Casper’s ‘Seven Wonders’ Are Odd, Unusual And Gravity-Defying

CASPER — Garden Creek Road south of the city was empty of vehicles as a Casper College physics professor kneeled near the center of the road with his level, evaluating any potential gravity mystery spot related to the “Seven Wonders” of Casper.

Casper College physics professor Paul Marquard and a Cowboy State Daily reporter Thursday tried to find the site called “Gravity Hill” and determine if vehicles really can roll up a hill defying physics.

Over the past four years, the city of Casper has been capitalizing on the marketing of “Seven Wonders” in the city.

A blog about a list of local attractions that Visit Casper — also known as the Casper Area Convention & Visitors Bureau — called the “Seven Wonders” continues to interest people who visit the bureau’s web pages.

“We do get a lot of hits on our website from the blog,” said Annette Pitts, CEO of Visit Casper. “It’s one of the most popular blogs on the site.”

While the Seven Wonders of Casper may not be as famous as Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful, Devils Tower or Independence Rock, they are unusual, interesting and worth seeing in a couple of hours, scavenger hunt style.

However, some who chase down the “wonders” may find that the word is more appropriate as a verb than a noun.

Pitts said her staff could not determine how the list of the Seven Wonders was compiled. There are news articles and other online blogs about the wonders that go back to the early 2000s. References to the “wonders” before that time are hard to find.

“We have staff that remembers hearing and discussing the Seven Wonders of Casper with friends and family as far back as the early 1990’s, so (we) suspect the wonders are simply part of the local community culture and lore that certainly predates our team in the office today,” she said.

Gravity Hill

One of the most intriguing of the wonders is known as “Gravity Hill” and it is promoted as being found on Garden Creek Road.

While past published accounts in local newspapers from the early 2000s reference the site and those who experienced the phenomenon, an attempt by Marquard and Cowboy State Daily to follow website instructions and experience the mystery came up short.

The Visit Casper blog sends readers to the spot by directing them to “Casper Mountain Road” and “Garden Creek Falls.”

“A short distance after the turn off you will find a large tree to your left. Bring your car to a complete stop and put it in neutral and, gradually, your car will begin rolling up the hill. Optical illusion or Casper Mountain magic?”

A photo of two trees on the left in the blog were presumed to be the location. Both Cowboy State Daily and Marquard tried the experiment.

Vehicles were stopped on a downhill slope did not seem to roll up hill, however though the road seems to decline fairly steeply, it did take a while to roll downhill as expected. Trying it the other way got the same result. A vehicle headed uphill in neutral and as expected it rolled downhill.

Marquard put a 2-foot level at about a half-dozen points on the roadway in that area and found in a couple of places the road was nearly level, though he said he with short level it could be variations in the road.

“Part of me wonders if we are in the right place,” he said.

Attempts by Cowboy State Daily to try other locations on Garden Creek Road across from a tree, including a spot on Garden Creek Road adjacent to a tree just past the falls turnoff, also proved unsuccessful.

In general, Marquard said “gravity hills” are an “optical illusion” based on the terrain. However, in physics, he said there is the “Coriolis Effect” that involves the rotation of the Earth that a physicist at a conference mentioned several years ago as having some potential for such “gravity hill” phenomenon.

“I wouldn’t begin to make that conjecture,” Marquard said.

Lookout Point

The pull-off about half-way up Casper Mountain on Casper Mountain Road allows visitors a view of the city and the region. The local legend is that the city was initially designed to resemble Wyoming’s iconic bucking horse and that years ago it was more evident when viewing it at night.
However, an argument against the legend might be that the city was first created in 1888 and already had an oil boom and associated housing and businesses by the time the bucking-horse logo was created for the University of Wyoming in 1921 and adopted by the state in 1936.

The logo came from a 1903 photo of Steamboat, the famous bucking horse while a cowboy was trying to ride him. And it was not until 1925, that city leaders understood their municipalities lack of design and tried to pass a zoning ordinance.

“Due to Casper’s rapid growth, and no attempt on the part of any supervising authority to control it, conditions necessarily have arisen which are difficult to straighten out,” E. W. Fassett, the city’s engineer was quoted in the Casper Daily Tribune on Nov. 19, 1925.

Though the view from Lookout Point hardly resembles a bucking horse today, it still provides an inspiring place to see the city and catch a sunset.

The Egg Beater Tower

The iconic city tower was created in 1968 as a means to provide time and temperature to the city alongside the 1964-built Wyoming National Bank’s peeled-orange-like building that now serves as the McGinley Medical Clinic.

During its history, the 177-foot three-legged structure became the property of Wells Fargo Bank. In 2016 Wells Fargo announced plans to tear it down.

A city outcry saved it. It now continues to exist as a “wonder” to make people dizzy. Those who visit it are instructed to stand underneath, look up, and spin around in place to get the sensation of being in an egg beater.

Natrona County Library’s Echo Chamber

A tiny concrete-and-brick amphitheater next to the main entrance of the Natrona County library provides a unique experience for those who stand in the center of the circular space and talk to the wall.

The person speaking will hear an echo of their voice. Cowboy State Daily tried it, it works.

The unique feature is that the echo is not heard by those who are sitting or standing to the side of the chamber.

The Clock That Doesn’t Tell Time

On the south backside alley of one of the buildings that make up Lou Taubert Outfitters on Second Street is a little tower on a roof.

As the tower faces Second Street, a door is visible.

But on the back toward the alley there is a clock face on the tower. It faces the city’s parking garage. The clock hands are stuck between the red letters of the “3” and “6” on the clock face.

Attempts to trace the origins of the clock were not successful. The best place to view it is from the third floor of the parking garage.

Casper Mural Project

There are murals that can be found all around downtown Casper and in several alleys.

A handful are the work of the Casper Mural Project that since 2019 has sought to use murals as a means to tell stories that reflect the community, promote cultural understanding, and inspire residents and visitors.

A mural honoring the Rev. James Reeb, a native of Casper who died at the hand of segregationists in Selma, Alabama in 1965 was the first by group. The mural can be seen behind 225 S. David Street.

There are also murals sponsored by the project in recent years that reflect Hispanic culture, Women of Wyoming, and one commissioned last year that salutes the volunteers who created Casper Mountain’s Hogadon Basin Ski Area.

Spiral Staircase To Nowhere

A five-story spiral staircase that once led to apartments in a north-south alley between Center and Wolcott streets and roughly behind Toy Town in Casper now exists as a photo magnet for graduation and social media posts.

The view at the top of the staircase offers a lofty perspective on the downtown.

In addition to the seven wonders promoted by Visit Casper, the Downtown Development Authority cites a “Magic Mirror” oddity.

Those walking east on the northside of Second Street in the 200 block will see a fashion store entrance that looks like it has two doors.

However, walking past the first door, it becomes clear that the second door is actually a reflection of the first door because of an angled mirror.=

The $50,000 National Endowment for the Arts-funded sundial installed in 2012 in a vacant city block at the corner of Collins and Beech streets also turns heads. It really does reflect the time with its shadow. 

“As somebody who moved here from a place that does not have big sweeping views where you can just see the edge of the Earth like that, it was mind blowing,” Pitts said about Lookout Point. “I remember coming to the interview and thinking, ‘Holy cow, this is special.’”

While Casper offers a lot more than the “Seven Wonders” such as heritage tourism and historical sites, Pitts said pursuing the little off-beat destinations can be a worthwhile hour or two.

“The fun thing about having a location like Casper is that obviously we are known as a sports destination, (for) outdoor recreation, cultural museums and all these fun things, but we have a lot of quirks here,” she said. “Not all places have that. I have been working my way through the list, I find it endlessly entertaining.”

Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.