Casper works best as a choose-your-own-Western-weekend. The North Platte River runs through town, Casper Mountain rises just to the south, and downtown has the food, drinks, outfitters, bookstores, and Western shops to fill the hours between trailheads, museums, and dinner. Sitting on I-25 halfway between Denver and Yellowstone, most travelers know it only as a place to get gas and a highway exit. That’s a mistake. The outdoor scene, the damn good beef, and an unexpected beer culture add up to more than most people expect from a stop in central Wyoming.
Beer photo: jennascaliciphotography/Shutterstock
From the Trails to the Tap Room: Why Casper, Wyoming Deserves More Than a Drive-Through
Casper Mountain is worth a full day in any season
Photo: Visit Casper
Spending time in Casper without spending time on the mountain is, to be frank, wasted. Eight miles from downtown, Casper Mountain earns a full day in any season. In winter, Hogadon Basin Ski Area handles the downhill side of the mountain, with rentals, lessons, and a bar in the lodge. Cross-country skiers and snowshoers head to the Casper Mountain Trails Center, which has 26 miles of groomed Nordic trails and a lit loop for night skiing.
Come summer, that trail network becomes mountain biking terrain, with berms, drops, and new development drawing riders from outside Wyoming. Hikers can pick up the Bridle Trail at Rotary Park — a 4.5-mile loop that climbs over 1,200 feet past Garden Creek Falls and through Split Rock, an inverted V formation looking north toward the Bighorn Mountains. The falls are minutes from the trailhead and the full loop takes around three hours.
Photo: Visit Casper
If you’d rather see the country on horseback, C Bracket Horse Barn runs trail rides, lessons, day camps, and clinics covering everything from basic riding technique to working with cattle, out of a property east of downtown. Riders of any level are welcome, and with around 60 horses on site, guides can match you to the right one before heading out. On horseback you cover the same country as the hiking trails at a pace that makes it different terrain entirely.
Photo: jamescphotography/Shutterstock
When the sun is out, residents head 30 minutes south to Alcova Reservoir. Most people don’t picture lakes when they think of Wyoming, but campgrounds line the shore and on a good day you’ll find pleasure boaters out on a striking stretch surrounded by grassland and painted rock desert. Head south and Fremont Canyon opens up, a rockclimber’s paradise with sheer walls dropping into the water below. Pathfinder Reservoir, a little farther on, offers more for boating, swimming, and camping. For fly fishers, the Miracle Mile, a 5.5-mile tailwater below the reservoir, is one of the best brown and rainbow trout fisheries in the country.
Downtown Casper rewards a few hours on foot
Photo: Visit Casper
Casper’s downtown museums are worth a morning. Start at The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. With multimedia presentations, interactive displays, models, and maps, you’ll get a sense of why this stretch of Wyoming mattered. Four emigrant trails converged here at the North Platte River crossing, and the center tells that story well. Fort Caspar Museum picks up the same story with a reconstructed 1860s military post covering the boom and bust of Casper’s history through oil, mining, ranching, and energy. Then there’s the Tate Geological Museum at Casper College, with over 6,000 fossils and minerals anchored by a full woolly mammoth reconstruction, and the Nicolaysen Art Museum offers a well-curated collection of contemporary and Western art for $5 admission.
Photo: Wyoming Office of Tourism/Jason Lindsey
When you’re done, the rest of town is worth a wander. Shopping local means, in many cases, shopping downtown. For new books, Wind City Books. Used books, novelties, and events, Bookin’ It. Sonic Rainbow stocks newly released vinyl pressings alongside used and rare records from decades past, next to cartons full of cassette tapes and CDs. And a visit to Casper is incomplete without exploring the multiple floors of Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters, where you can find boots, hats, denim, shirts, jackets, and all-around Western wear in styles from traditional and practical to glamorous. For gear, 42 Degrees North specializes in athletic apparel and footwear, Mountain Sports covers camping, hiking, cycling, and climbing, and Zeelo’s Cranks N Planks on the way to Casper Mountain is the essential stop for bikes and skis — they rent snowshoes too, and the staff know the mountain better than anyone.
Where to eat and drink in Casper
Start the day at Metro Coffee on South David Street, a local roaster that’s been in the historic district since 2002 with retro furniture, rotating artwork on the walls, live music some nights, and bagels baked in-house. For a proper sit-down, Eggington’s has been feeding locals for years. The huevos rancheros topped with green chili and pepperjack cheese over pinto beans and tortillas is the order, the mimosas are a local institution, and the cinnamon and pecan rolls are worth taking with you. And for lunch outside the usual Wyoming rotation, Sweet Zoey Mediterranean serves hummus, falafel, dolmas, and grilled kabob alongside gyro French dips and naan grilled cheese with tahini sauce.
Photo: Frank’s Butcher Shop/Shutterstock
If you want to make locals jealous, tell them you got a seat at Frank’s Butcher Shop. The bar and grill fits 16 people and seating is first come, first served. Put your name in, wait, then walk through the butcher shop, pick your cut from the case, and it gets cooked to order. All the beef is Wyoming born, raised, and processed, dry-aged for at least 14 days before the butchers touch it. The sandwich list covers a burger, patty melt, Philly, and French dip, but the steak is the reason people come back. Order the Butcher Bloody Mary with dill pickle vodka while you wait. If you can’t get into Frank’s, FireRock Steakhouse, a few miles east on US-20, is open late on weekends, with steaks, seafood, and an excellent wine list. Or, for a night off the beef, Racca’s Pizzeria Napoletana is the only certified Neapolitan pizzeria in Wyoming, with a wood-fired oven, brick walls, and a dark wood bar.
Over the past five years, Casper has become the craft brewing hub of Wyoming and Skull Tree Brewing is probably the smallest taproom you’ll visit in the state. The bartender, likely the owner and head brewer, will ask where you’re from and pour samples before you’ve decided what you want. Expect sours, bocks, and a Hazy Kveik IPA brewed with locally grown hops and Norwegian yeast. Don’t skip the house-made root beer. It may ruin every other root beer for you.
Gruner Brothers Brewing occupies a former steakhouse where wealthy oilmen used to eat and high-rollers played poker in a back room that’s now a walk-in cooler. Gruner Brothers imports grains, ferment, brew, age, can, and package under one roof, which puts it in rare company. The Petro Club Czech Pilsner is exactly what a pilsner should be, the Fluffy Cow Hazy IPA is its most popular at 6.7 percent ABV, and the A.O.K. “Always Oktoberfest” Märzen runs year-round, a style most breweries only offer once a year. The barrel-aged version, finished in ex-whiskey barrels from Brush Creek Distillery, has a fresh bourbon aroma with barley, vanilla, and caramel underneath. The patio and large windows look out over the city and the mountain behind it, reminding you there’s more to do after you settle the bill.
Mountain Hops Brewhouse downtown adds food to the equation, with Mag’s Irish Red Ale playing caramel malt sweetness against drying hops, a clean Zerschlagen Helles Lager, and a Peanut Butter Stout that drinks like an Oreo without being too sweet. Beer nerds will note it’s the only bar in Wyoming serving Hamm’s, a light lager dating to 1865 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Backwards Distilling Company is a family operation the Pollock family built from scratch in 2014. The circus theme goes deeper than the décor, with spirits carrying names to match: Ringleader Vodka, Contortionist Gin, and Sword Swallower Rum. Beyond the vodka, gin, and whiskey, Backwards is pouring powerfully herbal absinthe, a 10-year Navy strength rum, and bourbons, ryes, and wheat whiskeys in the seven- to 10-year range. Everything is grain to glass and the bottles are worth taking home.
How to reach Casper and get around
Casper/Natrona County International Airport (CPR) sits about seven miles northwest of downtown, with United and Delta flights connecting through Denver and Salt Lake City. The airport is small with one terminal but staffing is limited and ticketing agents are only at the desks around flight times, so arrive with everything sorted in advance.
But as said, most visitors come in by road on the I-25, which runs right through the city. Local roads are well-marked and simple to follow. Free parking is widely available downtown, with oversized spots throughout the city for trucks, trailers, and RVs.
Cell coverage can be patchy in spots, so it’s worth downloading an offline map before you head out to Casper Mountain or the reservoir. 