Wyoming Centennial Scenic Byway
Encyclopedia
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
and extends from Dubois, Wyoming
Dubois, Wyoming
Dubois is a town in Fremont County, Wyoming. The population was 962 at the 2000 census, although it nearly doubles in the summer with many part-time residents.-Geography:...
for 163 miles (262.3 km) to Pinedale, Wyoming
Pinedale, Wyoming
Pinedale is a town in and the county seat of Sublette County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,412 at the 2000 census. Pinedale is an important hunting outfitting town and a gateway to the Wind River Mountains. It is also a major gateway to the Jackson Hole area in Wyoming. Pinedale is...
. The scenic byway passes through both Shoshone
Shoshone National Forest
Shoshone National Forest is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2.5 million acres in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S....
and Bridger-Teton National Forest
Bridger-Teton National Forest
Bridger-Teton National Forest is located in western Wyoming, United States. The forest consists of , making it the second largest National Forest outside of Alaska. The forest stretches from Yellowstone National Park, along the eastern boundary of Grand Teton National Park and from there rides...
s as well as Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The Park consists of approximately and includes the major peaks of the long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Only south of Yellowstone...
. Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson is a town located in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 8,647 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Teton County....
is the largest town on the route which also borders the National Elk Refuge
National Elk Refuge
The National Elk Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming and was created in 1912 to protect habitat and provide sanctuary for the largest elk herd on Earth. The refuge borders the town of Jackson, Wyoming on the northeast while Bridger-Teton National Forest is to the east and Grand Teton...
in Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole, originally called Jackson's Hole, is a valley located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the western border with Idaho. The name "hole" derives from language used by early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend along...
. Crossing the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
at Togwotee Pass
Togwotee Pass
Togwotee Pass is a mountain pass located on the continental divide in the Absaroka Mountains of the United States, between the towns of Dubois and Moran Junction, Wyoming in the Jackson Hole valley....
, sweeping vistas of the Absaroka Mountains and the Teton Range
Teton Range
The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. Most of the range is in Grand Teton National Park....
are plentiful. The scenic road follows U.S. Route 26
U.S. Route 26
U.S. Route 26 is an east–west United States highway. It started in Ogallala, Nebraska, and gradually grew to reach the West Coast in Oregon. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and Oregon. The...
and U.S. Route 189
U.S. Route 189
U.S. Route 189 is a spur of U.S. Route 89. It currently runs for 322 miles from Provo, Utah at Interstate 15 to Jackson, Wyoming. The highway was not part of the original 1926 U.S. Highway system. The highway was created in the 1930s, absorbing former U.S. Route 530 and a portion of U.S. Route 30S...
.
Following in the footsteps of famous mountain men such as John Colter
John Colter
John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when Colter became the first known person of European descent to enter the region now known...
and David Edward Jackson
David Edward Jackson
David Edward Jackson was an American pioneer, explorer, trader, and fur trapper.He spent his early life west of the Shenandoah Mountains, in what was then part of Virginia and is now in West Virginia: he was born in Randolph County, and his parents, Edward and Elizabeth Jackson, soon moved the...
, the Wyoming Centennial Scenic Byway provides access to sagebrush
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
covered plains and dense coniferous forests.