The Bureau of Land Management controls 75 percent of the land in Sweetwater County, but that doesn’t mean that property’s walled off and unusable. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

“We have a lot of opportunities on our public lands for enjoyment,” says Lance Porter, field manager with the bureau’s Rock Springs field office. “People really take advantage of all that we have to offer on the public lands, and whether it's hunting or fishing, or just hiking, the usage continues to go up.”

Historic Migration Trails Draw Traffic

Many visitors to the area are drawn by the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express and other western migration trails. With wagon ruts still visible, it’s easy to mentally and physically march along in the footsteps of those early pioneers. Sweetwater County has more miles of still-visible pioneer trails than any other area in the United States.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

For fishing, bighorn sheep sighting and more, head to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, more than 200,000 acres of fishing, boating, camping and more. Some make the Flaming Gorge an entire vacation destination, but if you’ve only got a day or two you can still see and do plenty.

Sweetwater Trap Club

The action’s in the air at the Sweetwater Trap Club, where clay shooting’s the name of the game. The facility has nine trap houses for five-stand clay shooting sports, as well as a 2,400-square-foot clubhouse. There are 40 electrical hookups for RVs at the club, which hosted the national finals for the High School Rodeo trap shooting contest in 2012, and also hosted five Amateur Trapshooting Association events. Instruction also is available onsite, according to Jeff Strange, the club’s president.

Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop Tour

It wouldn’t be the West without horses, and Sweetwater County doesn’t disappoint here, either. The self-guided Scenic Loop Tour starts in Rock Springs or Green River and will take you through the countryside and up close to the area’s wild horses, from near the city all the way across the top of White Mountain.

Killpecker Dune Field

You’re a long way from the beach, but the winds that blow through the Leucite Hills leave behind sand and gravel, which over time have formed the Killpecker Dune Field and other sand dunes, some of which are more than 100 feet high. The entire area runs for more than 100 miles from east to west, and begins a few miles east of Eden. The area’s also home to a herd of rare desert elk, the only ones to be found in North America.

“We have a lot of hidden treasures, but people are starting to find and recognize them, and value the land more than they have in the past,” Porter notes. “It’s easy to get out and find a lot of different and wonderful things here.”

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