Wyoming’s a land so big and open and underpopulated it’s easy to forget that people are important at all. Where there’s not endless grassland, there are mountains that cut up in abrasive, vertiginous peaks. Clouds move fast and change all the time. The livestock are big and hearty. And where people do enter into the scene, they do it as if a statement needs to be made. The rodeos are loud, fast, irreverent, sobering. Jackson, a blue dot in a red state, stands out like a bold, liberal button pinned to the paisley pattern of a cowboy shirt.
Despite the thinness of its human thread — connected in long ribbons of highway — the thing holds together. This state of a half-million people, the least populous in the Union, stays rooted through the dirt and rock, oil and coal, livestock and hay, mountains and rivers and communities. There’s interconnectivity — everyone knows someone that knows you — and there’s isolation — the vastness of a state classified as more than 91 percent rural. There’s also an expectation that there’s something more native to this place, something viscerally connected, something that will draw you into a proper awareness of what it is to be a human being.
You hear this from the locals — that this place, this expanse of land lightly dusted with people, is a place where you find yourself. After time spent in the middle of this squat, rectangular state riddled with enough topographical diversity to belie its four straight borders, you should know something more about what it means to be a man among big landscapes, animals, peoples. And so, we set out to see what we’d find in the rodeos, ranches, roadside diners, backcountry campsites, bars and breweries, rivers and mountains, and ourselves. We set out to find how the west can help define a man — the rugged landscape carving a relief of who you are, intrinsically, deeply. Man as self-sustaining being. Man as member of tribe. Man in relation to the animals he’s mastered — and those he cannot. Man as he fits within the wildness that is the west. – Matthew Ankeny
Contents
Adventure
Strip Mining in Gillette
Mountain Biking in Jackson
A Quiet Alternative to Jackson Hole
Fly Fishing in the Green River
Wildfire Firefighters in the West
Rodeo
The World’s Largest Outdoor Rodeo
The Strongest Ropes and Saddles in the West
How to Wrestle a Steer Like a Pro
The Small Town Rodeo
Food and Drink
Jackson is Wyoming’s Craft Beer Mecca
Gear Testing
Can the Leica Q Handle the West?
Keeping Time with Filson’s Field Watch
Add a Shacket, Get Endless Warmth
Testing Osprey’s Anti-Gravity Pack
Shooting the West with the Canon 5Ds R
Lonely Highways and the Chevy Silverado
People and Places
A Texas Longhorn Charges
The Rodeo Bullfighter
Frames from the Field
A Small Preview of What’s to Come
21 photos
Tales of the West
Adventures in The Cowboy State
2014 STUART PALLEYThe Real Toll of the West’s Battle with Fire
Read the Feature
Wyoming Whiskey’s Battle to Become Relevant in Bourbon
Read the Report
Life in the Least Populated State
Read the Report
Finally, a Camera Bag that Doesn’t Suck
Read the Review
The Silverado Is the Best Small Truck in the West
Read the Review
TetonsThe Best Campsite in the Tetons
Read the Postcard
Stalking Big Trout on Wyoming’s Green River
Read the Essay
The Best Gear for Fly Fishing in the Cowboy State
Read the Guide
The Best Canon Camera Ever
Read the Review
Inside Jackson’s Brewing Scene
Read the Profile
Our Favorite Trail Backpack
Read the Endorsement
All rights reservedIn Teton Valley, a Quieter Alternative to Jackson Hole
Read the Guide
AMARCOUX_PHOTOS72 Hours in Jackson, Wyoming
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Mountain Biking in Jackson Is Not for the Faint of Heart
Read the Story
Black Tooth Wants to Be the Face of Wyoming Beer
Read the Profile
3 Backcountry Camping Kits, Tested in the Tetons
Read the Guide
The 10 Best Mountain Bike Rides in Wyoming
Read the Story
Risk and Reward at the Small Town Rodeo
Read the Story
How To Wrestle a Steer Like a Pro
Learn the Moves
An Endorsement for the Shacket
Read the Endorsement
Chef Knives Made With Tactical Precision in Jackson, WY
Read the Story
72 Hours in Sheridan, WY
Read the Guide
At King’s Saddlery and Ropes, Ranch Tools Become Art
Read the Story
Filson’s Mackinaw Field Watch Is a Rugged Bruiser
Read the Review
Before Coal’s Fall, One Day at a Wyoming Mine
See the Photo Essay
The Best Beers from Wyoming’s Top Brewers
See the Beers
The Watering Holes of Wyoming
Drink Up
Team Roping Practice in the Hills of Wyoming
See the Photo Essay
Postcard: The Best Breakfast in Wyoming
Read the Postcard
Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media, LLCIn Rodeo, the Bulls are as Legendary as the Riders
Read the Story
A Road-Trip Playlist for Traversing the West
Hear the Playlist
Cowboy Style, From Ranch to Rodeo
Read the Guide
The Leica Q Is Burdened with Big Expectations
Read the Review
24 Hours at the World’s Biggest Outdoor Rodeo
Read the Story
72 Hours in Cheyenne
Read the Guide
Postcard: The Bullfighter
Read the Postcard
Postcard: Tips Gets Testy
Read the Postcard
The Roaming Cadre
Producer: Matthew Ankeny
Writers: Chris Wright, Matthew Ankeny, Tucker Bowe, Bryan Campbell, Henry Phillips, AJ Powell, J. Travis Smith
Photography: Henry Phillips
Designer: Henry Phillips