Geography
The land within this state was first called Wyoming in 1865, when a member of the United States Congress from Ohio suggested that a new territory be carved from Dakota, Utah, and Idaho territories.
Wyoming ranks ninth in size among the states of the Union, covering 97,814 square miles, 713 of which comprise inland water.
About one-third of the state is mountainous. Elevations range from 3,099 feet along the Belle Fourche River in the northeastern corner of the state to 13,804 feet atop Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range, part of the Rocky Mountains. The mean elevation is 6,700 feet.
The federal government owns 51 percent of Wyoming land, much of it in national parks, forests, or preserves.
Alpine Forest
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Natural Regions
Wyoming contains parts of four major natural regions of the United States: the Southern Rocky Mountains, the Wyoming Basins, the Middle Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains. The first three are subdivisions of a broader region known as the Rocky Mountain System; the Great Plains are part of the Interior Plains.
The Wyoming Basins, in central Wyoming, comprise a high arid plateau ringed by mountains, except on the northeast, where the region opens out on the Great Plains through a broad gap between the Southern and Middle Rocky Mountains.
The Continental Divide passes through the Wyoming Basins, but it splits west of Rawlins. The two arms of the divide come together again near the Wind River Mountains, forming the Great Divide Basin.
The Middle Rocky Mountains occupy the northwestern quarter of the state and include the Bighorn, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, Absaroka, and Teton Ranges. The highest point in this spectacularly beautiful region is Gannett Peak.
Railroads
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The Tetons are some of the most precipitous mountains on the North American continent, rising abruptly along a 40 mile front near Wyoming's western border, with many peaks rising above 10,000 feet. At 13,771 feet, the highest is the Grand Teton.
In the northwestern corner of Wyoming is Yellowstone National Park, a volcanic area containing about 3,000 hot springs and geysers.
Wyoming Rivers and Lakes
The Continental Divide cuts through Wyoming from the northwest to the south central border. Rivers east of the Divide drain into the Missouri River Basin and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. The major rivers in the east are the Platte, Wind, Big Horn and Yellowstone Rivers.
To the west of the Continental Divide, the rivers of Wyoming drain into the Columbia or Colorado River Basins into the Pacific Ocean. Wyoming's major western rivers are the Snake River in the northwest and the Green River to the south.
The largest natural lake in Wyoming and most likely the largest at its altitude (7,733 ft) anywhere in the United States is Yellowstone Lake; it covers an area of 131 square miles and has a maximum depth of 320 feet.
Just to the south lies the second largest lake in Wyoming, Jackson Lake, with an area of about 40 square miles.
Fremont Lake, located north of Pinedale, is one of the state's most spectacular lakes and was formed by glaciers that retreated as the climate warmed about 12,000 years ago.
Cheyenne, WY Weather
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