Entering Wyoming - “McMurtry’s Brokeback” Area - Salt River Pass and Hoback Junction

Travel Directions:
From I-80 take WY Exit 5, “Front Street / WY-89 N”
Follow WY-89, UT-16, UT-30, and WY-89 for 50.0 miles.
Turn Left (N) onto US-30; go 29.6 miles.
Bear Right (N) onto WY-89, ID-61; go 10.1 miles.
Turn Right (E) onto US-89; go 16 miles to the Salt River Pass overlook.
From here the area extends for approximately 45 miles along US-89.

Remarks:
Just where is Annie Proulx’s magical, mystery mountain? Larry McMurtry’s vast knowledge of western history and lore led him to conclude that it was in the picturesque Star Valley region near the Wyoming / Idaho border. [1] Here, verdant rolling hills and rugged mountains encircle tiny towns with names like Alpine, Etna, Afton, and Smoot. He has an excellent argument. Forest Service grazing allotments, Basque heritage, and large-scale sheep ranching are especially prominent elements in the life and times of this region.

Stop and enjoy the scenic Salt River Pass just south of Smoot. The Salt River Range [2] is visible to the east between Afton and Etna.

Brokeback’s elk was raised on a farm in Canada; its valuable antlers were carefully cultivated for the production of Chinese aphrodisiacs. By contrast, antlers from its Wyoming cousins, “thousands of ’em,” have been used locally to form exotic arches and monumental structures. Notable examples of “antler architecture” can be found in Afton and Jackson.

See:
http://www.greater-yellowstone.com/Swan-Valley/index.htm
http://www.jacksonholechamber.com/

Quotation:
“Larry has a different idea of where it is,” Lee said .... “He believes it’s an area just south of the Tetons, where there is actually more business for sheep herding ....” [1]

[1] “Where in Wyoming,” Chicago Tribune, Robert K. Elder, January 4, 2006, Tempo section, page 1.
[2] “Years on years they worked their way through the high meadows and mountain drainages ... Salt River Range, into the Wind Rivers over and again ....” Brokeback Mountain - Story to Screenplay by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Scribner) ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9416-4, page 17.

“McMurtry’s Brokeback” Area

Contributed photo

Contributed photo

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