarried sandstone, and in recent years was converted to a bookstore/gallery, though its hours are unpredictable. Less than a mile farther along the highway, turn south on Red Gulch Road and drive 5 miles to a signed parking area where you can view dinosaur tracks. Driving east from Greybull, U.S. 14 climbs through steep and beautiful Shell Canyon.

Fifty miles south of Greybull and east through little Hyattville brings you to the Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site (tel. 307/469-2234), where prehistoric peoples decorated the sandstone cliffs along Medicine Lodge Creek with carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs of hunting scenes. You can fish the small stream for brown trout. There is a shady, inexpensive, 26-site campground here, open May through October, with no RV hookups. To reach the site and campground, take Wyo. 789/U.S. 16/20 for 20 miles from Greybull to Manderson, and then drive 22 miles along Wyo. 31 to Hyattville. In Hyattville, drive north and turn right onto Cold Springs Road. Follow the signs 5 miles to the site. There is no day-use fee; campsites are $12.

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