Experience Americas Most Treasured Roads
Touring the Byway
3 Days / 2 Nights | Gateway City: Rock Springs, Wyoming
We recommend starting your journey in Rock Springs, where you can visit the Rock Springs Historical Museum, Bunning Park and the Western Wyoming Community College exhibits of dinosaurs and other wildlife, before staying in one of the local hotels.
On Day Two, you’ll be off to Lyman, the start of the Bridger Valley Historic Byway, where you can tour the Bridger Valley Heritage Museum, the University of Wyoming Experimental Farm Heritage Barn. After visiting Fort Bridger State Historic Site, you’ll be catching Muddy Creek Historic Backway, traveling through the backroads east of Evanston, to visit the Muddy Creek Piedmont Kilns before heading for Evanston.
In Evanston on Day Three, you can take the historic walking tour and tour the Uinta County Museum before visiting the Historic Roundhouse. From there, we wish you safe passage if you’re traveling on another Wyoming Scenic Byway or a safe and pleasant journey home. All sections of the Bridger Valley Historic Byway are paved and included on the state highway system. Most of Muddy Creek Historic Backway is on gravel roads which are maintained in summer.
View the Detailed Itinerary below to see the full route, which is complete with dining, shopping, and lodging recommendations!
Highlighted Attractions
Fort Bridger State Historic Site
Jim Bridger started Fort Bridger in 1843 with two double-log houses joined by a pen for horses. As it became a vital supply point for the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails that passed through the area, the fort was expanded. It also served as a Pony Express station. Mormons burned the fort in 1857 to prevent the US Army from using it, but the Army rebuilt the fort the next year and maintained a post here until 1890. Today’s Fort Bridger State Historic Site encompasses 37 acres of grounds, 27 historic structures, and four historic replica structures. The park offers self-guided tours of the fort, living history demonstrations, open archeological excavations, museum exhibits, and a civilian cemetery. The Fort hosts the Ford Bridger Rendezvous every Labor Day weekend.
Muddy Creek Piedmont Kilns
Now a ghost town, Piedmont was founded by the railroad as a railroad water station in 1869. Moses Byrne built the Piedmont Charcoal Kilns to supply charcoal for iron smelting in the Utah Valley. His town grew to include a mercantile and four saloons, yet when the Union Pacific Railroad built a tunnel through Aspen Mountain, it re-routed trains away from Piedmont and the town began its decline.
Uinta County Museum
Located in the 1906 Classic Revival Carnegie building, the museum holds nearly 5,000 artifacts, photographs and archival records, with about 20% on exhibit at any given time. Explore the heritage of the region in Trails, Rails, Ranches and Rigs and learn how the Lincoln Highway impacted the local landscape when it came through in 1913.
Rock Springs Historical Museum
Located in the original 1894 sandstone Rock Springs City Hall, the museum’s building remains the only example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in southwest Wyoming. Discover what it was like to live in Rock Springs “in the old days” at this delightful historical museum that showcases the people and industries that developed Rock Springs from a dusty coal town into the thriving community it is today. Exhibits include artifacts, photographs, and displays on coal mining, the Union Pacific Railroad, and famous outlaws Butch Cassidy and Calamity Jane. A research library, bookstore, and gift shop are also available.
Bridger Valley Heritage Museum
Originally known as the Trona Museum, after the minerals hidden deep in the earth in southwestern Wyoming, the focus of the museum was changed in recent years, to preserve and showcase the heritage of the Bridger Valley which residents felt was being lost.
To experience all that Backroads to Emigrant Trails has to offer, download the complete itinerary!
The detailed itinerary includes:
- A complete trip experience organized in geographic order, to print down and go.
- A full description of the Byway tour.
- Each trip experience begins in a gateway city with commercial flight availability (and often ending in another) to enhance the Byway experience.
- Attractions and activities along the full length of the Byway selected to truly tell the story of the places you visit.
- Detailed description of each attraction and activity, including the address, telephone number, hours of operation, admission fees and suggested time to allow for a visit.
- Accommodations (related to the theme of the Byway or unique to the destination wherever possible) positioned in the correct locations and including breakfast wherever possible.
- Dining suggestions positioned in the correct locations for lunch and dinner.
- All attractions, accommodations and dining locations arranged into Days that allow time for relaxation, savoring meals and enjoying the experience.
- A road trip to create memories and intrigue your mind.