Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop
Personal Notes
This page contains our personal notes on our visit to the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop in Wyoming.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
9:18 am.
It was a cool day for June, with the air temp at only 71 degrees. It's been a windy few days, and this morning was no different. But the sky is clear and the sun is shining and we're ready to check out the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop.
We are staying at the KOA camp on the south west side of Rock Springs, so we drove through town looking for a connection with Highway 191 north. We ended up taking another route north that paralleled the highway. But it got us to the same junction, so enjoyed the drive and got to see the sights from a slightly different perspective than we'd seen on past drives through this area. Normally one would catch Exit 104 off of Interstate 80 and head north on U.S. 191.
We intersected 191 just as it turned west and climbed up through a cut in the wall of the White Mountains. Within a short distance, less than a mile, we saw a brown sign indicating the Wild Horse tour route, at about map coordinates 41 44.615N; 109 18.672W. Sweetwater County Road 4-14 is to the left, on the southwest side of the highway. It is a packed dirt road.
At about 2.2 miles the road takes a turn to the south and becomes Sweetwater Country Road 4-53. There is a sign at this point indicating that Pilot Butte is 11 further on.
9:57 am
Soon we came upon a signed monument along the right side (west) of the road indicating Eskridge Draw, (Waypoint 001) at GPS coordinates: 41 44.010N; 109 21.719W; 7127 feet. Apparently many years ago there had been an accident in this area and one or more young men died.
10:03 AM
Eventually the road straightens and curves along the eastern edge of a broad plateau above the White Mountains. There are many interesting views to the northeast and east from the many view points. We came upon the Red Desert Overlook (Waypoint 002) at GPS coordinates: 41 43.245N; 109 19.095W; 7356 feet. We could easily see the Boar's Tusk and the Killpecker Sand Dunes to the north.
10:14 am.
The main reason we decided to drive this scenic route was to see the wild horses. There are supposedly many hundreds in this area, so we expected to see at least a few, even if they were off in the distance. The area on top of the plateau is broad and sage covered, and seems to be favorable for the wild critters. We spotted horse dung on the road at several locations, but no horses to this point. We did see many pronghorns, but even they were a ways off of the road, in large groups. We continued our journey south.
10:17 am
We spotted five or six more pronghorn west of the road.
10:23 am
At Waypoint 003 we came to the Box Springs Overlook, at GPS Coordinates: 41 39.269N; 109 17.711W; 7422 feet. Each of the overlooks along the route has an informational marker describing the view and a bit of the history of this area. The views alone are well worth the drive.
10:31 am
At Waypoint 004 the main dirt road meets a road off toward Pilot Butte. GPS coordinates: 41 38.267N; 109 18.436W; 7442 feet. This road can be narrow in places, and eventually comes to a dee wash where only high clearance vehicles should proceed. I would not recommend this route for street vehicles.
10:40 am
Waypoint 005 is the base of Pilot Butte. From this point we can see that there appear to be several roads into the area. There is not much room to park, so we pulled over to the side in a wide area where one road intersects another coming in from the south. We are at GPS coordinates: 41 38.629N; 109 20.703W; 7539 feet.
On this day there are several ATV people visiting this destination. We’re going to hike up to the top of the butte and see what there is to see from up there. It will be quite a steep climb to the base of the basalt cap, but not a great distance; perhaps a quarter of a mile.
11:11 am
Waypoint 006 is at the base of the basalt, which is as far as we can go. There are only four rungs left of the metal ladder. One could probably climb up the rocks if agile and in good shape and, well, slender. Anne might have been able to make it, but I wasn't willing to attempt it on this date (it's been a bad year and my conditioning is way out of whack). We did explore around to the south a ways to see if there might be another route up. Anne did climb up a bit, but couldn’t get past one point, so we turned back. The GPS coordinates for our stopping point are: 41 38.615N; 109 20.893W; 7795 feet. The base of Pilot Butte, where we parked the truck, was just over 14 miles from the first sign we encountered at the beginning of the scenic byway.
11:29 am
We exited via a different route, but found ourselves eventually intersecting our route in. Soon we were back on the mail road, where we continued to the south. This route out looks to be in better condition than the last part of the road we took to get in. Because there are several roads winding around the base of the Butte you'll have to use your eyes to navigate toward the base of the butte.
11:35 am
As we continued on to the southwest, along the main road, we discovered that the road that we took to get to the base of Pilot Butte was not the main road into that point. There is a marked road off of the main road. So the lesson is, be patient when coming from the north and don't take the first road to the west. Wait a bit and the signed road will probably take you in a more direct and safe route to the Butte.
The sign junction, along with an informational monument, are at Waypoint 007, at GPS coordinates: 41 37.933N; 109 18.480W; 7515 feet.
11:54 am
As the road curved more toward the west we came to the Transportation Corridor/Lincoln Highway Monument at Waypoint 008, at GPS coordinates: 41 34.074N; 109 21.445W; 7468 feet. The air temperature at this time was a pleasant 72 degrees, and windy.
12:02 pm
We reached the Wilkins Peak/Goshute Monument at Waypoint 009 at GPS coordinates: 41 33.615N; 109 22.382W; 7405 feet.
12:09 pm
The monument for the City of Green River is our Waypoint 0 10, at GPS coordinates: 41 33.201N; 109 23.783W; 7361 feet. Most of these monuments are descriptive signs that detail what we are looking at below and out in the distance. There is some interesting scenery, especially along this southern edge of the loop: colorful badlands up close, the distant Uinta Mountains in Utah, and a lot of geography in between. Well worth the trip, even if, like us, you don't get to see the wild horses.
12:21 pm.
We arrived near Green River at a point about a quarter mile north of Interstate 80, at our Waypoint 011. At this point the dirt route turns into a paved road. There is a large modern motel to the west. On our way to Rock Springs we had notices a sign along the Interstate that indicated this road into the scenic loop. This point is at GPS coordinates: 41 32.406N; 109 28.087W; 6378 feet.
From what we can tell the exit to this road is probably at Exit 89, before the tunnels on I-80, when heading east, at about map coordinates 41 32.345N; 109 28.485W.
