Lonesome Highway — Bighorn Mountains High Road via Powder River Pass

US-16 over Powder River Pass at 9,666 feet is already one of Wyoming’s most dramatic paved crossings, but the real experience starts when you drop onto the Forest Service roads that spider off the highway into the Bighorn National Forest interior. The Ten Sleep Canyon approach from the west is a jaw-dropper — sheer limestone walls and a creek that the road hugs through a genuine slot canyon. From the east side, tracks like FR 26 and FR 27 push into the high country toward Hunter Corrals and Meadowlark Lake, where elk traffic in September is so heavy it stops rigs. The Cloud Peak Wilderness boundary sits just back from these roads, forcing you to stop and walk if you want to go deeper.

Most of these forest roads are manageable in a capable stock 4WD, but mud conditions after late-spring snowmelt can turn them to axle-deep gumbo — come back in July or August. No permit needed for dispersed camping in the Bighorn National Forest; just stay 100 feet from water and 300 feet from the road. Fuel in Worland or Buffalo; neither is close once you’re up top. Cell service is spotty at pass level, nonexistent in the canyons. This is elk, mule deer, and pronghorn country with some of the best fall color in Wyoming — and almost no crowd pressure compared to the Tetons two hours west.