• SWOT includes Lincoln County in expanding outdoor group
Southwest Wyoming Off-road Trails (SWOT) will celebrate the 250th Anniversary for signing of the Declaration of Independence with a cross state OHV ride this summer.
Mark Tesoro, spokesman for SWOT and manager for Wyoming Outdoor Recreation office, said the ride will start from Evanston and include three stops and four days later arrive in Cheyenne for the Independence Day celebration.
“It’s the 250th ride across Wyoming,” he enthusiastically said of the July 1 to July 4 Semiquincentennial event. Rock Springs, Saratoga and Laramie will be overnight stops for the ride.
“We’ll help celebrate the 250th anniversary events that are going on at the capital that day,” Tesoro said of the final stop in Cheyenne.
“We’ll probably have about 75 people along for the ride and probably 50 vehicles, mostly OHVs (Off-Highway Vehicles),” he said of the four day celebration.
He noted the ride will also help establish a route for future cross-state events.
“There’s just so much to see in this part of the state, all the way across the lower part of the state,” he emphasized. “This could be something that we create for many future generations to come, to go out and ride on dirt basically, all the way across the state of Wyoming.”
Tesoro recalled the growth of SWOT in recent years, starting first with the Evanston community and then expanding to the neighboring counties.
“This has been a project over the years. When I first started, I thought it would be done in a year but we had a couple of bills that went through the Legislature to help,” he recalled. “Now we’re working with the state trails as our partner, and also with WYDOT.”
Tesoro said the objective was to proceed as a regional project. “It’s really a way to connect the communities through a series of motorized trails,” he explained. “It did start out primarily in southwest Wyoming, with Evanston, Bridger Valley and Kemmerer, but it’s really progressed now into Sweetwater County, and we’re looking to move it farther, to other counties as well.”
He noted additional meetings with Sublette, Fremont, Carbon, and Natrona counties in the past year where interest is growing for an off-road trails network.
Tesoro concluded, “So, really it’s a statewide movement to get people out on dirt roads across Wyoming.”
