The Bighorn National Forest is located in northcentral Wyoming and contains over 1.1 million acres. This forest was created as a US Forest Reserve in 1897 and is one of the oldest government-protected forest lands in the U.S.

Elevations range from 5,000 feet (1,500 m) along the sagebrush and grass-covered lowlands at the foot of the mountains, up to 13,189 feet (4,020 m) at the summit of Cloud Peak, the highest point in the Bighorn Mountains.

Around 99% of the forest land is above the elevation of 4,900 feet (1,500 metres).

The forest is named after the Bighorn River, which is partially fed by streams found in the forest. Streams in the range are fed primarily by snowmelt and snowmelt mixed with driving rainfall.

There are three primary highways that cross Bighorn National Forest, which highways are: (1) US 14, (2) Alternate US 14 and (3)US 16.

All three US highways can be accessed from IH 90 from the east side of the national forest lands. US 14 and Alternate US 14 can be accessed from IH 90, exit 9 at Ranchester, Wyoming and US 16 can be accessed from IH 90, exit 58 at Buffalo, Wyoming.

The forest is located is east of the continental divide and extends from the Montana border for a distance of 80 miles along the crest of the Bighorn Mountains, an outlying mountain range of the Middle Rockies Ecosystem, separated from the rest of the Rocky Mountains by the Bighorn Basin section of the Wyoming Basin Ecoregion.

Awake early, start the jammer engine, drive out of the d-mart parking lot, north on SH 59 to the interstate highway and then left on IH 90 during which time I cross both the Powder River and the Crazy Woman Creek and continue west through the remainder of what I will cross of the Northwest Great Plains until I arrive in Buffalo, Wyoming.

In Buffalo, Wyoming, I exit IH 90, stop for some coffee and an egg wrap. Then, I drive out of Buffalo west on US 16 which also is the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway over Powder River Pass at 9666 feet in elevation and also puts me back into the Middle Rockies ecoregion of the Rocky Mountains Region.

At first, land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and there are several turn outs for BLM sites.