The Loneliest State in the USA

somewhere in the heart of the American West lies a state that's wild rugged and barely inhabited 200 people a couple of stores geographically it's one of the biggest states in the U.S but it's home to only half a million people which makes it the least densely populated one you know you always felt safe and good in today's journey I drive across Wyoming visit some of the towns here and chat to a few locals my big question is what's it really like to live in the least populated state in the country do people enjoy it do they feel like they're missing out we don't want a lot of people moving here hunting and fishing and just the beauty of it the quiet and the peace and seeing as Wyoming is less populated than even Alaska that's saying something my journey starts at a tiny campsite nestled in the mountains in the far north of the state [Music] super ominous those clouds super ominous I hope they're not a sign of things to come except they are because they're clouds so foreign Ty and pretty rainy very quickly come on buddy you want to go inside good boy [Music] oh [Applause] all right time to get inside music [Applause] it's like hailing yup hail see it's rain oh my God what a great day to go camping [Music] so vilk has made himself very cozy and that means I'm gonna do the exact same thing [Music] I often catch myself thinking how lucky I am to be here out in the American West the spaces here are just so vast it's so easy to feel like you're all alone in the nature like you've got it all to yourself coming from Europe that's just not something I'm used to and I know I'll miss it daily whenever I end up leaving here's a fun fact to give you an idea of just how massive Wyoming is you could fit Maryland Vermont Hawaii West Virginia New Hampshire Massachusetts Delaware Connecticut New Jersey and Rhode Island inside of Wyoming's borders and you'd still have space left in that big so it felt pretty serendipitous to suddenly run into an exhibit featuring my favorite animal in the middle of the state the world's largest Jackalope exhibit you guys are in for a treat only in Wyoming oh no it's closed oh God I feel like I've just really missed out on something super special so the Jackalope on the off chance you're not familiar with it the Jackalope is up there with Bigfoot and other mythical creatures of North America a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope it may not actually exist who knows right but it is just the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life I have to say I'm really going to miss these little towns out west there is something so rugged about these tininess of humanity peppered across the vast spaces of the American West [Music] [Music] a few hours into my trip I found myself approaching the Tiny Town of Kenya it had a gas station and a convenience store so I thought I might stop by and ask the locals how they felt about living all the way out here so what's it like to live in kind of the middle of the least populated state in the United States the least people the better really yeah you love it yes that's so funny I like to keep it that way too oh really don't want here it's okay for them to come through yeah and spend their money but just keep going home are you originally from here no I'm from Colorado oh so you claimed it I came here to college and met my husband oh nice got married stayed here this is in the 50s and then this was in the 80s we keep track of the stats and we almost said how many dumb tourists have taken out that's pretty dark also three people have been gored by Buffalo um the Taurus got one Buffalo Calf they picked up and put in their car and thought it was in trouble so they killed it they had to kill it because the herd went and take it back that's so dumb and then the Bears have eaten two people and then the hot springs have gotten three people now here's the crazy thing about Yellowstone National Park which happens to sit in the Northwestern corner of Wyoming about three and a half million people visit Yellowstone every single year which is seven times the size of the entire population of the state there's some obvious advantages you know like the tourists bringing in money but I guess you can see why some locals might poke fun at the tourists here and there [Music] oh [Music] look I know they might just be rocks but they're incredible and you know what the crazy thing is and this is a tiny little cultural difference in Europe those rocks those Hills would be like a national monument in any country here I mean I'm looking on Google Maps they don't even have a name it's like the only mountain in there that I can see it's called Table Mountain really Table Mountain the most generic Mountain name in the entire world it's like you guys have so many cool things in Wyoming that you don't even you don't even care here to ask a bunch of rocks that's just not even bother with them seriously [Applause] [Music] [Music] and we've arrived at tonight's campsite because it didn't make it all the way to um town that I wanted to show you but we'll do that tomorrow super random side note I've been training to run at 100 kilometer or 60 mile ultra marathon over the last few months it's coming up real soon but I gotta say training on the road has not been without its struggles because it is so hard to stay consistent without a consistent schedule or location now that vehicle is a little bit more grown up he can join me on some run but truth be told I am so excited to find a home soon and get some more consistency in my schedule it is so beautiful out here just I can't believe it okay a quick little break before we keep going with this video because I want to introduce you to the sponsor of today's video and there will be a discount code so hang in here for a minute this sponsor of today's video is drum roll please the bottle bottle so I probably don't need to tell you what a bottle does or why a bottle could be useful but these reusable Hydra X bottles from bottle have a whole bunch of cool features but my favorite being the secret compartment I mean this thing is just so clever it kind of unscrews here and you can put anything you want here pills vitamins keys or money even oh you know I have used this as a little tiny portable bowl for Wilkes water which has been pretty great next up there's a couple of different ways to drink from it which is super handy so first we've got the flip straw which is great because there's two things I'm scared of while driving it's sneezing because you have to close your eyes and be doing this with water and with any drinks because it kind of takes my attention away from the driving so here you just kind of lift it up perfect or you have the option to use this side as well which has a kind of bigger hole both very convenient okay third cool feature is the insulation so the stainless steel construction of this bottle actually keeps your drinks cool if you want them to be cool and warm if you want them to be 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after the fact that it used to take 10 days or 10 sleeps to get to any of the other major Native American camps in the area I mean now we have roads so you know it's still pretty remote though 26 26 in that direction and I think over 60 in that direction so still feels pretty isolated of course isolated doesn't mean lifeless tense sleep is just one of those super Charming Western towns that I as a European just completely fell in love with sure it may be a far cry from what I'm used to but I just love to visit so the sounds that I get walking through town is that yeah it is a very small town I can definitely see how everybody would know each other I mean just over 200 people a couple of stores a couple of restaurants a couple of bars that's all that's where you'd meet your friends after hours you know same spot every single day I mean does it even count as a local grocery store out west if it doesn't have a big foot reference somewhere you can also always rely on the fact that there will be local merch and souvenirs no matter how obscure the town I have resisted the urge to buy souvenirs in the United States for the most part but I don't think I can resist this mug I am taking this guy with me to my new home more on that in another episode [Music] so I just asked Crystal who was a server at the cafe back there what it's like to live here and she said she doesn't want to be on camera but she said that I can quote her um she loves it here they all love it here but it's very peaceful yep I can definitely see that there was one last stop I needed to make intense sleep welcome to the local Brewery I don't know about you but I usually head straight to the local Brewery if I want to meet the actual locals can you tell me your name and what you're doing here Julie Peterson and I'm a server here at the tensley Brewing Company so Wyoming is known for the fact that it is the least populated of all the states even though it's quite big right what's it like growing up and living in the least populated state it was just nice you can go out your door and out in the Badlands and hunting and fishing and camping and you really didn't see that many people it was just you know felt comfortable to us not crowded yeah and of course now growing up like that you know you like that and I like to visit cities but you're always glad to come home where it's kind of remote quiet yeah does she ever feel like you were like missing out on something by being so far away from everybody else no I felt like other people were probably missing out oh really that's interesting yeah we have a lot of freedom especially as children you know you think about that now we could ride our bikes over everywhere our mom wouldn't even know where we were all day and we knew we were safe all that you know it was kind of like the takes a community to raise yeah a child and it was like that if you got hurt one of the neighbors would be helping you that's not so you know you always felt safe and good so few people but kind of close knit yeah if you ever got hurt or you're sick people will be at your house cooking your meals and bringing you meals or giving you a ride somewhere you know you can always count on each other yeah with just close-knit communities do you is it still like that do you think yeah definitely the community here may be small but it's really tight-knit you know that you can always rely on your neighbors on your friends on your community whatever the circumstances and I feel that's just such a human thing that is just such a deeply human thing isn't it being able to connect with those who live close to you and um I really feel like something that we miss out on living in cities a lot of the time not knowing our neighbors and it's definitely something that I would like more of in my life too it's great to have this virtual community but you know you know what it's like his different in person foreign [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 1,113,888

Keywords: wyoming, least populated state, wyoming travel, ten sleep wyoming, yellowstone deaths, kennair wyoming, bridger teton national forest, camping wyoming, road trip wyoming, loneliest state in USA, emptiest state in USA

Id: 6WIWhI4vrEs

Length: 16min 33sec (993 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 09 2023