Where Fiction Meets the Real Wyoming

For nearly three decades, C.J. Box has invited readers into the wide open spaces of Wyoming through the eyes of game warden Joe Pickett. What began as a single novel has grown into one of the most successful Western crime series in modern publishing. More than 20 million copies have been sold worldwide, the books have been translated into 27 languages and the television adaptation, Joe Pickett. 

At the center of it all is Joe Pickett, a dedicated game warden whose jurisdiction stretches across mountains, sagebrush basins and isolated back roads. In nearly thirty novels, Joe has faced corrupt officials, violent criminals, environmental conflicts and the unpredictable force of nature itself. As a game warden, he occupies a uniquely Wyoming role. Wardens are often the first called when something goes wrong outdoors, whether it involves wildlife, ranchland or people who underestimate the vastness of the West. That responsibility places Joe at the crossroads of wilderness and community, where the landscape shapes every decision.

In Box’s newest novel, The Crossroads, Joe is found gravely injured in his pickup at the junction of three ranch roads, each leading to a different family with something to hide. As he fights for his life, his daughters step into the rugged terrain he has long protected, navigating the same remote country that has defined the series from the beginning.

Throughout every installment, one truth remains constant. The mountains, rivers, deserts and small towns of Wyoming are more than scenery. They are catalysts. They test resolve, reveal character and hold tightly to their secrets.

This road trip invites you to explore the real places that inspired the series and to experience the Wyoming that continues to shape one of the West’s most enduring literary heroes.

 

How to Use This Itinerary

Best Season: Late spring through fall
Ideal Trip Length: You choose. This itinerary is not a structured trip, but an inspiration for you to curate adventures that match your style. It could be a day trip or a two-week exploration. 
Trip Style: Scenic drives, light hiking, wildlife watching, small-town stops

 

Buffalo Tie Hack Reservoir

Sheridan, Story and Buffalo, The Heart of Joe’s Territory

Base: Sheridan, Story or Buffalo
Drive: Bighorn Scenic Byway, U.S. 14 and U.S. 16

At the base of the Bighorn Mountains, the communities of Sheridan, Story and Buffalo sit where ranchland meets rising forest. Clear streams wind through cottonwood groves. The mountains lift quickly from rolling foothills into pine-covered slopes and high alpine meadows.

This is the country that defines Joe Pickett’s world.

“When dawn breaks over the Bighorns, it breaks hard and fast and with cascades of bright sunlight gushing over the mountains like a broken dam.”
—  C.J. Box, Open Season

In the series, Joe lives and works out of the fictional town of Saddlestring. Many readers and longtime fans point to the small community of Story as part of the inspiration for that setting. Tucked against the mountains south of Sheridan, Story embodies the quiet, close-knit character that shapes the novels.

It is easy to imagine Joe’s pickup parked outside a modest home beneath towering pines or heading up a forest road at sunrise.

What to Experience

  • Drive the Bighorn Scenic Byway for sweeping alpine views

  • Explore downtown Sheridan’s Western heritage and historic Main Street

  • Visit the Occidental Hotel in Buffalo

  • Hike forest trails near Story

  • Watch for elk, mule deer and moose at first light

Sheridan offers art galleries, museums and authentic Western culture. Buffalo blends historic charm with access to mountain trails. Story provides a peaceful mountain backdrop where the forest begins just beyond the road.

Don’t Miss

Continue into the Bighorn Mountains for high-country lakes, waterfalls and expansive overlooks. The sense of scale and solitude here mirrors the responsibility Joe carries throughout the series. The landscape is generous, but it requires awareness and humility.

In this corner of Wyoming, the setting feels less like fiction and more like lived experience. The mountains stand constant, shaping both the stories on the page and the communities that call this place home.

 

Cody, Park County

Cody and the Bighorn Basin, Wide Horizons and Working Country

Base:  Cody
Drive: U.S. 14/16/20 through the Bighorn Basin

As the Bighorn Mountains give way to open basin country, the landscape shifts. Sagebrush stretches toward distant ridgelines. Irrigated fields trace green lines across the valley floor. The sky feels bigger here.

This is the gateway to the northwest and a landscape that appears throughout the Joe Pickett series when cases pull Joe beyond his home base.

Cody anchors the Bighorn Basin with deep Western roots and a strong sense of place. Founded by Buffalo Bill Cody, the town reflects the independent spirit that runs through the novels. Ranching, outdoor recreation and public lands define daily life.

It is the kind of country where a truck kicks up dust along a county road and distant mountains serve as constant reference points.

What to Experience

The basin offers its own quiet beauty. Sunsets linger. Wind moves steadily across open ground. Long stretches of highway encourage reflection.

Don’t Miss

Head north to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, where towering cliffs rise above deep blue water. Scenic drives and overlooks reveal dramatic views carved by the Bighorn River over thousands of years. Nearby, keep an eye on the surrounding range for Wyoming’s iconic wild horses, which roam freely across portions of the Pryor Mountain landscape.

This stretch of country captures the scale and freedom that define much of the Joe Pickett series. Vast, rugged and quietly powerful, it reminds visitors that in Wyoming, the landscape is always part of the story.

 

Wind River Range

Wind River Country, Where Sagebrush Meets Sky

Base: Dubois, Riverton or Thermopolis
Drive: Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway, U.S. 20 and U.S. 26

South of the Bighorn Basin, the terrain opens into broad sagebrush country framed by distant mountain ranges. Rivers cut through stone canyon walls. Cottonwoods line the water’s edge. The wind rarely stands still.

Wind River Country carries a powerful presence in the Joe Pickett series. The landscape feels expansive, layered and deeply rooted in history.

Here, the rhythm of life is shaped by wide horizons and long distances. Ranches stretch across open ground. Mountain peaks rise in the distance. Communities remain closely connected to both land and tradition.

Dubois sits beneath the Absaroka Range with wooden boardwalks and Western storefronts. Riverton anchors the region along the Wind River. Thermopolis offers mineral hot springs that have drawn visitors for generations.

What to Experience

The scenery here shifts subtly throughout the day. Morning light softens the sage. Afternoon shadows stretch across the basin. Evenings settle into wide, quiet skies.

Don’t Miss

Spend time in Lander, a welcoming mountain town at the edge of the Wind River Range. From downtown, it is just minutes to Sinks Canyon State Park, where the Popo Agie River disappears underground into a limestone cavern before reemerging downstream in a deep pool known as The Rise. Hiking trails climb above the canyon for sweeping views, and wildlife sightings are common along the river corridor.

In this part of Wyoming, geology, water and open land come together in ways that feel timeless. It is the kind of setting that reinforces a central truth in the Joe Pickett series: the land holds its own stories, and it never stops shaping the people who move through it.

 

Hotel Wolf Hotel

The Red Desert and Carbon County, Vast and Unfiltered

Base: Rawlins or Saratoga
Drive: Wyoming Highway 789, Battle Pass Scenic Byway

As you travel south and east, the landscape shifts again. Forested peaks give way to rolling sagebrush, distant buttes and open sky that seems to stretch without end. The Red Desert is one of Wyoming’s most expansive and least crowded regions, a place where silence becomes part of the experience.

This terrain plays an important role in several Joe Pickett novels, where remoteness adds tension and the land itself shapes the outcome of events.

Carbon County blends stark beauty with rich history. Rawlins stands as a longtime crossroads community, where rail lines and highways converge. To the south, the Sierra Madre Mountains rise above the basin, offering forested contrast to the open desert below.

The scale here is unmistakable. Roads run straight for miles. Weather moves in visibly from a distance. The light shifts constantly across sage and stone.

What to Experience

In Saratoga, warm mineral waters provide a quiet place to pause before continuing across wide country. The town reflects the welcoming, unpretentious character found throughout Wyoming’s smaller communities.

Don’t Miss

Plan an overnight stay at The Historic Hotel Wolf in Saratoga, a landmark property with deep Wyoming roots. C.J. Box has been known to write here, drawing inspiration from the quiet rhythm of southern Wyoming and the wide-open country that surrounds it.

The hotel even features a dedicated Joe Pickett Room, offering fans a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the setting that has shaped nearly three decades of storytelling. After a day exploring the Red Desert or driving over Battle Pass, settle in beneath historic beams and brick walls that have welcomed travelers for generations.

It is a fitting stop in Carbon County, where literary inspiration meets authentic Wyoming hospitality.

 

Fremont Lake

Pinedale, Big Piney and the Green River Valley, Working Land Beneath High Peaks

Base: Pinedale or Big Piney
Drive: U.S. 191 and the Wyoming Range Scenic Byway

As the journey turns west, the land begins to rise again. The Green River Valley stretches wide and green against a backdrop of mountain ranges. The Wind River Range dominates the horizon to the east, while the Wyoming Range forms a rugged wall to the west.

This region plays a role in Battle Mountain, where the tension between old traditions and modern pressures unfolds against a distinctly Wyoming backdrop.

“Nature is a powerful narcotic, boys. Once you step into it and accept how beautiful and cruel it is, you want to stay there.”
― C.J. Box, Off the Grid

Pinedale sits at the edge of high country adventure, where alpine lakes and trailheads are just minutes from town. Big Piney anchors a valley defined by ranching, energy development and strong community ties. It is a place where livelihoods remain closely tied to the land.

Here, the scale of Wyoming feels both intimate and immense. Snow lingers on peaks well into summer. Rivers run cold and clear. Pronghorn move across the open pasture beneath the endless sky.

What to Experience

  • Visit Fremont Lake near Pinedale

  • Drive the Wyoming Range Scenic Byway for mountain vistas

  • Explore local museums that highlight ranching and mountain man history

  • Watch for pronghorn and mule deer across the valley floor

The air feels crisp at elevation. Mornings arrive quietly, often with a layer of mist along the river. Evenings settle into long twilight beneath wide skies.

Don’t Miss

Visit the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale to explore the fur trade era and the rugged individuals who once traversed these same valleys. The exhibits provide context for the independence and resilience that continue to shape the region.

The stories of those mountain men echo the independence and resilience that run through the Joe Pickett series. In many ways, Joe’s work across Wyoming’s remote country reflects that same enduring connection between people and place.

 

Wyoming State Capitol Building

Cheyenne and Laramie, Where the West Meets the Capitol

Base: Cheyenne or Laramie
Drive: Interstate 80 and Happy Jack Road

As the journey turns southeast, Wyoming’s capital city and its neighboring college town offer a different but equally important layer of the Joe Pickett landscape. Here, government decisions, policy debates and shifting priorities intersect with the rural and wild spaces that define the rest of the state.

Cheyenne and Laramie appear in multiple novels, including Blood Trail, Battle Mountain and Three-Inch Teeth, where tensions often move from the backcountry into boardrooms, courtrooms and state offices.

In this region, the wide-open land still stretches beyond town limits, but the conversations shift. The challenges facing wildlife, ranching and public lands often begin here before echoing across the rest of the state.

What to Experience

Cheyenne blends Western heritage with civic life. Laramie adds youthful energy and historic architecture. Together, they show another dimension of Wyoming’s character, where policy and tradition meet under the same expansive sky.

Don’t Miss

Take the scenic drive over Happy Jack Road between Cheyenne and Laramie. Pine forests, granite outcroppings and quiet pullouts offer sweeping views back across the plains. It is a reminder that even here, close to government buildings and university halls, the land remains central.

In the Joe Pickett series, conflicts often move between remote landscapes and the halls of power. Visiting Cheyenne and Laramie completes the picture, revealing how Wyoming’s decisions and its wide-open spaces remain closely connected.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About C.J. Box and the Joe Pickett Series

Is Joe Pickett based on a real person in Wyoming?

Joe Pickett is a fictional Wyoming game warden created by New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box. While Joe is not based on one specific real person, his role reflects the real duties of Wyoming game wardens, who enforce wildlife laws, respond to outdoor emergencies and patrol vast public lands. The landscapes and law enforcement challenges portrayed in the series are rooted in real Wyoming terrain and outdoor culture.

Is Saddlestring, Wyoming a real town?

No, Saddlestring is a fictional town in the Joe Pickett book series. However, it is widely believed to be inspired by small communities in northern Wyoming near Sheridan, Story and the Bighorn Mountains. Visitors exploring this region can experience the type of close-knit mountain town that inspired the setting of the novels.

Where do the Joe Pickett books take place in Wyoming?

The Joe Pickett series takes place across real Wyoming locations, including the Bighorn Mountains, Wind River Country, the Red Desert, Devils Tower, Jackson Hole and communities throughout the state. While some towns are fictional, the geography, landscapes and outdoor settings are authentically Wyoming and reflect the state’s mountains, sagebrush basins and working ranchlands.

How many Joe Pickett books are there and what is the newest one?

There are 26 books in the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box, with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide. The newest novel, The Crossroads, continues Joe’s story in the rugged Wyoming landscape that defines the series. The books have also inspired two television adaptations, Big Sky and Joe Pickett.

Where do the Joe Pickett novels take place in Wyoming? 

Story: The fictional location of Saddlestring used in most of the novels.

Bighorn Mountains:  Used in most of the novels; Joe’s district.

Saratoga:  The Disappeared, Battle Mountain

Wind River Indian Reservation:  Blood Trail, Cold Wind, Force of Nature, Nowhere to Run

Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins:  Blood Trail, Vicious Circle, Lond Range, In Plain Sight, Endangered, Three-Inch Teeth

Wyoming Women’s Center in Lusk: Vicious Circle

Encampment: Below Zero, Off The Grid, The Disappeared

Yellowstone National Park: Free Fire

Burgess Junction: Free Fire

Cody: Free Fire, Out of Range

Jackson Hole: Out of Range, Nowhere to Run, Cold Wind, Force of Nature, Vicious Circle

Grand Teton National Park: Out of Range

Cheyenne: Blood Trail, Battle Mountain, Below Zero, Cold Wind

Baggs: Below Zero,

Jeffrey City: Three-Inch Teeth

Laramie: Three-Inch Teeth, Off The Grid,

Kaycee:  Too many mentions to list.  Joe and Nate always salute Chris Ledoux as they pass by.

Chugwater: Below Zero,

Rawlins: Below Zero,

Savageton: Below Zero

Gillette: Below Zero, Shadows Reel

Moorcroft: Below Zero

Hulett: Below Zero

Devils Tower National Monument: Below Zero

Torrington: Below Zero

Dixon, Savery: Nowhere to Run,

Battle Pass: Nowhere to Run,

Sierra Madre Mountains: Nowhere to Run

Hole In The Wall Canyon: Appears in many of the books.  It’s where Nate Romanowski likes to hang out.

Afton: Cold Wind

Freedom: Cold Wind

Farson: Cold Wind

Glendo: Cold Wind

Laramie: Three-Inch Teeth, Off The Grid

Hanna: Three-Inch Teeth

Dubois: Force of Nature

Casper: Force of Nature

Crowheart: Force of Nature

Riverton: Force of Nature

The Red Desert: Off the Grid

Wamsutter: Off The Grid

Powell: Vicious Circle

Medicine Bow: The Disappeared, In Plain Sight

Thermopolis: Savage Run, Three-Inch Teeth

Pinedale: Battle Mountain

Big Piney: Battle Mountain

Sundance: Stone Cold