Everyone who grew up in Wyoming knows about the geologic anomalies in the Yellowstone region and the strange monolith of Devils Tower. Did you know, though, that there’s another wildly unusual mountain in the Cowboy State that, by all probability, shouldn’t even exist? Read on about Heart Mountain, the traveling mountain that was migrated by the powerful forces of nature.
Heart Mountain is an 8,123-foot-high peak located near Cody, Wyoming, on the edge of the Bighorn Basin.
Wikimedia Commons/NASA - Robert Simmon Despite its name, Heart Mountain is technically a “klippe,” or jagged thrust fault feature, like the Rock of Gibraltar.
What makes this mountain so strange and improbable is that its made of rocks from the Absaroka Range, which means that it once stood next to neighbor mountains and formed alongside the other peaks in the area.
Flickr / Tim Lumley
This wouldn’t be so strange if the Absaroka Range wasn’t so far away! Heart Mountain is located more than 25 miles from the rest of the range.
Flickr / Tim Lumley Years of scientific study have been focused on figuring out exactly how these Absaroka rocks ended up all the way out by Cody. The consensus is now that the largest landslide in history, millions of years ago, rocketed the mountain at more than 100 miles an hour. That means it moved all that way in less than half an hour!
The Heart Mountain area is significant historically, too, but for less fascinating reasons. During World War II, the remote area was chosen as the site of an internment camp for Japanese Americans.
Flickr / @andrewghayes
These Americans had their rights stripped away from them and were imprisoned unjustly for years based on nothing but xenophobia, and the impact these horrific actions had on the Asian-American community in the country is immeasurable.
Flickr / Kelly Michals
Today, you can visit Heart Mountain and the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, where you’ll find an interpretive museum that tells the story of those who suffered in these terrible conditions.
Flickr / Don Barrett
Flickr / @andrewghayes
Have you been to or seen Heart Mountain in Wyoming?
Wikimedia Commons/NASA - Robert Simmon
Despite its name, Heart Mountain is technically a “klippe,” or jagged thrust fault feature, like the Rock of Gibraltar.
Flickr / Tim Lumley
Years of scientific study have been focused on figuring out exactly how these Absaroka rocks ended up all the way out by Cody. The consensus is now that the largest landslide in history, millions of years ago, rocketed the mountain at more than 100 miles an hour. That means it moved all that way in less than half an hour!
Flickr / @andrewghayes
Flickr / Kelly Michals
Flickr / Don Barrett
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Address: Heart Mountain, Wyoming, USA
