Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area & The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range

The Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

Formed over millions of years by the abrasive flow of the Bighorn River, this deep and rugged canyon is more than 70 miles long.   In 1967, with the completion of the Yellowtail Dam, the waters of the river began to fill the canyon to create Bighorn Lake.   The scenery here is impressive and dramatic.   In places, the sheer limestone walls rise more than 1,000 feet above the surface of the lake, and the views from the water's surface or from the top of the cliffs are often breathtaking.  A second canyon, called Devil's Canyon, connects to Bighorn Canyon on its eastern rim. This smaller canyon has many amazing limestone caverns, where paleontologists have found remains of woolly mammoth, steppe bison, primitive horses, and even camels.   Almost deserted at certain times of the year, this entire area is a wonderful getaway spot for anyone who loves fishing, hiking, or boating…or just seeing wonderful scenery.

Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Refuge

For horse lovers, this is a place to see wild American mustangs in their natural habitat.  The Pryor Mountain herd runs free in the open spaces near Bighorn Canyon, and is one of the few groups of "Spanish Type" mustangs that survive in America today.  Descended from horses that were first brought to the Americas by early Spanish settlers, these were the type of horses that were first domesticated in this area by Native Americans of the Crow, Sioux, and Cheyenne tribes.  The warriors who fought the U.S. Cavalry at the nearby Custer Battlefield were probably riding horses of similar breed.