Bridger Pass is a mountain pass in

Carbon County, Wyoming Carbon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 14,537. Its county seat is Rawlins. Its south border abuts the north line of Colorado. History Carbon County was organized in 18 ...

on the

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

near the south

Great Divide Basin The Great Divide Basin or Great Divide Closed Basin is an area of land in the Red Desert (Wyoming), Red Desert of Wyoming where none of the water falling as rain to the ground drains into any ocean, directly or indirectly. It is thus an endorheic ...

bifurcation point, i.e., the point at which the divide appears to split and envelop the basin. The first documented crossing of Bridger Pass was by the Stansbury Expedition, returning east from an expedition to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and guided by

Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...

. A decade later the pass was in regular use by travelers on the Overland Trail and the associated stage line, these having been established along the route described by Stansbury and known since that time as the Cherokee Trail. To support the stage line, the Bridger Stage Station was established near the pass. The Overland Trail was used steadily between 1860 and 1869 until the First transcontinental railroad made the stage line obsolete. In modern times, the official route of the

Continental Divide Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail (CDT)) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico ...

uses Bridger Pass Road to navigate the Great Divide Basin between Battle Pass on

Wyoming Highway 70 Wyoming Highway 70 (WYO 70) is a state highway in southern Wyoming. The route travels from an intersection with WYO 789 in Baggs eastward to WYO 230 in Riverside. WYO 70 over Battle Pass is closed during winter (November to April). The sect ...

and Rawlins, Wyoming. A challenge to hikers is the lack of potable water along this section due to the brackish nature (salinity) of water in the basin.Wyoming's Continental Divide Trail by Lora Davis - 2000

References

External links

Bridger's Pass
at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office * {{Authority control Landforms of Carbon County, Wyoming Mountain passes of Wyoming Transportation in Carbon County, Wyoming National Register of Historic Places in Carbon County, Wyoming