Trailblazer Days Thermopolis Wyoming

Step into a weekend where wagon wheels still sing and history breathes. We sit down with Terry from Thermopolis, Wyoming, to unveil Trailblazer Days—a living celebration built around 16 Mule Johnson, the freighter who helped shape the town’s famously wide streets. From the first note of a Dave Stamey concert to the last waltz at a dessert dance, this is a full-scale revival of Western craft, community, and courage.

We map the whole journey: a championship chuck wagon dinner with crews who cook like the old days, emceed by cowboy poet and broadcaster Andy Nelson. Then the main event rolls out—a non-motorized parade featuring a working 16-mule jerk line hitch pulling three freight wagons and a sheep wagon, plus buggies, sheep wagons, a jail wagon, and more. At the fairgrounds, collectors and teamsters turn a “wagon show” into a hands-on classroom, trading restoration tips, harness wisdom, and stories from the road. If you’ve ever wondered how a long hitch “dances” through a tight corner, this is where muscle memory meets art.

Thermopolis adds depth far beyond pageantry. The town sits in the Bighorn Basin near Yellowstone, a last-frontier landscape that forged cattle barons, sheep queens, and outlaw lore from Hole-in-the-Wall to the pages of The Virginian. The weekend widens the lens with the museum’s milk can dinner and a Sunday dedicated to tribal history: a guided visit to Legend Rock’s petroglyphs and a bison barbecue setting the stage for the Buffalo Initiative on Wind River Reservation. It’s a living mosaic—draft horses, mules, Indigenous trails, and the communities that keep them all in view.

Parade entries are open to non-motorized rigs from across the West, and travelers will find lodging, easy access, and the world’s largest hot springs waiting. Join us as we trade algorithms for word of mouth and bring people together the old way: food, music, teams, and stories that stick. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves the West, and leave a review telling us what you’d bring to the parade.

Check out Trailblazer Days at the links below for more info - 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1105730274732703/

https://thermopolischamber.org/trailblazer-days-event-schedule

Call (307) 921-0800 

Chapters

• 0:12 Kicking Off The 2026 Season
• 1:41 Meet Terry And The Big Announcement
• 2:08 Who Was 16 Mule Johnson
• 3:18 Recreating A 16-Mule Freight Train
• 4:00 Weekend Schedule And Headliners
• 5:44 Why Thermopolis Matters Geographically
• 7:48 Authentic Western Roots And Outlaw Lore
• 9:20 Museum Events And Milk Can Dinner
• 10:18 Tribal History Day And Buffalo Initiative
• 11:35 How To Join The Non-Motorized Parade
• 13:38 Jerk Line Driving And The Mule Dance
• 15:36 Word Of Mouth And Grassroots Momentum
• 17:30 Inviting Teams, Wagons, And Friends
• 19:48 Lodging, Hot Springs, And Final Invite
• 21:44 Host Updates And Ways To Connect

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:12

Welcome to Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules, where we talk all things related to these magnificent animals. From their history and uses to training and care, we cover it all. Join us as we chat with experts and enthusiasts in the field, share stories and tips, and explore the world of draft horses and mules. Whether you're a seasoned owner or just curious about these dental diets, this podcast is for you. So harness up and join Haste Draft Horses and Mules for some lively discussions about these God-given creatures.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04

Hey folks, Stephen Haste here with Harness Up Podcast with Haste Draft Horses and Mules. How's everybody doing? This will be our first podcast for 2026. I'm kind of running behind a little bit. Sometimes life gets in the way, and selling horses and mules, we stay really, really busy doing that. So it's hard to always get a podcast put on, but I try as often as I can. And I'm super excited about today's podcast. I've got Miss Terry with me, and she is from Thermopolis, Wyoming. Terry, go ahead and say hi to the folks.

SPEAKER_02: 1:34

Well, hi everybody. It's great to be here. Thank you so much for doing this today.

SPEAKER_00: 1:38

I'm glad you came on. You've got a good thing going out there. We're going to tell you all about an event that is going to be happening out in Thermopolis, Wyoming. And uh I sold a team of horses to a good friend of mine, Mr. Kenny, that lives out in Thermopolis. And he said, you need to get with Terry and help her advertise this event a little bit. And I said, I'd be glad to. So um it's the Trailblazer Days out in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Terry, go ahead and give them a little bit of history behind that and why you're doing it and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 2:08

Oh, right. Well, thank you. Well, this is an America 250 event. So we're celebrating uh the birthday of our great nation, and we are bringing, we're twisting back the clock of time and bringing back when the old freighters ruled the roads here. And we have a guy, his name was 16 Mule Johnson. He was a native of Denmark and he arrived at the beginning of Thermopolis when it was first being mapped out. He was bringing freight into this place so they could build the town. And uh boy, I'll tell you, he was able to get those map designers and say, you know, well, you need to make these streets wide enough so I can turn this damn team around. And that's what they did. And to this day, our streets are still wide enough that that carry the old legacy story of 16 mule Johnson. And we decided that that was he'd be the perfect person to build this event around. He he lived here for all of his life. He ended up dying pretty early from a deer tick disease. And uh he had 14 children, so there's lots of people here that that carry old Henry Johnson's blood in their veins. And we're bringing in a team from northern Nevada. They uh they've done a lot of work doing uh O events for me in the past. So they're gonna have the 16 up, and as traditionally with Henry Johnson's rig, he'll they'll be pulling three freight wagons and a sheep wagon behind that. The sheep wagon, old Henry used to call his cooster, but that's obviously we know what that was. It was his home on wheels. And so that big train's gonna be coming in, and we're gonna, like I said, we're building this event around Henry. So we'll have a non-motorized parade. We've got lots of rigs and wagons and buggies coming in to show off the old days. And we're gonna kick it off. It's a weekend event on June 12th, 1314. So June 12th, we're kicking it off with a Dave Stamey concert. If you don't know who Dave Stamey is by now, you better look him up because he's a Western winner songwriter and and singer, and he's a really great guy, a friend of mine. He'll be doing a concert. We're doing an authentic Chuck Wagon dinner for about 250 folks. So that's gonna be something. These these two Chuck Wagons, which is two two mule chuck wagon and uh quarter circle ranch chuck wagon, they're both uh grand uh winners of competitions, they're grand champion chuck wagon uh people. They're gonna be they're gonna be cooking dinner. And and then we have Andy Nelson, who is Clear Out West Radio. He's got a radio station broadcast across the country. He is a cowboy poet and humorist. He'll be MC not only that night for the concert, but through the whole weekend. So we're really lucky to have him out there with us. And then we're having we're bringing back an old tradition called the dessert dance. And we'll be after the great chuck wagon dinner and everybody's settling in. We're gonna have ourselves a old-fashioned dessert dance where people can pick and choose what the kind of sweets they have and dance the night away. So that'll be Friday night. And followed the next morning, we'll have a pancake breakfast, and then our our 16 Mule Johnson parade will be going through the town and back to the fairgrounds we go, where we'll be having all kinds of good stuff happening there.

SPEAKER_00: 5:38

So this is all about bringing back old tradition to Thermopolis, to Wyoming, really.

SPEAKER_02: 5:44

Yep, it sure is. And you know, something about where we are. If you if you don't know where Thermopolis, Wyoming is, you need to take a look on the map because if you have a topography map, you're gonna see that in the northern part of Wyoming, there's a huge crater, and in that crater is the Bighorn Basin, and we are surrounded by the Bighorn Mountains, the Abzorkas, we're right outside of Yellowstone National Park. And this crater was really the last frontier, opening the last frontier is what we're calling it, because it was really difficult to navigate the mountains that surround it. And and inside this, it's about a hundred miles wide and about that far long. And back in the day, of course, I mean, it was full of game. This was where a lot of the tribes were hunting back early days, civilization, real early civilization. We have lots of proof of them here, and but boy, it was it was late for for white settlers to come in here. What was really good because of the difficulty was it was a great place to raise livestock. So lots of cattle barons came in here, sheep queens, cattle barons, and outlaws. This is where Hole in the Wall, the Hole in the Wall Outlaw hideout was. We had people, Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, you know, the Curry brothers, all those guys. They were here. This is what this is where Owen Worcester wrote The Virginian. So we're we are real authentic Western history, and boy, couldn't wouldn't it just be great to just you know turn back the clock and live those days again?

SPEAKER_00: 7:21

Boy, sure would. I've been to Thermopolis many times. I've been out west a lot. Of course, my wife is from Billings, Montana. So we're yeah, being a and of course I started going out west and a long time ago selling mules out all over the West. I've been about all over all of Wyoming. And for nobody that's never been out to Wyoming, Thermopolis too, it's really something to see. If you live back east or you don't live in the West, the culture is way different. And turning back the page and having this event and just kind of seeing those, seeing how it was a little bit would really be cool to me to see.

SPEAKER_02: 8:03

Yep. I well, I we're real excited and I'll and I'll I'll move forward too. We have we have a fantastic museum here, and it's Hot Springs County Museum. You can look it up online, and they are gonna be doing another traditional dinner. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's the milk can dinner. So they're gonna be doing a trek out to Old Henry's homestead, and then they're coming back and putting on a big dinner that night. And so that'll support that, yeah, that'll support that Saturday night. So that's gonna support the museum, which is real important. And Sunday, all day, is a free access and it is dedicated to the tribal history. They're going to be going out to Legend Rock, which is a historic site where there's a huge rock full of petroglyphs. We'll have tribal members talking about their traditional trek through there. Because not only is it trails for you know the white man accessing the basin, we're also we're also honoring the ancient trails system that was that was used by the tribes. And so they're going to be here on Sunday, and they will be doing a free bison barbecue at the state park, and then there will be tribal representatives doing a presentation on the Buffalo Initiative, which is them reintroducing Buffalo to their reservation, the Wind River Reservation. So it's going to be a big day too. So, all in all, we have a huge event, lots of things, something for sure you'll find that you will definitely tickle your fancy. And I think well, we're we're real excited about it.

SPEAKER_00: 9:42

Last time I was in Wind River, I got pulled over.

SPEAKER_02: 9:47

I'm sure for no good reason.

SPEAKER_00: 9:49

I was just speeding a little bit over, and uh the tribal, it was tribal police that pulled me over, a lady, and she let me right go. I didn't have a bit of problem. I mean, she didn't even give me a ticket. She just gave me a warning. So, but yeah, Wind River's a beautiful place. And um also, you were saying going out to this rock, going out, how can folks go out? Like, do they bring their horses and go with them or what?

SPEAKER_02: 10:12

They're gonna be actually taking a bus out there. There it's pavement all the way. And but you know, you can it's a historic site, you can look it up online. It's open all year. Well, it's open most of the year. And if it's we have a lot of snow, I think they do close it, but we don't have any right now. And so, but yes, that you can sign up. I think they're gonna do a sign up online. We're still pulling, you know, our little detail. But but if you're here for the weekend, we'll get you set up. And if you need to drive a car out there behind the bus, then that's fine too.

SPEAKER_00: 10:43

So you're gonna let that this parade, is it open for anybody to bring teams and be in the parade, or is it just certain people that sign up, or how do they do that?

SPEAKER_02: 10:52

Oh no, we're they can get a hold of me and maybe we'll put some contact information at the end of this. No, it's open to everybody. This is a non-motorized parade, so we're asking people to, you know, obviously bring a team. And we're we're looking for everything. I'm hoping that I've got a I've got a horse-drawn hearse that I'm hoping will come. And he's got Big Percher on team that he's gonna bring if if he can put it together. And uh we've got, yep, we're we're just opening it to everybody. We've helped we'd love to have a steam fire steam wagon. We, you know, we're looking for anything and everything. We're also gonna have like a wagon show. We've got some collectors, and you probably everybody knows somebody that's got wagons sitting in the barn that they put a lot of time and money in, and maybe they'd like to show it off. So we're gonna have a static display. You know how you have RV or boat shows. We're gonna have a wagon show. And people, I'm asking for sheep wagons and and you know, stagecoaches, whatever, whatever's got wheels. You know, let's bring them together and and talk about the history and how it is to how it is to manage these things, how it is to restore them, what it's like to drive them.

SPEAKER_00: 11:58

I think one of our good customers and one of my really good friends now, Mr. Kim Harris from Conrad, Montana, is coming down there.

SPEAKER_02: 12:06

He is coming down. Yeah, actually, he's bringing a he's got a grain wagon, I believe, and and he was talking about something else he was gonna bring, but he's he is coming down. So we're the people we're starting to get calls, you know, from Montana, from Oregon. We've got people coming, it's a couple people coming from Arizona, and so it's uh it's everybody, you know, it's it's we're we all know it's tight circles. People know people that like to do this course kind of thing and and honor our Western traditions. You know, I myself, I have pioneer blood, and I'm proud of it. Our our folks, you know, they they worked real hard just to survive, and and I think we we need it's real important for us to all remember what they all went through just on a daily basis. And and here we are, we're kind of we're kind of soft in the middle these days, you know. People talk about their heaters and air conditioners, and that just wasn't a thing, you know, back in the day.

SPEAKER_00: 13:01

That's true. Kim's also got a jail wagon.

SPEAKER_02: 13:04

Oh, that's what it is. It's the jail wagon that's coming. Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 13:08

He does. Well, if anybody's out there, of course, you know, we sell teams, draft horses, and mule teams. And if anybody out there that we've sold has listened to this and would like to go take part, how do they contact you if they need information? Is there a website, email? How do you want to get people in contact with you?

SPEAKER_02: 13:25

Well, all of our all of our information is on our chamber website, and that's thermopolischamber.org. The phone number is 307-864-3192. And that's again the Thermopolis Chamber, and the information's up there on the event pages. You can also, we have a Facebook page called Trailblazer Days Opening the Last Frontier. And uh we'll we'll I'm keeping it posted almost daily uh as our event grows. And we have an Instagram page where I hear we do. I'm not not on it myself, so we've got somebody building that, and it's we're starting to get some real good interest. So we're hoping for a real great event.

SPEAKER_00: 14:08

I'm so glad you're doing this. I wish more towns would do this around. That'd be really cool.

SPEAKER_02: 14:13

Boy, I'll tell you, we were we were really blessed to be funded. You know, we we wrote for that grant that they were offering throughout the country, and we wrote up a little story about Henry Johnson and what we wanted to do, and we were fully funded for that. So we were real lucky, and I think that that was something that they were hoping, you know, our our founders were hoping that we would bring back those days and and we're doing our darndest to do it.

SPEAKER_00: 14:38

Yeah, that's cool. This will really help bring some of it back. And you know, I bet a lot of people that live there have never really even seen a horse. I they've probably seen a horse, but like a team pulling a wagon or a mule pulling a wagon and seen some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 14:51

You know, they aren't. And I did a talk just the other day uh with the the Historical Society, and you know, I I've been I've been a mule lover for a long time, and I worked at a place where we use mules in the mines, and and we had some big, you know, big teams that came in, moved gold and silver around. And uh and I was also involved with Mule Days and Bishop, and so I have a lot of good friends that are out there, and they and you know, just talking about the jerk line, that's the other thing. Rick Edney, that's coming from northern Nevada, he's the driver, he's gonna be the teamster of this big team, and he they are practicing with the jerk line, which is the traditional way. You're your folks are probably gonna know what that is, but you're right, most people don't. And so just when those when that rig needs to take that turn, that's when it gets exciting because it's what what they call, I think they still call it the mule dance when they start dancing over that chain, jumping back and forth as a as that rig starts to make navigate the corners. And so we've got a pretty good couple good corners he's gonna have to do in our parade. And so we were able to get a really generous donation of a drone outfit that's gonna film it all. So we'll be able to hopefully this will we're gonna make some history by bringing back history.

SPEAKER_00: 16:09

You need to contact my good friend Joe Mishka. Okay, he's with Rural Heritage Magazine. Um, actually, tonight, Sunday, tonight, we're gonna be on their YouTube channel for our barbecue event. He was here and did a write-up in his magazine and um also done a video for the RFD TV. Oh, great. You should I'll actually I'll forward the info. I'll forward this podcast to Joe.

SPEAKER_02: 16:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 16:37

He should he should come do a write-up on this in Rural Heritage.

SPEAKER_02: 16:40

Oh boy, wouldn't that be wonderful? That would be great. You know, you know, I'm gonna say something to you, and I've really come to realize this, especially in the last few days. This is a grassroots event. You know, people talk about all the things that you need to do to advertise, and I and I tell you what, it's word of mouth. It's the way it used to be when you when it was, you know, it's grassroots. It's it's gaining momentum through uh through spirit and through, you know, good contacts and and through generosity. And I think I think that's what's gonna really bring people together, you know. Everybody talks about being online, and I know that's what we're doing right now, but I'll tell you, it's uh it's I think it's it's neat to be able to see to see it take off.

SPEAKER_00: 17:27

Well, if one person hears it online, I guarantee you a hundred I guarantee you a hundred will know it.

SPEAKER_02: 17:33

Yeah, see, that's not great.

SPEAKER_00: 17:36

And guys, I'm sorry, I've got a little three-year-old boy here. I'm doing this with him. He's being pretty good. But you may hear being really good. You may hear him every now and then.

SPEAKER_02: 17:46

That's good. That's that's grassroots too. That's our future right there.

SPEAKER_00: 17:50

That's right. He he loves mules now. He says mule all the time. Our logo, our brand, he'll grab that. Like he's got shirts and stuff with it on it. He'll grab it and he'll say, That's a mule. That's a mule. He he knows, you know. He knows. It's funny how they pick up so much so so young.

SPEAKER_02: 18:10

Oh, they do. And you know, there's there the spirit of the mule is amazing. And if people, you know, I like I say to boy, they get a bad rap with all the buttons of the jokes, but uh or donkeys and so on and so forth. And even the talk that I was just referring to, you know, people didn't really even understand what a mule was. Yeah. And uh, and and just to, you know, to be able to bring to be able to honor the spirit of the mule is in my in it it's it's a part of my passion. My my family were mule breeders back with George Washington. George Washington is considered the father of the mule, of the American mule. And and my family was working with they had big lumber mills and they were using mules back then. And they actually came across the Oregon Trail in the 1851, but they and they used their mules. And so it was it was it was a it's a it's a great legacy, and I think it's something that people they really enjoy hearing.

SPEAKER_00: 19:10

You need to get a hold of Randy Melton to come.

SPEAKER_02: 19:14

Oh, Randy's coming. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00: 19:16

Well, Randy's a good friend of mine. I've sold him a lot of mules.

SPEAKER_02: 19:20

Oh gosh, yep. He's bringing that big uh stagecoach he's got.

SPEAKER_00: 19:23

That's awesome. Randy is Randy fits this deal. He's he was born 150 years too late.

SPEAKER_02: 19:30

Yep, I get it. Oh, I've seen some of the pictures of him, and boy, he looks the part too.

SPEAKER_00: 19:36

Wow, it's great. I guess I've sold a lot of people. Um, a lot of the outfitters out there in Wyoming, like Carter Downing, a lot of them boys I've sold. I could I'll mention, I'll write them all, I'll share all this with a lot of my Wyoming contacts for you.

SPEAKER_02: 19:51

Oh, I would love that. You know, the m the more the better. I mean, we we want to fill this place up to where it looks like, you know, 1898. I mean, that's just it. And I think that it's gonna be, I know it's gonna be great. I don't think it, I know it.

SPEAKER_00: 20:05

Well, you just feel it's gonna be, and sometimes that's part of the battle, just knowing it. That's a lot of the battle. Once you know something in your head, it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. I believe that myself fully. But um I'm glad to do this with you, and we support you. And if there's anything we can do, you reach out, we'll help you any way we can. And we support this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02: 20:27

So Well, thank you. And if you're invited to come, and you come on, you you just let us know, and and if you contact uh uh Joe, that would be great.

SPEAKER_00: 20:36

Well, I wish I could come, but we're we're so knee-deep in selling mules and horses, I doubt we'll be able to get out of here.

SPEAKER_02: 20:43

Yeah, I still would say that too.

SPEAKER_00: 20:45

I would like to come, but um, I doubt we'll be able to. I really do seriously doubt it, but I'd love to.

SPEAKER_02: 20:50

Well, we're gonna have that, we'll at least have that parade video. So, you know, hopefully we'll have that up and out there too. It's gonna be something to see that that big team taking their turns.

SPEAKER_00: 21:00

Definitely that'll be cool. Any final words you want to say to the folks or anything?

SPEAKER_02: 21:05

Uh, just that, you know, if contact us and let us know if you're coming. We have lots of rooms here. We have free bathhouses. We have the we have the largest hot springs in the world, is in Thermopolis. If you don't know our town, look it up. We have a great little place here, a little slice of heaven. And I think there's nothing better but whores, horse, horses, mules, and hot springs. And uh, we would sure love to have you at Trailblazer Days.

SPEAKER_00: 21:33

Thank you so much, guys. Support them. If you want more information, I'm gonna put their website and contact number and all the info in the description on this podcast. So if you're interested in coming or helping them or whatever, give 'em a call. If you want to give 'em a donation, I'm sure they'll take anything they need. If you feel the need to help them, reach out to 'em. So, Terry, thank you for coming on. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02: 21:55

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day and and God bless.

SPEAKER_00: 21:59

You too. Guys. Thank you all for listening. We're going to try to get a lot more podcasts coming up really soon. This one will just be an audio podcast. Unfortunately, our YouTube channel got hacked, and I'm working with YouTube and Google to get it back. Some Bitcoin company somewhere got it. I don't know where. But it's I have I'm unable to access it. So you won't be able to get on and watch a video of this podcast. But I'm working with Google. They've come uh come in contact with me, and um, they've got control of the channel now, and we're gonna get it back. It may be a month or two or three, I don't know, but uh hang in there with us. We appreciate each and every one of y'all. Check us out on our website at www.drafthorsesandmulesforsale.com. You can also find us on any social media outlet, Facebook, Twitter, X, Instagram, TikTok, across the board under Haste Draft Horses and Mules. Thank y'all until the next one. We'll see you soon. God bless you.

SPEAKER_01: 22:55

As another captivating episode of Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules draws to a close, we extend our sincere gratitude to our listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey. We hope today's discussions have deepened your appreciation and understanding of these magnificent creatures. Remember, the adventure continues beyond this podcast. Stay connected with us on social media and share your stories. For more information and to explore further, visit Draft Horses and MulesforSale dot com. Thank you for being part of our community. Until next time, keep harnessing your curiosity and passion for these God given creatures. Farewell for now.