16. Wyoming

When I think of Wyoming, I think of the state as the epitome of freedom, the most important American value.

As pretty much everyone knows, Wyoming has the fewest people of any state, and that goes a huge way into its charm. Yes, there are a few decent sized towns and the National Parks are pretty packed, but if you want to go off on your own to experience the land, there’s not many better places to do that in the country than Wyoming. 

Thunder Basin National Grassland

And because of that, Wyoming both feels wild and sometimes like you’re back in time. Back to a time long before industrialization and technology where people lived off the land. Obviously all that still exists in the state, but you can get a glimpse of how the world and the West used to be long before the rapid population growth. You can understand why people decided to leave everything behind to live out there. I recently had the pleasure of meeting someone who was still part of a family of cattle drivers across hundreds of square miles. When I heard that, I almost couldn’t believe that lifestyle still exists and there's a place where cattle aren’t confined to tight spaces. Wyoming is one of the only places in the country where that can still happen.

Maybe Eastern Wyoming isn’t always too much to look at, but to me on these vast landscapes, it’s more about the experience. Find an open field that feels untouched by humanity and just exist. Take it all in as you stare at the sky and open land as far as you can see. No noise. No pollution. Just you, the land, and the wild life.

Squaretop Mountain overlooking the Green River- credit to Clare George

But then you get to western Wyoming, and wow! The forests, the mountains. The Tetons are some of the most beautiful and unique mountains in the country. And of course there’s Yellowstone (Yes, I know a small part is in Montana and Idaho)! What else needs to be said about our country’s first National Park! A place so incredible that it started the whole park system before Wyoming was even a state.

So the song may have been originally about Kansas, but I think “Home on the Range” is really only applicable to Wyoming in present day. That alone makes the state special enough to put it here.