The Back Forty: Exploring Riverton, WY

This fall, we head to Riverton, Wyoming—a hidden gem in the heart of the state. Ranch broker Eric Anderson joins Haley to explore Riverton’s deep history, strong agricultural roots, and growing sense of opportunity. From its connection to the Wind River tribes to its vibrant outdoor recreation and community spirit, Riverton stands out as both a great place to visit and a smart place to invest.

Topics

[0:00] Introduction: Welcome to Riverton!

[1:11] Riverton: The Basics

[2:30] History of Riverton

[4:33] What makes Riverton unique?

[8:25] Recreation in Riverton

[11:34] Best time of year to visit

[13:43] Living in Riverton

[14:56] Mirr Properties in Riverton

[16:30] Diverse and rich opportunities

[19:00] Riverton’s hidden gems

Haley (00:06):

Welcome back to the Land Bulletin podcast, where every other week we bring you experts in the field to impart their knowledge when it comes to the ranch and sporting property market, buying and selling advice, the latest, best stewardship practices, as well as topics that impact landowners every day. I’m your host, Haley Mirr. Let’s jump in. 

Well, welcome back to the Land Bulletin podcast in our series, the Back 40 where we look at some of the West’s kind of areas that you might not know a lot about, but a lot of our brokers do and some places where you might want to invest just based on the conversations we have on this show. So today we’re actually going to be looking in a very centralized town up in Wyoming called Riverton. It’s a town that I’ve actually never been to, but we have a new listing coming up there. So we thought it’d be a great time to kind of introduce ourselves to it and helping me out today is Ranch Broker Erik Anderson. He’s one of the lead brokers on that listing, and so he decided to come on the show and teach us a little bit more about Riverton. So welcome on the show, Eric.

Erik Anderson (01:09):

Hi Haley. Thanks for having me today.

Haley (01:13):

Well, we kind of go into a lot of the specifics, but for those like myself who’ve never really heard of Riverton until we decided to record this, how would you describe it when compared to maybe some other towns in Wyoming that people are more familiar with?

Erik Anderson (01:28):

Yeah, Riverton is a very central town in Wyoming. It’s central to Wyoming, it’s central to Fremont County. It’s the largest town in Fremont County. Kind of sits at the confluence of the big and the little wind rivers, and it’s cool. I mean there’s a lot of history there. It was founded in 1906 as it was seeded from the Wind River Indian Reservation. It’s kind of developed into an agricultural economic hub of the county. It’s known for cattle, horses, alfalfa, and sugar beets, which we’ll talk about a little bit later. And then it also is honed to Central Wyoming College and so they have education there, performing arts and bring a lot of cultural awareness to other places of Wyoming. And then it also obviously maintains a close connection to the tribes of Eastern Shoshone and the northern Arapaho Tris that occupy the Wind River Indian reservation.

Haley (02:34):

Awesome. And since we’re talking about history and some of the Native American tribes that are out there, can you share a bit more about the history of this region and how it’s been used by locals over time?

Erik Anderson (02:46):

Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of history, and I’m not going to pretend to be an absolute expert here, but it was home to the 1830 and 1838 Rendezvous, which was a fur trading area with men, and I’m going to make sure I get all these names right. Jim Bridger, kit Carson Jedi Smith, who gathered to trade and celebrate we’re talking about hundreds of trappers traders Native Americans and missionaries coming to the confluence of the big and the little wind rivers and trading for days and weeks at a time. And so this was really the confluence to use a river term, but also a mecca of really different cultures coming together and providing materials and supplies that you needed in the mid 18 hundreds.

Haley (03:40):

Wow. I can imagine just kind of sitting there during that time seeing all of this happen. And do you think it kind of naturally became a good place for trade just based on its location and kind of the confluence of those two rivers? Are there a lot of mountains near it to make it hard to get to or is it a pretty accessible area?

Erik Anderson (04:00):

No doubt. It’s on the southern end of the Bighorn Basin. It’s kind of just almost, Lander is actually at the southern end of the Wind River range. Some people know it as the home of Knolls, and so River tune’s about 45 minutes from that. And so it really is pretty central in between mountain ranges, but also it starts to flatten out into the large basin going east. And so it provides easy access from people coming from the East.

Haley (04:36):

And besides location, what makes Riverton unique to you? What makes it kind of different than some of the other towns that we might be looking at when we’re looking at ranches in Wyoming?

Erik Anderson (04:49):

I think it’s the balance of agricultural recreation with this strong sense of history and close ties to the tribes that represent the Wind River Indian Reservation. I think there’s a strong cultural element there that make it very unique to other places in Wyoming. And I think that the spirit of Riverton is still there from the older days from, gosh, I guess almost 200 years ago to now where there’s an opportunity zone in town, they’re growing with new businesses. There’s a new hospital that’s going to be employing 140 or so healthcare professionals and representing and intaking about 22,000 local community folks. And so that support I think is still there. I think the spirit is still there from 200 years ago when it was just beginning and really there as a meeting place from a geographic and top graphical perspective. And now it represents that same spirit.

Haley (06:09):

We’ve talked about the town itself and now I’d like to kind of look outward. What are some of the areas around Riverton that make it unique and some of the experiences you might run into when looking at those areas?

Erik Anderson (06:22):

So let’s talk about Boys and reservoir because that’s certainly a unique place for boating enthusiasts, whether people are water skiing or tubing or just playing out on the reservoir itself. The Wind River is kind of a mecca for fishing. There is a state section right below Bo Reservoir as the Wind River comes out that is public, and then it goes into the Wind River Indian Reservation. That canyon requires an additional permit through the reservation to be able to wade fish that area. There are no DIY boating privileges there through the canyon. There is one commercial operation that is allowed to fish and raft through that section, but it’s really neat. And then that flows into the wedding of the waters, which is the beginning of the Bighorn River, which of course then flows north into the Yellowstone in Montana and then east and makes its way into the Missouri and Mississippi. But that’s a really incredible fishery at the wedding of the waters through the town of Thermopolis. Then it continues north, but that’s certainly incredible with a Harbo hard bottom drift boat and a couple of good fishermen. And then last but not least, there’s the Riverton Rendezvous Balloon Festival and Rally, which happens every July. So that’s happened this year between July 18th and 20th, and about 25 or 30 balloons go up from the college’s soccer field. So people gather around and see that for a couple of days, which is a lot fun.

Haley (08:14):

That’s so cool. So it sounds like there’s just a lot going on and maybe the fact that it’s a college town makes it even more dynamic than maybe some other towns that we talk about on this podcast. So it sounds like a neat place to be. What are some of the popular activities that you can do in the area? I know you talked about some of the features, but what are some of the activities that kind of happen around Riverton?

Erik Anderson (08:38):

I’m going to take one kind of angle on this question, and I think it’s, I’m going to take just a hiking exploring of the wilderness from Riverton because the access is so close and unbelievable. And I’ll even stretch because I’ve been talking about doing a particular hike with my college friends, I think since my junior year, which I’m not going to date myself, but that’s quite a long time ago. But there is a hundred mile loop in the Wind River range, and it’s designated as technical, and people do it between five, which is very aggressive to seven to 10 days, depending on time constraints for people. But I mean, there’s glaciers, Boulder travel, scree fields, peaks, valleys, lakes. It’s pretty cool. And then of course the Cir loop is very popular. That is in the wind, rivers, theirs. And GT Peak, of course, is the tallest peak in Wyoming, and that’s in the Wind Rivers, and that’s, I believe over 13,800 feet. And so it’s just a really spectacular area. And then you have the Shoshone National Forest, which is 2.4 million acres or so, the Fitzpatrick Wilderness. And so there’s just some really great areas including Bridger Wilderness that’s close by. And so you could pick whatever you like to do, whether that’s ATVing or rock climbing, camping, alpine fishing in creeks or in lakes, just hiking. So there’s millions of acres to explore right close to Riverton. It’s pretty cool.

Haley (10:27):

I have faith that you will make that backpack trip happen. So while you still

Erik Anderson (10:32):

Can, I hope so.

Haley (10:35):

That sounds fun. I’ve always experienced the wind rivers kind of on the Pinedale side, so it’s neat to hear that a lot of that exists kind of on that eastern side of the wind rivers as well,

Erik Anderson (10:46):

And people do the whole loop from Riverton and then over to the more Western side like you’re alluding to on the Pinedale side and back. And so there’s just a ton to offer up there.

Haley (10:57):

Are there a lot of outfitters and things like that in Riverton that you can, if you, let’s say you’re a novice and you’re trying to figure out how to do some of those things, do they have some of those outdoor stores and Outfitters in Riverton?

Erik Anderson (11:12):

No doubt, Cafaro, which is a lesser known outdoor brand, just moved to Riverton as part of the opportunity zone there. And so you’re seeing a lot of economic growth around the outdoors come into Riverton. I think it’s only poised to continue to grow, and it’s a wonderful place to be.

Haley (11:38):

In your opinion, what is the best time to visit Riverton? I know Wyoming can be a non forgiving place, so sometimes it’s good to know the best time to visit. So what is your favorite time to Riverton?

Erik Anderson (11:54):

Well, as the irrigation season comes to close and folks are harvesting crops, the leaves are changing, the wildlife seems to come out a little bit more. The evenings cool down. I just have to say it’s incredible. In September and October, that’s got to be my favorite time of year up there. The colors along the rivers there and up into the wilderness areas. It’s absolutely magical.

Haley (12:24):

And since we’re ranch brokers, it would behoove us to probably talk about the investment potential of an area like this. For someone looking at buying land for a ranch nearby, what are some of the biggest draws for a landowner being close to Riverton in your opinion?

Erik Anderson (12:39):

I think it’s the value of the productive cultivated land. I mean, there’s no doubt as we look at values across Wyoming, this seems to be a very economic place to invest with long-term growth with some economic cycles, we think that are certainly in and ahead of Riverton at this point. It’s nice that there’s an airport in town. It is the central Wyoming regional airport. And so for example, there is a flight into Riverton and out of Riverton into Denver on United every single day in addition to some other flights. And so that’s a big coup for Riverton and Fremont County. And then also the access to all the agricultural needs. And so whether those are supplies, materials, the dealerships, the community of experts, but since it’s an ag area, there’s certainly everything that you need in terms of parts and everything else that can go wrong, or while farming and ranching are right there, intel.

Haley (13:47):

And what are some of the more practical or even just fun benefits of living out there beyond kind of the investment side

Erik Anderson (13:55):

In addition to the farming and ranching and the day-to-day that’s that’s available entered around Riverton, Fremont County? I have to say just the access to other areas of Wyoming. So central, I mean, you’re talking about two hours west of Casper, two and a half hours up to Grand Teton National Park in Yellowstone, three hours of Jackson Hole to go skiing, two hours to Cody, three hours of Laramie and four hours to either Sheridan or down to Cheyenne. And so I think just being central, it certainly provides a lot of access to other areas. And you do see a lot of traffic actually through Riverton in the summer months as people travel a lot of RVs and family road trips going through Riverton, then through Du Bois and down through Moose and into Jackson. So it’s certainly a great place to be and very active in the summer.

Haley (14:59):

And can you talk about, I know you’re excited about bringing on one of our newest listings. It’ll be live by the time that we have this go out, but can you talk about more ranch group’s newest listing in the Riverton area?

Erik Anderson (15:11):

Yeah, we have a new listing in Riverton. It borders the city limits called Fremont Valley Farm. It’s a beautiful 230 deeded acre farm with right now corn and sugar beets historically has had some alfalfa as well. It has a couple of two different homes plus a 16,000 square foot equestrian facility with an arena apartment upstairs made for anyone in town or a horse manager. It is absolutely laid out for a boarding facility. And so it lends itself to a productive, diversified and certainly in town. And so we see it as a great opportunity with a great price point where there’s not very many opportunities like this, frankly, in a lot of areas in Wyoming to be centrally located with an airport just a few minutes away and all of the access to all the agricultural needs. So yeah, it’s going to be a good one. And we’re already kind of getting some good response from the market in terms of the price point, the value, and how diverse it is for being kind of right in town.

Haley (16:35):

In your opinion, with a listing like this and what Riverton has to offer, what type of buyer would be looking at something like this? Who would be kind of a good candidate for an investment like Fremont?

Erik Anderson (16:47):

Yeah, it’s a great question because we’re getting some interesting feedback and it’s really varied, and frankly, we’re super pleasantly surprised, I should say, by the wildlife that’s showing up on trail cameras right now too. So we’re seeing the white-tailed deer that we expect. We hear pheasants out there, although we cannot get them on camera yet, but we will eventually. But we’re here in pheasants every time we’re out there. And then just lately we’ve got a cow moose that is wandering out of the riparian area and into the cord right now and into the grasses there on the farm. With all that being said, I think that the current owner has been a successful businessman and family there in Riverton, and they used it really as a kind of an ongoing concern, and they were really hands-on for the first about 20 years that they owned it in the last 10 or 15 years.

(17:51):

They’ve leased out the majority of it. And so we’ve seen how it can be successful with kind of an owner operator, producer. Certainly somebody could be living on the land with the multiple living areas, but then also somebody who’s a weekend user, maybe some of it’s leased out, some of it’s not. And then going all the way to the other end where somebody is kind of an absentee owner, investor with the home’s leased, got a boarding facility on an up and running with a manager and then having a farming tenant in place. And so there’s kind of a lot of different ways and opportunities here. I thought it would be fun, maybe an upland bird game kind of farm. You could do something like that there. But there’s a lot of paths of ownership here and ultimately some exit strategies as well, given that Riverton is only going to grow.

Haley (18:49):

That’s amazing. Well, it sounds like a really neat place to visit, and I know our assistant of our marketing team is actually doing a road trip, so we’ll have to have her stop through Riverton to kind of see what that’s looking like. And that brings up kind of what we’ve been liking to do on this podcast, and it’s a selfish request by myself and our producer, but we are trying to get any local hidden gems, restaurants, cafes to help and stop and support on these road trips that we all go on, even if you’re not becoming a ranch owner, but you appreciate the West, it’s good to support these guys. So would love to know some of your favorite haunts when you’re in the Riverton area so that we can stop through there too.

Erik Anderson (19:37):

Well, I always like trying food Hailey, as you know, so

Haley (19:42):

Me too.

Erik Anderson (19:44):

So the first one I would say is the Depot right in town has great Mexican food, really like the enchiladas there. So FARs bar and Steakhouse, which is 15 minutes south in Hudson, it’s got great steak and everything you would imagine from a small town steakhouse. And then back in Riverton is the roasted bean and cuisine. It’s a real local dive place. They’ve got something called the Teron Burger, also known as the awesome, awesome. So it has this raspberry jalapeno cream cheese that usually I’m not

Haley (20:21):

Holy cow, like

Erik Anderson (20:21):

To mess with my normal cheeseburger, but it’s pretty phenomenal, so I would highly recommend it.

Haley (20:28):

Oh God, I should not do these things before lunch because that sounds so good.

Erik Anderson (20:33):

Does it sound amazing?

Haley (20:35):

I can’t eat that right now. I’m on a diet before the wedding, so maybe in October when it’s looking beautiful in Riverton. I’ll

Erik Anderson (20:42):

Stop for that. There you

Haley (20:42):

Go. Go. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you, Erik for taking the time and for giving us your knowledge of the area to educate us on the property that we have coming up and for telling Caroline and I about the local haunts to visit while we’re kind of driving through there. So we appreciate you taking the time. We’re excited to learn more about Riverton over the next couple months.

Erik Anderson (21:04):

Yeah, thanks Haley, and thanks for listening, and I hope everybody visits Riverton and give me a shout if you want any other secret hunts up there. So thanks.

Haley (21:14):

Awesome. Thanks so much guys. See you next time. 

Thanks for joining us today. To learn more about the ranch real estate market or our ranch marketing process, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our [email protected] or give us a call at (303) 623-4545. See you next time.

Need professional help finding, buying or selling a legacy ranch, contact us:

Mirr Ranch Group

901 Acoma Street

Denver, CO 80204

Phone: (303) 623-4545

https://www.MirrRanchGroup.com/