Wyoming Life | Cowboy State Daily

Paul Dey, official and certified beer judge, enjoying a Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Co. beer at The Safari Club restaurant in Thermopolis.

Wyoming Man Says Becoming A Certified Beer Judge Harder Than Masters In Biology

Paul Dey of Cheyenne has an enviable hobby — he’s a certified beer judge. And he said earning that certification was harder than getting his Master of Biology degree.

Renée JeanMay 26, 2024

Bob Bing works a hat at the Cowboy Shop in Pinedale.

Cowboy Hat 101: What Your Western Topper Says About You

From cut to color to cost, a cowboy hat tells a story. Buying a new cowboy hat when visiting out West is fun and flirty, but wearing one for real Wyoming cowboys and cowgirls is serious business.

Jake NicholsMay 26, 2024

President Franklin Roosevelt visits the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone during a tour of the Western states in 1937.

Wyoming History: FDR Escaped A Political Pressure-Cooker At Yellowstone

It was September 1937 and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was politically exhausted from unsuccessfully trying to stack the Supreme Court, so he escaped the pressure cooker of Washington, D.C., politics in Yellowstone.

Dale KillingbeckMay 25, 2024

The relative spots in the early morning sky to see the moon and six of the solar system's planets in alignment.

Wyoming Has A Front-Row Seat For Rare Parade Of Planets Lineup

People in Wyoming have a front-row seat to view a rare “parade of planets” lineup of six planets and a crescent moon that will be visible in a line June 4. It's the first time such an alignment has been visible in at least 30 years.

Andrew RossiMay 25, 2024

The folks at Colorado State University are excited for its corpse flower to bloom for the first time over the Memorial Day weekend. Here, Tammy Brenner, CSU's plant growth facility manager, measures the flower, which grows several inches a day leading up to its infrequent blooms, generally years apart.

Gigantic Corpse Flower Set To Bloom Over Memorial Day Weekend

Cosmo, a rare 7-year-old corpse flower at Colorado State University, is preparing to bloom for the first time over Memorial Day Weekend. The gigantic flower, which can grow up 12 feet tall, is known for the overwhelming stench of death it produces when it blooms

Andrew RossiMay 25, 2024

A ladder is used to climb up to the top of 4420 during restoration efforts.

Engine 4420 Helped Save Evanston 100 Years Ago, Now Evanston Saving Engine 4420

Engine 4420 is a workhorse of a switch steam locomotive that helped saved Evanston in the 1920s. Now it’s 4420’s turn to be restored to its former glory.

Renée JeanMay 25, 2024

Heavy snows and poor road conditions have prompted the closure of the Beartooth Highway in Wyoming and Montana just ahead of Memorial Day and the first big tourist weekend of the season for Yellowstone National Park.

Massive Snowstorm Keeps Beartooth Highway Closed, Other Yellowstone Routes Shut Down

It's still winter in some parts of the Rocky Mountain West. Two feet of snow on Thursday stopped the Beartooth Highway from opening. Many other Yellowstone routes were closed down too as winter refuses to give up.

Andrew RossiMay 23, 2024

Left: After a can of bear spray exploded in the cab of this truck. Right: That can of bear spray was sitting in this nook in the front window dash of the truck when it exploded. The windshield has since been replaced, but the detailer cleaning it out says it'll never be the same inside the truck.

Wyoming Detailer Who Cleaned Bear Sprayed Truck Says It’ll Never Be The Same

The Cody detailer who cleaned out the cab of a truck owned by a Yellowstone worker that was bear sprayed when a can of the noxious stuff exploded inside says it’ll never be the same, and will probably always itch.

Andrew RossiMay 22, 2024

Sticking a plastic googly eye on a taxidermy wolf on display at Green River High School was the crowning achievement of the 2024 senior class prank.

Green River High Seniors Put Googly Eyes On Everything In School, Including Urinals

It's that time of year where high school seniors everywhere pull a class prank. In Green River, students have put googly eyes on everything. When the principal was told there was a miniature video cam on a urinal, he was relieved to see it was just a googly eye.

Mark HeinzMay 21, 2024

Wyoming Native ‘Bee Guy’ — Hero Of MLB Game — Gets His Own Bobblehead

Matt Hilton, the pest control technician who grew up in Wyoming and saved an Arizona Diamondbacks game from a swarm of killer bees last month, has been rewarded with a sold-out Topps baseball card and a collector’s edition bobblehead.

Jake NicholsMay 21, 2024

Even vising Yellowstone National Park's thermal features over Memorial Day weekend will require some bundling up with cold, wet and possibly snowy conditions expected.

Memorial Day Weekend In Yellowstone Will Look More Like Winter Than Summer

Waves of wet weather from the Pacific Northwest will mean ice-covered roads and below freezing temperatures in Yellowstone through Memorial Day -- just in time for one of the biggest weekends of the year for the national park.

Andrew RossiMay 21, 2024

Taken a year after Nathan Kissack was put on maintenance chemo. Kissack told Cowboy State Daily he just made up a competition for himself, to see what kind of dramatic physical change he could make happen with his body after being told by doctors not to work out.

So Far, So Good: Gillette Native Battling Cancer For A Third Time (And Winning)

Gillette native Nathan Kissack likes to joke that he’s done fentanyl 25 times, and he’s even done fentanyl and heroin together. The drugs were all legal, however, part of what is now a third — and so far successful — fight with cancer.

Renée JeanMay 19, 2024

Rock Springs resident Dawson Lorenz rescues Pepper the house cat from the spot where she'd been stuck for two days. Lorenz volunteered to help after the cat's owner, Angie Chrisman, asked for help on social media.

Rock Springs Duo Risk Lives Climbing Cliff To Rescue Cat

An indoor cat named Pepper spent two days outdoors stuck halfway up a cliff in Rock Springs, ignoring every attempt to coax, cajole and coerce her down. So, a local man and teen climbed the cliff to rescue her.

Andrew RossiMay 19, 2024

A simple marker in the middle of nowhere between Pinedale and South Pass City, Wyoming, tells of the death of Ralph Faler on April 5, 1921. He was caught in a blizzard delivering the U.S. mail.

Wyoming History: Pinedale Mailman Paid Ultimate Price In 1921 Blizzard

Delivering the mail across Wyoming’s vast empty spaces wasn’t for the faint of heart more than a century ago -- especially Pinedale and South Pass City. Mail carrier Ralph Faler got caught in a blizzard and never made it out.

Dale KillingbeckMay 19, 2024

After suffering numerous serious injures in a side-by-side rollover crash in Park County this month, Skyler Peterson faces a long road to recovery.

Wyoming Man Vows To Dance At His Wedding Despite Serious Injuries From ATV Crash

Although he's hospitalized and still unable to move his arms, Cody's Skylar Peterson is vowing to dance with his future wife Sydnie at their wedding on August 10. Peterson was severely injured in an ATV crash earlier this month.

Mark HeinzMay 19, 2024

Elmer Lovejoy hauls a load of Crescent bicycles with his Locomobile Steamer in 1897. A year later he would become the first person to drive an automobile in Wyoming, one of his own making.

Laramie Inventor Elmer Lovejoy Built And Drove Wyoming’s First Car

No one in Wyoming had yet seen an automobile in 1898. That all changed when Elmer Lovejoy took a little drive in the car -- that he built -- in downtown Laramie on May 7, 1898. He was going an unthinkable 8 miles per hour.

Jake NicholsMay 19, 2024

Rose Williams' Roadhouse and Brothel at Old Trail Town in Cody. There are 28 structures in the 6-acre outdoor museum, including several known to have been visited by Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and other legendary Western figures.

134-Year-Old Historic Wyoming Brothel Back In Business At Cody’s Old Trail Town

Rose Williams' Roadhouse and Brothel in Meeteetse was patronized by Butch Cassidy and has plenty of sordid stories from its past. It's now fully restored and open for business again — sort of — at Cody's Old Trail Town.

Andrew RossiMay 19, 2024

During his visit, Uno and Kindness Ranch Executive John Ramer visit Florida Republican Congressman Brian Mast, who has been an outspoken advocate against animal testing.

Wyoming Rescue Dog From The Kindness Ranch Unites Politicians On Capitol Hill

Uno, one of 4,000 beagles rescued from an animal research facility, united Capitol Hill with his message of treating animals humanely. Uno lives at Wyoming's Kindness Ranch, the only facility in the nation to take in only former research animals.

Jen KocherMay 18, 2024

Charnick checks out the northern lights while taking a break from skiing on Friday night.

Wyoming Weather Scientist Goes Night-Skiing During Aurora Borealis Event

Michael Charnick is a weather scientist based in Cheyenne who captured stunning images while night-skiing at more than 11,000-feet elevation during last weekend’s vivid aurora borealis. He was on the slopes from 9:30pm to after 3am.

Leo WolfsonMay 18, 2024

A Cub Scout carries a matched set of antlers to the auction stage at a past ElkFest. Workers who prepare the antlers for auction try to match sets whenever possible as they bring in more money per pound.

Huge Wyoming Elk Racks Sell For Big Money At World’s Largest Antler Auction

The 57th annual ElkFest auction -- the world's largest antler sale -- is being held this weekend in Jackson. Last month, more than 100 scouts gathered 8,162 pounds of antlers at the National Elk Refuge. Proceeds are split between the scouts and the National Elk Refuge.

Jake NicholsMay 18, 2024

Just When Wyoming Seems To Be Firmly In Spring, Snow Expected

Warm and windy weather is in store for most of Wyoming this weekend, but meteorologist Don Day says to expect a wet and cold start to the work week on Monday with high-country snow.

Andrew RossiMay 17, 2024

The iconic Hitching Post Inn sign on Lincolnway in Cheyenne is dismantled Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Good News: Hitching Post Sign Saved. Also, Man Found Living In Sign!

When construction workers were digging up the concrete foundation for the gigantic Hitching Post sign in west Cheyenne, they saw a foot sticking out. Turns out someone was living in the sign. Also, the sign will be saved.

Renée JeanMay 15, 2024

The back of The Pearl sheep wagon at Gillette's third annual Sheepherding Festival. Some sheep wagons have a chuckwagon-type cook station in the back, others have an area to store staples like beans and flour.

Gillette Celebrates Sheep Wagons — Wyoming’s Original Tiny Homes

The town of Gillette spent Saturday celebrating sheep wagons, a uniquely Wyoming invention that were ingenious for their time. The 12-foot-long tiny homes on wheels were practical long before they became trendy.

Renée JeanMay 13, 2024

The Green Front Building was first built in 1896 on Sheridan Avenue in Cody. It's seen here housing the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Co. and next to the Cody Hotel.

First Building Built In Cody 128 Years Ago Is Still Open For Business

The first building built in Cody 128 years ago has been a post office, a poker club, a church, radiator shop and a medical office. It's moved three times but it's still standing and open for business.

Andrew RossiMay 12, 2024

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