DANIEL — There’s a boot scraper in front of the door at the Daniel Junction Store. It’s a metal grate recessed into a wood plank landing and above the door hangs a sign that reads “Cowboys, scrape shit from boots before entering.”
The thousands of tourists who pass through that door every summer on their way to one of Wyoming’s famous national parks may think the sign is meant to be funny.
Many of them probably don’t even own a pair of boots.
But in that sign is a sliver of Wyoming culture with a deeper, less literal takeaway.
Kimberly Keehn and her husband Seth own and manage the Daniel Junction Store, Bear Den Restaurant, Hotel and RV Park located about 12 miles west of Pinedale on Highway 191 near the intersection of Highway 189.
Like many other Wyoming businesses, during the winter months, the place struggles financially to make ends meet.
Yet the Keehns don’t lay off employees when business gets slow in the winter. Good help is hard to find, and it’s more important to them to maintain their reputation for providing consistent, quality food.
So, instead of laying off, they budget carefully and plan ahead to ride out the lean times.
83 Years And Counting
Tourists and travelers have been stopping at Daniel Junction since 1940 when the original business on the site was established by Leander “Linn” Sargent and his wife Helen.
During the summer, this is a busy place. It’s common to see several pickups hitched to horse trailers parked out front, both short and long-haul semitrailers stop here for fuel and tourists driving all sorts of RVs are lined up for fuel and food as well.
Just inside the front door there is a small dining room and a cluttered message board where you can find anything from handymen to raw milk and locally made butter.
The convenience store sells everything from fishhooks to teddy bears to fifths of Jim Beam. But the real draw here are the deli burritos. They make about six to seven dozen burritos every day and these are available in nine different varieties.
Their record for one day sales is 42 dozen burritos, Kimberly said. Pizza, sandwiches and ice cream cones are also available.
Where The Locals Eat
One way to judge a restaurant is to find out if the locals eat there.
The Bear Den, built in 2015 by Kimberly’s father, Gene Lippincott, and stepmother April, has a loyal following of local folks. On Friday and Saturday nights many of the same pickups that towed horse trailers in here for food and fuel earlier in the week will be shined up and sitting out front of the restaurant.
When you walk in you are first greeted by a standing mounted blonde color phase black bear. And in keeping with the Bear Den theme, the walls are decorated with several exceptional bear photographs by well-known Pinedale photographer Dave Bell.
The Bear Den menu offers something for everyone, but people don’t come here for the salad.
Prime rib is the star of this show on Friday and Saturday nights. Kimberly said they’ll roast about eight 15-pound prime rib roasts every week. It’s top-shelf beef that comes with all the traditional trimmings of a prime rib dinner.
Kimberly told Cowboy State Daily her favorite is a ribeye beef steak called the Grizzly. She admitted that she doesn’t much like going to other steakhouses because of the corners they often cut.
“I’m spoiled,” she said. “Everything we serve here is the highest quality.”
About That Burger
The real hidden gem on this menu is the build-your-own burger. But be warned, this is a hamburger that will cause you to forsake all others.
There are two primary reasons for this burger’s superiority. First, it’s made of one-third of a pound of beef chuck and brisket. There’s no carcass trim and no bits of beef that were blasted off rib bones with a power washer in this burger.
Second, these burgers are cooked to order. That means the customer is in charge, and if you prefer a juicy burger cooked slightly less than what the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends, (170 degrees Fahrenheit) then you do you, cowboy.
They’re cooked one at a time just like a steak and come with all of the traditional trimmings and none of the kitschy novelty that burger chains sell. You can get bacon and bleu cheese on it if you want, but you don’t have to memorize a bunch of code words to order one. They aren’t smashed flat like a pancake, and they don’t come with a pile of pineapple or avocados.
It’s a simple juicy, delicious burger that’s not trying to be something it’s not.
“I have great chefs here that have been with me for a long time,” said Kimberly. “We are passionate about the meat we serve, and if you can order a steak the way you want it you ought to be able to have a burger cooked the same way.”
A teddy bear for sale at the Daniel Junction Foodmart. (John Thompson, Cowboy State Daily) 
A blonde color phase black bear mount greets customers as they enter the Bear Den in Daniel. (John Thompson, Cowboy State Daily) 
Items for sale in the Daniel Junction Foodmart range from camping, hunting and fishing gear to teddy bears to women’s purses. (John Thompson, Cowboy State Daily)
History Of Daniel Junction
According to a book by local historians titled “Daniel Wyoming, The First Hundred Years 1900-2000,” it caused quite a stir in the small community of Daniel in 1940 when the owners of Sargent’s Inn decided to pull out of town.
Linn Sargent and his wife Helen decided to hire a Salt Lake City company to cut their 12-room, two-story lodge in half, load it on a trailer and tow it a couple miles up the road. The Sargents decided that being located near the intersection of Highways 189 and 191 would help capture more tourist traffic.
Prior to the move, the Inn was at Daniel’s main attraction. After the move, some locals said the town never fully recovered.
The Sargent Inn was located in Daniel to accommodate travelers moving between Kemmerer, Rock Springs and Green River and Jackson Hole. Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight champion boxer and American cultural icon of the 1920s known for his exceptional punching power, stayed there.
Alice Sargent, a daughter of Linn and Helen, remembered the size of Dempsey’s hands “when he stayed there for the peace and quiet.”
Alice also remembered a “nice” couple (unnamed in the book) who stayed at the Inn while they were on the lam. “They were later caught as bank robbers,” according to her account in the book.
In 1970, the Inn was sold to Curly and Peggy Rooks and renamed Rookie’s Lodge. The lodge was destroyed by a fire Nov. 21, 1979.
Sid Skiver, a 73-year-old ranch hand, was asleep in one of the upstairs rooms when the fire broke out and was killed in the fire, according to the Daniel history book.
Don’t Forget To Scrape Your Boots
Sublette County is cattle country and the sign above the front door at the Daniel Junction Store is a message for those folks.
But from a broader perspective, there’s more than one way to get shit on your boots, and maybe there’s a deeper message for all of us here.
