Wide-open expanses reveal sprawling ranches, including guest ranches. Just before Dubois, the landscape changes abruptly to a striking badlands topography, characterized by scrubby sagebrush and an arid climate. Here the climate is suited perfectly for the furry, four-legged creatures that inhabit the area in winter, when bighorn sheep number as many as 900 along the windswept slopes of the nearby Whiskey Basin Wildlife Habitat area. As it happened with most Western settlements, Dubois sprang forth with a saloon first, followed by a mercantile. Today, the town's Western appeal is undoubtedly intact.
Shops feature Western wear, sporting gear and other curious necessities.
At Two Ocean Books, Anna Moscicki stocks an impressive selection of Wyoming titles. A Wyoming transplant, Moscicki came from Michigan in the 1970s and never left. Accommodations in Dubois are mostly small motels, lodges and guest ranches. At Fred and Diana Busey's Chinook Winds Mountain Lodge, the atmosphere is as serene as the Wind River, which flows alongside the lodge's grounds. Dinner is cooked over the campfire and, if it's Tuesday night, guests can head into town afterward for the weekly square dance at the Rustic Pine Tavern.