Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
20 Hwy 14A E
Lovell, WY
A cold, deep-blue lake winding through a canyon nearly a thousand feet deep, with a herd of wild horses ranging the desert above.
Bighorn Canyon is one of the great overlooked landscapes of the northern Rockies. Over long ages the Bighorn River sawed a gorge nearly a thousand feet deep through folded layers of ancient rock, and in the 1960s the Yellowtail Dam backed the river up into Bighorn Lake, a slender reservoir that threads more than 70 miles up the canyon and across the state line into Montana.
The result is a place of startling contrasts: cold blue water at the bottom of sheer red and gray walls, dry badlands and sage flats above, and a herd of wild horses ranging the Pryor Mountains along the western edge. It is quiet, big, and a little wild, the kind of park you can have largely to yourself.
What Guests Love
- The heart-stopping view straight down into the canyon from Devil Canyon Overlook
- A chance to spot the free-roaming Pryor Mountain wild horses
- Boating, fishing, and paddling on the long, quiet waters of Bighorn Lake
- Wide-open badlands and desert scenery with almost no crowds
Worth Knowing
- This is remote high desert, so carry water, fuel, and a full tank before heading out on the back roads
- Summer is hot and largely shadeless, while spring and fall are far more comfortable for hiking
- The wild horses are truly wild, so watch them from a distance and never feed or approach them
- The Wyoming south district and the Montana north district are not connected by road inside the park
Details
Lovell, WY
Learn about Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Devil Canyon Overlook
The signature view is from Devil Canyon Overlook, reached by the paved Bighorn Canyon road out of the south district. From the railed platform the canyon drops away almost a thousand feet to the lake, where the walls narrow and the water turns a deep, still blue far below.
The overlook sits where Devil Canyon joins the main gorge, and the layered cliffs read like a diagram of deep time. Swifts and swallows dart along the rock, and on a clear day the view stretches for miles across the folded country of the Bighorn Basin.
The Pryor Mountain wild horses
The western side of the recreation area overlaps the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, one of the first federally protected wild horse ranges in the country. Its mustangs are thought to descend from old Spanish colonial stock, and many carry the primitive dun coloring and dorsal stripe of those early horses.
The horses range from the desert flats near Lovell up into the high Pryor Mountains, following the season and the forage. Sightings are never guaranteed, but the drive up the Bad Pass road and the trails near the state line offer a real chance to see them living free, and it is a moving thing to watch.
The lake and the river
Bighorn Lake is the center of life in the park in summer. Boaters, anglers, and paddlers launch from the marinas to fish for walleye, trout, and bass and to explore the shaded coves where the canyon walls rise straight from the water. Below the dam, the tailwater of the Bighorn River is famous among fly anglers.
This country has been home to Native peoples for thousands of years, and the Crow, whose reservation borders the recreation area to the north, hold the Bighorn and Pryor country as part of their traditional homeland. The Bad Pass Trail along the canyon rim was a travel route across the basin for many generations.
Visiting
The Wyoming south district is reached from Lovell, where a visitor center introduces the canyon, the wildlife, and the human history and offers maps and current conditions. From there the Bighorn Canyon road leads north to Horseshoe Bend on the lake and on to Devil Canyon Overlook.
Come prepared for empty country: services are few, distances are long, and summer heat is serious. Spring wildflowers and fall's cooler air make the finest seasons for hiking the desert trails and watching for horses and bighorn sheep along the way.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Lovell
Lovell
About 10 miles southwest
A friendly farm town known as the Rose Town of Wyoming, the gateway to the canyon's south district, with the park visitor center and services.
Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range
Adjacent to the park
A rugged public range along the Wyoming and Montana line set aside for the Pryor Mountain mustangs, reached by the Bad Pass road and backcountry tracks.
Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark
About 35 miles east
An ancient stone circle high in the Bighorn Mountains, a sacred site still used by Native nations, reached by a walk from the road near Burgess Junction.