Wyoming’s back roads and mountain roads are some of the best-kept secrets of our great state.

         These are the places favored by the locals and cherished by visitors who can’t help coming back to them again and again.

         On Fathers Day Nancy and I drove up the winding switchbacks of the famous Loop Road that starts at the end of Sinks Canyon just outside of Lander. It was busy up there that day. On one big switchback, we encountered a bicyclist, a motorcyclist, a big SUV and a large pickup towing a fifth wheel trailer.  We all converged at the same location and, well, it was almost like a traffic jam. Almost.

         I envy the folks in Thermopolis, Worland, Greybull, Basin, Powell and Lovell on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains and Buffalo and Sheridan on the east. They have three spectacular U. S. highways (16, 14 and 14A) that cross this towering mountain range from one side to the other. 

  And breaking off from each of these highways are those favorite backcountry mountain roads that locals just treasure.  I know when I drive over these mountain passes on those main highways that the real joy comes from just taking off on one of the side roads. Usually I am in a hurry like everybody else but on my bucket list is the goal of taking the time to drive down each and every one.

         Contrast the Bighorns with our Wind River Mountains.  We have a distance of more than 120 miles between South Pass and Togwotee Pass.  Some of the wonderful mountain roads into the Winds between the two passes and their main highways include the afore-mentioned Loop Road, the Shoshone Lake Road, the Dickinson Park Road, the Dinwoody road, the Torrey Lake road and lots of wonderful little roads taking off in all directions from Dubois.  The Union Pass gravel road northwest of Dubois goes over the mountains and comes out in Sublette County.

         The views of the towering Wind Rivers are much better on the Sublette County side and thousands of folks from that county plus Sweetwater County have most of the great little roads memorized.  Some amazing lakes can be found at the end of these roads.

         In Carbon County, the roads around the Sierra Madre Mountains are spectacular especially near Saratoga, Encampment, and Lake Marie.

         Over in Afton, there are many wonderful mountain roads into the Wyoming Range.

         We used to boat at Flaming Gorge south of Rock Springs and Green River and the monolithic Uintah Mountains loomed over that giant lake.  There are lots of nice roads that start in Wyoming but end up in Utah.

         Wheatland residents have their secret roads into the Esterbrook area near Laramie Peak.  That 10,000-foot behemoth always impresses me because was the first real mountain seen by some 350,000 flatlanders traveling the Oregon-California-Mormon Trail back in the 1800s.

         In northeast Wyoming, you have the under-rated Wyoming Black Hills.  Although lacking the towering peaks of major mountain ranges, this area offers terrific roads into the backcountry. They also have active logging going on over there so a lot more country is accessible than in places where logging has been discontinued.

         Cheyenne and Laramie folks have a myriad of canyons and mountain roads to drive on to their favorite places.  One of the best is old U.S. Highway 30 from Cheyenne to the Summit.  Incredible scenery can be found.

         Perhaps I purposely left Jackson at the bottom of this column. There are not too many roads and trails into the Tetons but the ones that are accessible are truly visions of glory.  There are also lots of mountain roads on the east side of the valley. As you climb that view of the Teton Mountains over your shoulder is perhaps the most beautiful (and most famous) mountain view in the world.

         All these places are here in Wyoming and they are places you need to visit on a hot summer day. I guarantee you most of these places are pretty uninhabited and the cool mountain air will remind you why you live in this wonderful state one more time.

         When I submitted this column to my network of folks who live all over the state, their responses were overwhelming.

I think I can get most of them into my next column – amazing stories about fantastic back roads places.  If you want to participate, email me your favorite back road or mountain road at bsniffin@wyoming.com.