A massive granite turtle of a rock rising 50 metres out of the Sweetwater Valley about an hour southwest of Casper. Oregon Trail emigrants knew it as one of the critical landmarks on the route west — the place to be by July 4 if you wanted to clear the South Pass before snow.
Thousands of emigrants scratched and painted their names into the rock as they passed. Many are still legible; a short loop trail explains where to look. There's nothing else for miles in any direction — a stop here makes the loneliness of the original journey unusually vivid.