Pinedale

With a rich ranching background, Pinedale is home to one of the nation’s oldest and longest cattle drives. The Green River Drift runs in June and October and literally stops traffic as cowboys herd their charges along a 70-mile journey. Prior to ranching’s heyday, Pinedale was a hub of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, an era commemorated each July at the Green River Rendezvous. Pinedale sits on ancestral lands of the Shoshone-Bannock, Aapsalooke (Crow), Eastern Shoshone, and Cheyenne peoples.

In Pinedale, wildlife outnumbers residents tenfold, and the resident moose can often be found in town parks. Many come to witness Pinedale’s ancient Path of the Pronghorn migration, one of the last remaining long distance animal migrations in the Western Hemisphere. And while the Pinedale area boasts over 1,300 named lakes, the king of them all is Fremont Lake.

Fremont Lake is surrounded by timbered foothills and a backdrop of spectacular snowy peaks, including Wyoming’s highest, Gannett Peak. Fremont Lake is 12 miles long, half a mile wide, and well over 600 feet deep, making it the second largest natural lake in Wyoming and one of America’s deepest. Accessible by road or the fully paved bike path running through town, the lake is a recreation hotspot for kayakers, paddle-boarders, anglers, boaters, and beach-goers looking for some relaxation in the sun.