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Home > Wyoming
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Wyoming
The State of Wyoming is a thinly inhabited state in the western region of the United States. The most of the state is dominated by rangelands and the mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost part of the state is a high altitude grassland area known as the High Plains. While the 9th largest U.S. state by area, Wyoming is the least inhabited with a United States. Census estimated residents of 522,830 in 2007. The most populous city and capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne.
Wyoming is surrounded on the south by Colorado, on the west by Idaho and Nebraska, on the southwest by Utah, on the north by Montana, and on the east by South Dakota. It is the 10th largest state in the United States in overall area, containing 253,348 km² (97,818 square miles) and is made up of 23 counties. Starting from the south border to the north border it is 444 km (276 miles); and from the west to the east border is 603 km (375 miles).
The Great Plains convene the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. The state is a immense plateau separated by several mountain ranges. Surface elevations vary from the peak of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 4,207 m (13,804 feet), to the Belle Fourche River Valley in the northeastern corner of the state, at 952 m (3,125 feet). In the northwest are the the Teton ranges, Wind River, Gros Ventre, Owl Creek and Absaroka. In the north central are the Big Horn Mountains; the Black Hills in the northeast; and in the southern region the Sierra Madre, Snowy and Laramie ranges.
The Snowy Range is an expansion of the Colorado Rockies in both appearance and geology. The Wind River Range is remote and includes over 40 mountain peaks more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) tall in addition to, the highest peak in the state, Gannett Peak. The Big Horn Mountains in the north central portion are to some extent isolated from the bulkiness of the Rocky Mountains.
The Teton Range in the northwest ranged for 80 km (50 miles) and symbolizes the most notable section of mountains in the state. It is home to Grand Teton National Park, which conserve the most attractive section of the Teton range, and to Grand Teton, the 2nd highest tip in Wyoming.
The Continental Divide extents north-south across the central part of the state. Rivers Divide in the east drain into the Missouri River Basin and in the end the Atlantic Ocean. They are the Yellowstone, Big Horn, Wind and the North Platte rivers. In northwest Wyoming, the Snake River in time drains into the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River, as does the Green River all the way through the Colorado River Basin.
The Continental Divide branches in the south central part of the state in an area recognized as the Great Divide Basin where the waters that precipitate or flow into this part stay there and cannot run to any ocean. Because of the aridity of Wyoming, the water in the Great Divide Basin basically sinks into the soil or disperses.
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