Lander, WY

Lander's nicest dinner, in a restored century-old brick building, doing hand-cut steaks, local grass-fed burgers, scallops, and risotto. The beer is brewed next door by Lander Brewing Co, so the pairing is about as local as it gets in Wyoming.

The casual half of the Coalter Block, known for big burgers and sourdough-crust pizza, with a sprawling beer garden that becomes climber central in summer. It is the default group spot when you come down dusty from the canyon.

A breakfast-and-lunch spot where nearly everything, down to the coffee, is locally sourced, doing elevated egg plates, sandwiches, and baked goods. It is the sit-down weekend brunch in town, a notch above the diner options.

An old-school Lander favorite for hearty plates: meatloaf, pot roast, bison burgers, a salad bar, and cowboy paintings on the walls. It is comfort food with zero pretension, the kind of place locals have been going to for years.

A genuine Italian kitchen on Main Street doing house-made pasta, chef's specials, and a wine and cocktail list that is unexpectedly deep for a small Wyoming town. It is the date-night alternative to a steakhouse.

The town's go-to Mexican spot on Main Street, doing the familiar enchilada-and-margarita lineup at fair prices with quick, friendly service. Nothing fancy, just the reliable Mexican plate locals reach for on a weeknight.

A from-scratch bakery and coffee shop on Main Street pouring Wyoming-roasted organic coffee and turning out hand-rolled bagels, cinnamon rolls in rotating flavors, and a pastry case that sells through by midday. The grandmother's-recipe coffee cake has a following.

An artisan sourdough bakery doing slow-fermented breads and proper French-style pastries, with a full breakfast-and-lunch cafe and a wine bar with local beers and cocktails at night. It pulls double duty as both your morning croissant and your evening glass of wine.

A no-frills American diner attached to a motel on the west end of Main, open all day for big breakfasts, prime rib, and pancakes the size of the plate. It is the reliable, unpretentious, open-late-ish fallback when other kitchens have closed.

A locally owned coffee bar on Main doing espresso drinks and light bites, the daily caffeine stop for the climber and NOLS crowd. It is the laptop-and-latte spot to fuel up before a day in the canyon.

The signature Lander hike: a roughly 3.5-mile out-and-back from the top of Sinks Canyon up to a series of cascades, the tallest dropping about sixty feet. In late summer there is a natural rock waterslide near the falls that locals ride into the pools below.

The longer continuation up the Middle Fork drainage above the falls, climbing into the southern Wind River backcountry along the river. This is the one for people who want to keep going past the day-hiker turnaround and feel like they are actually in the range.

A short, easy interpretive loop near the Sinks visitor center that follows the river through the spot where it disappears underground. It is the low-effort walk that explains the canyon's geology, good for anyone not up for the falls climb.

A high limestone climbing area about twenty-four miles southwest of town at 9,000 feet, with hundreds of pocketed sport routes and the wildflowers that give it its name. Even non-climbers come for the meadow walks and the cool-summer escape from the valley heat.

The cluster of trailheads at the upper end of the canyon where the falls hike, river trails, and climbing approaches all start. Even a short wander from here puts you on the canyon floor among the limestone walls climbers come from around the world to clip.

A moderate hike and mountain-bike route in the hills near Lander that climbs through sagebrush and rock to open ridge views over the valley and toward the Wind Rivers. It is the close-to-town option when you do not want to drive up the canyon.

An open-air museum that is really a small village of relocated historic buildings, a cabin, schoolhouse, and trading post, plus indoor galleries of Western art and Native American artifacts. It is the rainy-day-and-history anchor in town, walkable in an unhurried couple of hours.

Lander's award-winning brewery, part of the Coalter Block, pouring pints on a laid-back patio with beers that have placed at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. It is the after-adventure beer that the whole climbing town gravitates to.

An AMGA-certified local guiding outfit running private rock-climbing days and instruction at Sinks Canyon, Wild Iris, and Sweetwater Rocks, plus bigger Gannett Peak expeditions. It is the way a visitor with no gear or no experience still gets onto Lander's world-class limestone.

The longtime independent gear shop on Main Street, named for the crag, stocking climbing, hiking, and ski gear and serving as the unofficial information desk for conditions in the canyon and up at Wild Iris. Stop in for beta before you head out.

The historic saloon anchoring the Coalter Block, all old wood and local crowd, where the brewery's beer, the Gannett Grill kitchen, and live music in summer all converge. It is the most reliable place in town to end the night.

The Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River vanishes into a limestone cave called the Sinks, then resurfaces a quarter mile downstream in a calm pool, the Rise, packed with oversized trout you can feed. The canyon itself is the spine of Lander's outdoors: climbing, fishing, and trailheads all branch off the one road in.

A quiet hillside burial ground on the Wind River Reservation at Fort Washakie, with a statue of Sacajawea at the top marking the gravesite local Shoshone tradition holds as hers. The headstones show the blend of Eastern Shoshone and Christian traditions, and the setting under the mountains is the reason to come.

A small Fort Washakie museum run by the Eastern Shoshone, with artifacts, historic photographs, treaty documents, and a case of locally made beadwork that is for sale. It is the most direct way for a visitor to learn the Reservation's history from the people whose story it is.

A big shaded park along the Popo Agie right in town, with the river running through it, free tent camping for a few nights, and the open lawns that turn into the main stage for the summer climbing festival. It is where locals walk dogs and where road-trippers pull in to wash off.

A weathered 1880s mission and former Shoshone girls' boarding school on land Chief Washakie gave to Reverend John Roberts, now a cluster of historic log and frame buildings on the Reservation. It is a stark, quiet stop that tells a complicated piece of Wind River history.