Red Desert
Wyoming’s high sagebrush desert, where the Continental Divide splits
In south-central Wyoming, the Continental Divide splits in two and encloses a basin from which no water reaches any ocean, and around it spreads the Red Desert, about 9,320 square miles (24,100 km²) of sagebrush, badlands and dunes. The enclosed Great Divide Basin sits at its heart. The Killpecker Sand Dunes, covering about 109,000 acres, form the largest living dune system in the United States, and eroded formations such as Adobe Town and the volcanic plug of Boar's Tusk rise from the flats. The Oregon, California and Mormon trails skirted its northern edge at South Pass.
Wildlife makes the Red Desert extraordinary. It supports what is described as the world's largest desert elk herd, 40,000 to 50,000 pronghorn and free-roaming wild horses. In 2014, researchers reported that mule deer from the Red Desert migrate about 150 miles (240 km) north to the Hoback Basin near Jackson, the longest mule deer migration then documented in the lower 48. Native peoples left petroglyphs at sites such as Boar's Tusk. Much of the desert is federal land, and debates over energy leasing and conservation continue.