Qualla: The Bighorn Medicine Wheel

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel: Introduction

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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: The Structure

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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, ga...

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel: The Astronomy

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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 Bighorn Medicine Wheel: The Mystery

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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 whee...

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel: The Sacred

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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, restrict...

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel: Visiting the Medicine Wheel

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

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. Int...