At 9,642 feet in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, a circle of limestone boulders forms one of North America's most mysterious prehistoric sites. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is 80 feet across, with 28 spokes radiating from a central cairn to a rim of stones. It's old - perhaps 500 to 800 years - but no one knows exactly who built it or why. The wheel aligns with the summer solstice sunrise and with the rising points of several stars. Native American tribes consider it sacred, a place for vision quests and ceremonies that continues to be used today. Offerings of cloth and tobacco hang from the fence that now surrounds the site. The Medicine Wheel is both archaeological site and living sacred space - a place where the ancient and contemporary meet on a windswept mountaintop.
The Bighorn Medicine Wheel consists of a central cairn (stone pile) about 12 feet in diameter, surrounded by a ring of stones 80 feet across. Twenty-eight spokes of stones connect the center to the rim. Six smaller cairns sit on or near the rim. The stones are local limestone, gathered and placed by hand centuries ago. The construction required substantial effort - the site is remote, high, and only accessible during summer months. Similar medicine wheels exist across the northern Great Plains, from Wyoming to Alberta, but the Bighorn wheel is the largest and best preserved. Its precision suggests careful planning, though the planners left no written record.
Astronomer John Eddy studied the Medicine Wheel in the 1970s and found significant alignments. The line from the central cairn to a cairn on the rim points to the summer solstice sunrise. Other cairn pairs align with the rising points of the stars Aldebaran, Rigel, and Sirius at the time of solstice. These stars were visible briefly at dawn during summer solstice when the wheel was built. Whether the alignments are intentional or coincidental remains debated - with enough points, some alignments are inevitable. But the solstice alignment appears deliberate: the wheel marks the longest day of the year on a mountain where winter would make observation impossible.
No one knows who built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. Oral traditions among the Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other tribes associate medicine wheels with various purposes: astronomical observation, ceremonial space, memorial markers, teaching tools. Some traditions attribute the wheels to ancient people who predated current tribes. Archaeological evidence is limited - the stones don't preserve organic material for radiocarbon dating. The wheel is old enough that its builders' specific identity has been lost. It's a reminder that the Great Plains have been inhabited for thousands of years by peoples whose histories are mostly unwritten.
For many Native American tribes, the Bighorn Medicine Wheel is sacred ground. Vision quests continue to occur here. Ceremonies mark the solstice. Prayer cloths and tobacco offerings accumulate on the fence surrounding the site. The Forest Service, which manages the land, restricts access during certain times for Native ceremonial use. This dual nature - archaeological site and living sacred space - creates management challenges. Tourists want access; tribes want privacy. The current compromise allows both, imperfectly. Visitors are asked to respect the sacred nature of the site, to leave offerings undisturbed, and to understand that they're visiting someone's church.
The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is located in the Bighorn National Forest, about 70 miles east of Lovell, Wyoming. The access road (Forest Road 12) is open approximately late June through September, depending on snow. The last 1.5 miles to the site is a walking trail; no vehicles. Interpretive signs explain the site's history and significance. Visitors should respect the sacred nature of the site: don't touch the stones, leave offerings undisturbed, and maintain quiet. The Forest Service may close the site for Native ceremonies. Billings, Montana, is 100 miles north; the nearest commercial airport is there. The drive and hike are worth it - the wheel itself is modest, but the setting and significance are profound.
Located at 44.83°N, 107.92°W atop Medicine Mountain in the Bighorn Range of Wyoming. From altitude, the Medicine Wheel is barely visible - a ring of pale stones on a high alpine meadow. The Bighorn Mountains run north-south; the wheel sits near the western edge of the range. Lovell, Wyoming, is to the west in the Bighorn Basin. The terrain is dramatic - the Bighorns rise abruptly from the basin floor. The site is above treeline, surrounded by alpine meadow. Billings, Montana, is 100 miles north. The isolation is apparent from altitude - no roads, no structures, just mountains.