Baggs Webcam – See Wyoming’s Little Snake River Town

The Baggs Webcam looks south across Baggs, a ranching town of about 400 people in Carbon County, Wyoming, sitting on the Little Snake River a short drive from the Colorado line. The camera is mounted high on a rooftop, so the foreground is a flat roof and a paved lot, and past that a street crossing with painted crosswalk lines, low houses, trees and utility poles. The rest of the town spreads out behind them, and the upper half of the frame is open sky. What changes the picture is the light, the snow and the traffic: a pickup crossing the junction, a camper parked under a street light, a winter storm flattening everything to white. A second tab switches to the operator’s north-facing camera over the same town.

About Baggs

Baggs sits at 1,904 meters (6,247 feet) in the southwest corner of Carbon County, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of the Colorado border and 124 kilometers (77 miles) southwest of Rawlins, the county seat. The town covers just 1.32 square kilometers (0.51 square miles), and the 2020 census counted 411 residents. It was incorporated in 1910. Wyoming Highway 789 runs through town as its main street. The route was commissioned in 1954 as part of a multi-state highway through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and it is still the main way in and out of town.

The town’s best-known story is older than the highway. Baggs was reputed to be a hangout for Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch, and the log house they are said to have used, known as the Mathews/Gaddis House, stands on Main Street along Highway 789. It served as a boarding house and a Saturday night dance hall that the gang is said to have attended. Today it belongs to the Outlaw Stop, a branch of the Little Snake River Museum, together with the old Baggs Town Hall, fire station and jail.

The camera belongs to Range, the telephone and internet cooperative that runs a set of free town cams across Wyoming and Montana, from Dubois and Sheridan to Forsyth. Range took over the Dubois Telephone Exchange in 1991, which brought Baggs into its service area, and it now streams two cameras here, one facing south and one facing north.

Weather and Climate in Baggs

This is high desert country, and the temperature swings are wide. July afternoons average about 31 C (87 F), but nights at this elevation still drop to around 9 C (49 F), so a summer day on the Baggs Webcam often starts cool and ends hot and bright, with long evenings under the wide sky that fills the top of the frame. Because the camera faces south, the sun crosses in front of it for much of the day, so glare and backlit clouds are part of the midday picture.

Winters are cold and sometimes severe. January averages a high near 0 C (32 F) and a low around minus 14 C (7 F), and the town sits exposed on open ground. Snow can settle on the roof in the foreground and the lot below it, and the streets can turn white for days. Spring and autumn sit between the two, and at this altitude a clear night can bring frost well outside winter. The stream runs day and night, but after dark the view comes down to street lights, a few lit windows and the glow over the junction until the sun comes back up.

Things to Do Near Baggs

The Outlaw Stop in town is the obvious first stop, with the Mathews/Gaddis House and the old town hall and jail. Up the valley in Savery, the Little Snake River Museum spreads across more than 15 historic buildings. The Bank Club Bar in Baggs occupies a building that once served as a bank, and the Boyer YL Ranch nearby has run as a guest ranch since 1926. The Baggs Rodeo is the town’s western event of the year, and the Little Snake River and the Savery River both draw anglers.

The bigger draw is the country around town. The Adobe Town Herd Management Area covers 472,812 acres (1,913 square kilometers) between Interstate 80 and the Colorado line, and it is one of the places to look for wild horses in the Red Desert, which the county’s visitor office calls the largest unfenced land in the lower 48 states. East of Baggs, the Battle Pass Highway runs 92 kilometers (57 miles) on pavement over the crest of the Sierra Madre into Medicine Bow National Forest, with mule deer, elk, pronghorn, moose and bighorn sheep all found in the region.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More small towns and Rocky Mountain views, in Wyoming and close to it:

• Jackson Hole Webcam
• Custer Webcam
• Steamboat Ski Resort Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Baggs, Wyoming located?

Baggs is in the southwest corner of Carbon County in southern Wyoming, on the Little Snake River about 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of the Colorado border. Rawlins, the county seat, is 124 kilometers (77 miles) to the northeast, and Wyoming Highway 789 runs straight through town.

What can you see on the Baggs Webcam?

The main view faces south from a rooftop in town. It takes in a flat roof and a paved lot in the foreground, a street junction with painted crosswalks, houses, trees and street lights, and a wide sky above the town. The North tab shows tree-lined residential streets, rooftops and the ridgeline beyond the other side of Baggs.

Who operates the Baggs Webcam?

Range, a telephone and internet cooperative serving towns in Wyoming and Montana, runs both Baggs cameras. It streams them on its YouTube channel alongside its other town cams, and says all of its webcams stream free, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

What is the weather like in Baggs?

Summers are warm, with July highs around 31 C (87 F) and cool nights near 9 C (49 F). Winters are cold, with January highs close to 0 C (32 F) and lows around minus 14 C (7 F), and snow cover is common.

How high is Baggs, Wyoming?

The town sits at about 1,904 meters (6,247 feet) above sea level, which is why summer nights stay cool and winter cold can be severe.

Did Butch Cassidy really stay in Baggs?

Local history holds that Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch spent time in Baggs, especially at the Mathews/Gaddis House, a boarding house and Saturday night dance hall on Main Street. The house is now part of the Outlaw Stop museum and can be visited.

Why does the Baggs Webcam look dark?

The camera streams around the clock, so at night the picture is mostly black sky, street lights and a few lit buildings. The town and the sky come back into view at sunrise without anything needing to be reloaded.

Source: Range