The Rocky Mountains
USA

Award-winning Trek run the widest, most exciting range of low-cost, small group adventure tours of USA. e.g. Tour Discounts; Canyon Adventure; Yellowstone Mountain Trail; Best of the East

Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Rocky Mountains; photo by Matthias Kabel

The American Rocky Mountain states (the Rockies are also in Canada) of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana.

Colorado and New Mexico are on separate pages

Wyoming

With one of the best national parks in the USA, plus a mix of low prairies, snow peaked mountains, cowboys and Indians, this is a very worthy state for a tourist.

Yellowstone National Park: the USA's first and one of the most visited parks in America, and with good reason, it hosts a galloping mass of wildlife, spectacular geothermal activity, alpine lakes, fossil beds and 300 miles (500kms) of roads to cruise on as well as dozens of campsites, hotels and tourist watering holes.
Yellowstone is split into five regions:
Roosevelt Country has fossil beds, mountains and the Lamar Valley; this one offers a traveler the best chance of avoiding crowds amongst stunning scenery.
Canyon Country contains both the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and the highest peak, luscious Mt Washburn.
Lake Country features many alpine lakes, the most noteworthy being the massive Yellowstone Lake and its historic hotel.
Geyser Country has a couple of hundred geysers, Old Faithful being the most productive with spouts nearly two hundred feet high every hour and a quarter. Mammoth Country has extensive, weirdly coloured geothermal areas.

The Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Grand Teton National Park: seamlessly continuing from the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park, the glacier covered Teton Range of hard granite makes for excellent rock climbing, plus there are plenty of hiking trails.

Jackson Hole: dwarfed by the Teton mountains this valley is the most exclusive resort area in the state, with all manner of outdoor recreational possibilities including skiing, skating, sleigh riding, horse riding, cowboy stuff, rafting, and more.

Bighorn Mountains, halfway across the northern half of the state this range towers impressively over the plains, with plenty of wildlife grazing the high grasslands plus the early Native American Medicine Wheel Historic Landmark. Sheridan and Buffalo on the plains just to the east of the range both have 19thC historic wild west attractions.

Northeast Corner, in the northeastern part of the state there is the opportunity to eneter South Dakota's top tourist attraction - the Black Hills; also visit the neighbouring Bearlodge Mountains and the Devil Tower National Monument.

Laramie, a good historic district and museums including the University Art and Geological Museums and the Plains Museum - the best town for culture in the state.

Cheyenne, the state capital is best visited during the biggest festival- Cheyenne Frontier Days, with all sorts of wild west entertainments, especially rodeos.

Snake River rafting, Hells Canyon, Idaho

Idaho

On the rugged western side of the Rockies, Idaho is very much a wilderness state with lots of mountainous forests and wildlife plus the most whitewater in the USA, but watch out for wild men, survivalists and hunters lurking in the shrubbery.

Columbia Plateau: this vast plateau stretches mainly from the western mountains of Idaho into Oregon and offers dramatic scenery where the big river snakes through.
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is far deeper than the Grand Canyon and superb for hiking while the Snake National River is popular for water based activities including hairy white-water rafting. Snake River Valley has lava fields known as the Craters of the Moon.
Nearby Boise, the state capital, is pleasantly upbeat and as well as acting as a base for of adventure travel has attractive 19thC aspects - visit the Grove for social bustle and try the Idaho Historical Museum in Julia Davis Park.

Salmon River Mountain Range: the Sawtooth Recreation Area is the highlight of this range. Dozens of mountains with a multitude of lakes and streams, offer excellent hiking and rafting opportunities in the summer and superb skiing in the winter.

Ketchum is the most exclusive recreational area in the state and has one of the USA's top ski resorts nearby.
Northern Wilderness, a true wilderness popular with solitude seekers, hikers, skiers and watersports lovers.

Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana

Montana

Split between an interestingly mountainous western half and a featureless central plain the state offers few wow factors and there is little in the way of real urban interest, though it does have some unique natural attractions and is good for those seeking rugged empty wilderness trails.

Glacier National Park, the state's main attraction are these glaciated mountains traversed by the Going-to-the-Sun Road, good for a scenic drive, many hiking trails and skiing in wintertime.
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness are, as the names suggest, more wilderness areas.

Little Bighorn, the infamous battlefield of Custer's Last Stand lurks sadly in the otherwise attractionless eastern plains of the state.

Flathead Lake, popular for camping and canoeing and an island that's home for wild horses.