Casper: on the pioneers' trail through Wyoming

On the North Platte River in the heart of rural central Wyoming, Casper holds the memory of the many pioneers who crossed the region along the historic Oregon Trail.

A car is particularly helpful for comfortably reaching various historic sites in the surrounding area.

The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center recounts in detail the passage of hundreds of thousands of pioneers along the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and California Trail.

A few minutes away, Casper Mountain offers numerous scenic hiking trails with splendid views over the entire North Platte River valley below.

Continuing towards the centre, you visit the Nicolaysen Art Museum, with rich permanent collections of regional art from Wyoming and the surrounding Great Plains.

Towards evening, Casper's charming historic downtown comes alive with various restaurants in historic buildings from the early twentieth-century oil boom era.

More than half a million pioneers trudged through the Casper region during the nineteenth century along several historic trails bound for Oregon, California, and Mormon Utah.

Casper, proudly nicknamed 'Oil City' for the great petroleum boom of the early twentieth century, remains a key economic center for the energy industry of central Wyoming today.