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[{"type":"text","text":"Adding piano solos to songs that don't need them....."}]

Bonus vid 2 no play 7 19 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Bonus Video 2: Sunday, July 19, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Adding piano solos to songs that don't need them.....

Bonus Video 2: Sunday, July 19, 2026

 Adding piano solos to songs that don't need them.....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Outdoors

Public Lands

Up until this past May, much of Hell’s Half Acre had been fenced off behind “No Trespassing” signs for roughly two decades, doing little to take advantage of an attraction that is so alien and surreal it once was the scene of another planet in the cult classic 1997 science fiction film “Starship Troopers.”

, which added a new viewing platform, boardwalk, and other improvements, county geolocation data for May and June show visitation running about 30% higher than before the upgrades. 

The facelift helped set the stage for what Visit Casper says is a first — 

 in National Geographic magazine touting the city and it’s nearby alien landscape as a vacation destination. 

The feature story highlighted the 320-acre badlands as an intriguing travel stop on the way to Yellowstone, then went on to describe Casper as a convenient overnight or weekend base for adventure. 

Independence Rock, Casper Mountain, and the area’s blue-ribbon fishery were among activities highlighted in the article.

It’s another notch in the tourism belt for Casper, which has been working hard to position the city as more than just a quick fuel-and-food stop on the way to Yellowstone. 

“Boy, they really packed it all in,” Visit Casper CEO Annette Pitts told Cowboy State Daily after hearing what was in the story. “We had a lot of conversations, but I did not expect they’d actually include all of it. 

"That’s fantastic. This is a real win, and we’re thrilled.”

Casper’s Growing List Of Travel Accolades

National Geographic’s article is not the first time in recent history that Casper has earned unexpected travel accolades. 

 as a “breathtaking Western region” over pricey Jackson Hole. Other cities making that short list were Colorado, Branson in Missouri, and Greater Palm Springs in California.

The article cast Casper as an “authentic Western experience minus the crowds of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park” with activities like hiking, kayaking and fly-fishing in a stunning mountain landscape.

While Casper doesn’t try to portray itself as another Jackson Hole, nor as an alternative destination, Pitts said she believes Casper has a lot to offer vacationing tourists seeking an affordable alternative in the Cowboy State.

“There are a lot of incredible things to do in the Casper area,” she said. “Hell’s Half Acre really should be part of an overall itinerary. It’s incredible. You can drive out there, have a picnic, and enjoy time with family or friends. 

"I definitely encourage that. But you don’t want to drive for just one thing. You want to have a nice, rounded experience.”

The stories by Good Housekeeping and National Geographic aren't accidents, Visit Casper’s Tia Troy told Cowboy State Daily. She has been actively pitching ideas to national media, trying to get people to look beyond Jackson Hole.

Hell’s Half Acre is an Eocene-age Wind River Formation shaped over millions of years into hoodoos, gullies, and sheer cliffs. 

Fossils of early horses, primates, and other mammals have helped tell a story of a once subtropical Wyoming with trees and crocodiles.

The site was part of a 960-acre tract of land donated to Natrona County from the federal government in 1942. About 320 acres of the site are an exposed Wind River Formation with deep ravines, caves, and wind-shaped earth and rock.

That badlands appearance is what attracted Starship Troopers to choose it as t

he set for the fictional alien world Klendathu

But the area was attracting human attention long before that. Archeological evidence suggests indigenous peoples were using the rim at the site as a buffalo jump and hunting ground dating back thousands of years.

Europeans who settled the area called it various things, like Devil’s Kitchen, the Pits of Hades, and the Baby Grand Canyon. 

Legend has it that a cowhand showed up one day and, looking at the alkali and bogs and rough badlands terrain before him, declared that he had just found Hell’s Half Acre. 

It’s not the only legend about how the place got its name. Another says that the name was a mistake in an advertising campaign to bring more tourists to the roadside attraction.

Thousands of postcards were ordered with “Devil’s Kitchen” on them, but when the postcards arrived, they instead said “Hell’s Half Acre.”

With limited funding available for the effort, the group decided to keep the postcards, and the name stuck.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Future Geotourism Hub"}]

Once upon a time, Hell’s Half Acre brought upwards of $4 million to the Natrona County area from tourism.

With the popularity of film trails, it’s thought the area could once again drive significant tourism revenue to Natrona County. 

Visit Casper’s film liaison Kelly Eastes has told Cowboy State Daily the site has already been added to various apps that help road trippers find film locations.

There’s also talk of creating geotourism opportunities, including guided tours to the bottom of Hell’s Half Acre.

The site with its soft mudstones and silt built up over millions of years is ever-changing. Wind and rain and time are forever shaving away the surface sculpting things anew.

Existing caves and pinnacles thus disappear in time and then new features are revealed — an endlessly fascinating world that never runs out of new secrets and stories to tell.

Hells Half Acre via Alamy

<title>National Geographic Profiles Wyoming’s Famous Hell’s Half Acre | Cowboy State Daily</title>

National Geographic has raised the profile of Wyoming’s famous Hell’s Half Acre by featuring the alien landscape in its latest issue. It comes at a time when much of Hell’s Half Acre that had been inaccessible to the public for roughly 20 years is open again.

National Geographic Profiles Wyoming’s Famous Hell’s Half Acre

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Wildlife

 in the Bridge Bay Campground in Yellowstone National Park, several people rushed and yelled at the angry animal to prevent it from attacking the 65-year-old grandpa again.

Their efforts were successful, sending the bison running. As far as the world could see, that was the end of the incident.

Joshua Lewis of Colorado Springs encountered the belligerent bull bison at the same campground moments after it tossed McDaniel and ran off. He said that the incident was “only the beginning of the bison’s rage.”

“I noticed how fast everybody jumped on and started retelling the story and what happened afterward, but there was a lot more that happened after the fact,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Nobody’s aware of what happened after Round One.”

On the evening of July 10, Lewis was camping in spot E-243 on the E-Loop at Bridge Bay Campground. He was there with his cousin and her son from Switzerland.

 coming from the D-Loop, he assumed it was “a bunch of guys getting or about to get drunk.”

“We heard the yelling and thought it was drunks having a brawl,” he said. “No one yelled ‘bison’ that we heard, just adults yelling ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ and ‘Stop.’ Not even a scream of terror.”

What Lewis was actually hearing was photographer Mike MacLeod and others charging and yelling at the bull bison that had just tossed Mike’s grandfather Carl into the air.

 to prevent it from harming the older man any further.

They successfully chased the bison off. It ran from the D-Loop to the E-Loop — and it wasn’t any less agitated, Lewis said.

Lewis was walking to the bathroom when he heard his cousin scream. Two men at the E-244 campsite were shouting, “Look out!”

“That’s the total time and distance before the problem descended into our loop,” Lewis said. “I turned expecting something to have gone wrong with the fire, but saw the men, my cousin, and her 12-year-old son all scattering.”

The bison was running head-on at first, so Lewis didn’t immediately register what was happening. When the bison turned, revealing its massive profile, he recognized the severity of the situation.

“It had come through the amphitheater area and a small meadow next to (our campsite) and was apparently already in full charge,” he said. "The men at 244 happened to be sitting at their fire, facing south, and saw it coming. 

"My cousin heard the noise and turned at the same time the men started yelling when they saw it bearing down on the camp.”

Nobody was too close to the bison. It had closed the distance and was still amped up.

Lewis knew that everyone in the vicinity was making stressful split-second decisions when the bison suddenly charged into their area. From what he observed, the bison appeared to be assessing the situation and choosing a target.

“The suddenness of the attack really threw everybody off their game,” he said. “In the snap of a finger, the bison had already blasted into the camp and was trying to figure out which way it was going to go and who was going to hit first.”

Lewis had to be very intentional with his heat-of-the-moment actions. He wasn’t as agile as he would’ve liked.

“I almost lost my leg last year because of a massive infection and a surgically related complication in my knee,” he said. “I was using a walker until January and only quit using a cane in March.”

Since he couldn’t run to save anybody, he figured the best thing he could do was save his cousin’s son.

“He was able to run through the trees east around Site 244 to the bathroom,” he said. “I shoved him into the women’s room and slammed the door shut.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The 'Minute To Live' Look"}]

Lewis said the bison had already seemed targeted and was pursuing the 12-year-old. The two men at Site 244 distracted it long enough for him to reach the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Lewis’s cousin was running around the campsite trying to keep parked vehicles and trees between her and the bison.

“I was able to get her attention and guide her towards me,” he said. “The guys at the campsite next to us kind of directed traffic and created chaos for the bison.”

Suddenly, his cousin tripped and fell, and Lewis knew he couldn’t get to her.

“My knee would not allow me to get away,” he said. “If I had gotten to her, I would have been a sitting duck and done nothing but slow it down, which probably would have gotten us both killed."

Since the bison was still focused on the boy who suddenly disappeared into the bathroom, it didn’t notice the tripped woman. It definitely noticed her when she got back up and started running, as it immediately turned to charge at her.

Lewis, who served in the military, said he saw a chilling look in his cousin’s eyes in that moment.

“I've had experiences in my life, like failed parachutes during a parachute military freefall exercise, where it's like, ‘I got one minute, and I'm done,’” he said. “I saw that look in her face, like she knew that was the end of the line.”

Fortunately, Lewis’s cousin managed to run to the bathroom before the bison reached her. Once she was inside and Lewis slammed the door shut, the bison was less than 20 feet away and rapidly closing the distance.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Horror Movie Moment"}]

With three people secure in “the woefully inadequate bunker with no secondary exits,” Lewis said he was “trying to calculate a bunch of problems and solutions all at once.”

“I didn't know if it could knock down a concrete wall, because if it could get into the bathroom, somebody was going to die,” he said.

After a few minutes of uncertainty, Lewis decided he needed to know what was happening outside. It felt like a horror movie moment.

“There was nothing but dead silence until I opened the door, and it squeaked really loud,” he said. “I didn't get hit and knocked on my butt, so I pushed it open a little more with a good, loud squeak.”

That’s when the two men from Site 244 called out to Lewis, telling him that the bison was gone. After everyone was safe inside the bathroom, it had run eastward and out of the camp.

[{"type":"text","text":"The next thing Lewis heard was sirens rushing toward them. "}]

It was Yellowstone EMS, “coming to check on the carnage” at the D-Loop and to treat McDaniel’s critical injuries.

The whole incident lasted a few minutes that felt like an eternity, Lewis said, adding that nobody in their part of the campground was hurt.

“I think the only reason there was not another strike and injury is that four people in motion, especially the men yelling at 244, made it hard for the bison to select a target,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Going And Gone"}]

As everyone’s adrenaline started to come down, they were trying to process what had just happened.

Lewis spoke to the two men who successfully distracted the bison, and they were going over every detail in exasperation. They seemed to be experienced backcountry hikers, which added to their dismay in the moment.

“I could tell both of them were doing an after-action review,” he said. “One of them told me he always has bear spray on his hip, but he didn't know if he should have pulled it out or just run. His brain definitely locked up in the moment.”

According to Lewis, they were asking the same question as MacLeod and McDaniel in the aftermath of their encounters with the bison: “Did I do the right thing?”

Lewis’s cousin immediately started taking down their tent. They left the park and spent the night in Cody. It was another familiar, haunting look Lewis knew.

“She was clearly showing some signs of PTSD from the encounter,” he said. “She’s the primary caregiver for her son, and I think, as a mom, she definitely was in more of an emotional state realizing how close she was to losing everything.”

As for her son, he quickly recovered and didn’t seem to be overly affected by what happened.

“He’s a typical kid, (so he was) watching some World Cup recaps and his video games before they went back to Switzerland,” Lewis said.

Lewis’s cousin eventually asked to see MacLeod’s video of the bison tossing McDaniel.

“She got really quiet,” Lewis said. “I think she realized how much worse things were. It brought it into another level of perspective.”

She got another reminder of what happened at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo when they returned to Colorado Springs. Lewis had already bought tickets for her and her son, and the last event of the night is always bull riding.

“The second bull out of the shoot was brown with black hair,” he said. “It almost looked like a tiny buffalo. The next rider got bucked and landed like a frog, and the bull’s front feet hit that guy square in the butt. 

"She got choked up on that and said, ‘What would have happened to me if that bison had gotten hold of me?’”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Could Have Been Worse"}]

Lewis’s account of what happened at the E-Loop of the Bridge Bay Campground was extremely detailed. That’s because he works as a private investigator and “writing reports and covering details” comes with the job.

What struck Lewis wasn’t only how terrifying and traumatizing that moment was, but how much worse it could have been.

“There were several things that could have been worse,” he said. “The family that had the campsite next to the bathroom, with several small children, was away at the time. Those young guys managed to yell and make the right noise at the right time, which gave my cousin and her son time to get to relative safety.”

He also noted that while the bison was extremely aggressive, it wasn’t destructive. There was little to no evidence of what happened at the campground in the aftermath.  

“Between the tents, fire pits, and vehicles, the bison didn’t touch a thing or do any property damage,” he said. “It’s a testament to the deadly agility.”

Lewis was glad to hear that McDaniel was recovering from the bison toss. His femur was broken in four places, requiring surgery, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.

The bison, meanwhile, remains and will remain at large. Yellowstone officials confirmed that they 

don’t intend to take any management action 

“The bison will not be euthanized,” Yellowstone spokeswoman Linda Veress told Cowboy State Daily. “While serious injuries are uncommon and fatalities are extremely rare, encounters with bison can result in severe consequences.”

Lewis wanted to share his story because the encounter at Bridge Bay Campground didn’t end with the bison running off after tossing McDaniel. It’s a harrowing reminder of how dangerous Yellowstone’s wildlife can be.

“It was amazing how fast everything happened,” he said. “I’ve been in some hairy incidents, and I knew bison could run fast, but it astonished all of us. 

"If it had not been distracted by four people and had only one person on its mind, there would have been a different outcome.”

Angry bison 7 18 26

<title>After Flipping 65-Year-Old Man, Angry Bison Went After People In Next Campsite | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After an agitated bison flipped a 65-year-old man in Yellowstone last weekend, it charged after another group of campers. The first incident was “only the beginning of the bison’s rage," said a Colorado man who said the bison targeted a 12-year-old.

After Flipping 65-Year-Old Man, Angry Bison Went After People In Next Campsite

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

The Wyoming Supreme Court has rejected all the appeal arguments that a former award-winning Casper foster dad made in an attempt to overturn his 128-to-178-year sentence for sexually abusing children.

Steven Marler, 51, was not deprived of a fair trial in April 2025, says a unanimous majority opinion by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Robert Jarosh issued Friday.

Natrona County District Court Judge Kerri Johnson sentenced Marler last August, four months after an 11-day jury trial in which many of his foster and adopted children 

Testimony ranged from actual crime evidence, such as sexual penetration and touching of the female children in Marler’s care, to tangential evidence the judge allowed after a special analysis. 

That included claims that Marler required the girls to give him “daddy tax” reciprocal massages, that he showered with at least one of the girls, that he subjected the children to intense discipline, and that the children were often deprived of food.

The jury convicted him of sexually abusing two adopted daughters as well as physically abusing them and four other children in his care.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"At Trial"}]

At trial, a former foster daughter of Marler described how he sexually assaulted her in the family’s master bedroom, and one of his adopted sons described hearing “moaning” from the girls’ bedroom.

Along with the allegations of sexual abuse, the adopted son also told the jury about being kicked off a metal roof of the family’s Casper Mountain home by his father for “moving too slow” after clearing snow.

One foster daughter told Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Rosty that she was in the home with her older sisters between the spring of 2013 and 2014. She described the day when Marler brought her into his bedroom and placed her on the bed.

She testified that he asked her to take off her clothes, and she refused.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Once I would not, Steve removed my pants,” she said. "}]

Marler also removed her underclothes and then sexually assaulted her with his fingers before removing his own clothing and sexually assaulted her again, she said.

“I was laying on my back on the bed and he was standing up,” the girl said, adding that the incident left her in a lot of pain.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The ‘Other Acts’ Testimony"}]

In his appeal, Marler argued that Johnson abused her discretion by letting multiple witnesses testify to “other acts” — that is, evidence that doesn’t go directly to charged crimes. 

He also argued that Johnson abused her discretion by not letting his attorney question one of the daughters about a time she lied to a jail deputy, while also detailing abuse by Marler to an investigator.

Marler further argued that Johnson abused her discretion by not letting his attorney play a full interview between him and an investigator, of which the prosecutor had played a portion; that the prosecutor was wrong to question one of the victims about her father’s suicide; and that all these alleged errors combined deprived him of a fair trial.

[{"type":"text","text":"The high court agreed with none of that."}]

“Other acts” evidence can only enter a trial after a judge finds fair reasons for it, the high court noted.

One of the state’s witnesses described grooming as a “constellation of tactics that perpetrators will use to gradually, incrementally have sexual contact, sexual activity with a child,” and said grooming can also include efforts to compel silence.

Johnson chose to admit the grooming evidence after an analysis involving four factors. The factors are whether the evidence is being offered for a proper purpose, it’s relevant, its probative value outweighs its potential to prejudice the defendant, and the trial court must warn the jury about the evidence’s limited purpose upon request.

Johnson read the disclaimer about the evidence multiple times during trial, but not before every daughter’s and son’s testimony.

That didn’t amount to an abuse of discretion, the high court concluded. She had read it multiple times.

“There is simply no reasonable probability that repeating the same limiting instruction more often would have altered the verdict,” says Jarosh’s opinion.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hand It Over Then"}]

As for the incident in which Johnson limited the prosecutor from asking one of the girls about lying to a jail deputy — she’d claimed to have a child — Johnson also didn’t abuse her discretion there, the Supreme Court ruled.

Defendants have a constitutional right to confront witnesses and to present a complete defense. But judges can still rein in that confrontation to exclude evidence that is only marginally relevant.

This evidence was relevant because the jury had already heard ample testimony about whether the girl was credible, says the opinion.

Johnson also didn’t abuse her discretion by preventing Marler’s attorney from playing the remainder of a recording of Marler’s police interview, after the prosecutor had used a portion of that interview to challenge Marler’s credibility.

Marler’s attorney hadn’t provided the full recording to Johnson ahead of that mid-trial dispute, the high court noted.

“Without an offer of proof, we will not speculate about what the evidence would have shown,” the opinion says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Prosecutor Did OK Here"}]

The prosecutor did not commit misconduct by asking one of the girls about her father’s suicide, says the opinion.

That line of questioning bore upon one of Marler’s statements, that he had laid down with the girl to pray with her about her father’s suicide. 

The girl said that “praying was a constant thing in the household for everybody,” but Marler never prayed with her in her bedroom, court documents say.

Since all these alleged errors weren’t actually constitutional errors, Marler doesn’t get a new trial over what he’d called a pileup of errors.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Testimony"}]

In trial testimony, adopted sons of the Marlers testified that the girls were clearly Marler’s “favorites,” and they saw him go into the girls’ bedroom. 

There also were times that the girls, two in particular, were taken to the master bedroom when Steven Marler’s wife, Kristen, was away from the home during evening hours or on visits to Las Vegas.

An adopted son who has since changed his name testified that one girl would get treats the next day after spending time with Marler and that there were times he could hear “moaning, crying, talking” coming from the girls’ room when Marler was inside with them.

He also told the court he was young when he was placed in the home and adopted a couple of years later.

Another brother testified about the Marlers buying sacks of potatoes and being given a potato for breakfast, one with meat for lunch and another for supper. 

He said they had 15 minutes to eat or they would be punished either by spankings or “circuits,” which involved doing 100 pushups, sit-ups, mountain climbers and jumping jacks. 

Spankings could be with a piece of firewood, piece of rubber mud flap or a belt, he said.

He described doing chores that included cleaning the house, getting firewood and shoveling snow in the winter from the sidewalks and roofs of the home and garage. He said a tractor with a bucket would be put up against the metal roof and certain children and Marler would climb on the roof to clear the snow.

The boy described an incident shoveling snow on the roof between 2019 and 2021. He said Marler was on the roof to break the ice and he was shoveling snow. They had finished and he was moving slowly to get off the roof.

He said Marler told him: “Move faster, you’re going too f***ing slow.” When the boy said he was worried about slipping, Marler kicked him in the back.

“I slid down the roof and there was jagged metal on the roof and sliced my left leg,” he said, adding he still has a scar and that Marler gave him some antiseptic and gauze for the wound.

Another adopted son who’s now an adult took the stand and confirmed the incident, stating he was “right behind him” and saw Marler kick him off the roof.

Seven Marler Marler and His Attorneys 4 10 25 copy 87 25

<title>Supreme Court Upholds 128-178-Year Sentence For Sexually Abusive Casper Foster Dad | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Supreme Court on Friday rejected all the appeals a former award-winning Casper foster dad made to overturn his 128-to-178-year sentence for sexually abusing children. Multiple former foster and adopted children testified against him at trial.

Supreme Court Upholds 128-178-Year Sentence For Sexually Abusive Casper Foster Dad

Zakary Sonntag

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

PINEDALE — The people in this small western Wyoming town are suspiciously friendly. 

At least that's the impression you get from your one-and-only local acquaintance, a man named Marlon, who you know for the simple fact that he answered the phone at the Log Cabin Motel when you called to ask for a room.

He’s the kind of guy who gives bad news while sounding chipper.

“We’re completely booked up for the rest of the week. And you know what else? None of the hotels in town have any more rooms,” he said with the buoyant tone of a father revealing a baby name. 

The reason is the Green River Rendezvous, a multi-day celebration of the historic mountain men rendezvous that took place around the Rocky Mountain West between 1825 and 1840.

For Marlon, though, it’s better thought of as “Pinedale’s Super Bowl.” The Rendezvous Rodeo in particular is something you simply cannot miss, he said. 

You're in Pinedale on other business, but Marlon made a strong case.

“It’s fantastic. You’re going to love it, and you can totally hang out with us,” he said.

Your first thought is that you should never trust motel managers who hand out their personal numbers after a five minute conversation. 

The second thought is that this Marlon guy is freakin' awesome. 

He directs your stay to a nearby campground, then shoots you a text from his personal phone. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Let me know when you get into town.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rendezvous Rodeo"}]

The Green River Rendezvous is a multi-day celebration of the historic mountain men rendezvous that took place between 1825 and 1840. Its rodeo is the Goldilocks of the summer rodeo circuit — big enough to draw serious talent but maintains a uniquely local feel.

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