Tensleep Wyoming

Tensleep Wyoming is one of my favorite Wyoming places. Not only does it have a great name but it sits in an amazing location in a Big Horn Mountain valley. 

Tensleep Canyon

So -  how did it get its name? According to a  prominent sign in downtown Tensleep, not sure it is there anymore, it was ten sleeps to Bridger Montana on Clarks Fork and ten sleeps to Casper Wyoming site of the old Sioux camp on the North Platte. (Indians of the time called it the Shell River).

Sleeps according to Indian time represented a day. A day when you sleep at the end. Ten days travel = ten sleeps

But now when I Google it, the answer I get is that Tensleep was ten sleeps to Fort Laramie and ten sleeps to Yellowstone. These two, very different, destinations are likely taken from a popular book by Mae Urbanek, Wyoming Place Names, published 1974. She was a through researcher and well know historian, not sure if she was correct, or the old time Tensleep sign. Something to think about on a rainy day.

So how far is ten sleeps today?

·        Casper 99 miles

·        Yellowstone 158 miles

·        Bridger Montana 113 miles

·        Fort Laramie WY 194 miles

All distances are as the crow flies measured from Beautiful Tensleep Wyoming.

Downtown Tensleep