Area 71 covers the country east of the Wind River Range near Crowheart and the upper Wind River valley—a mix of Wind River foothills, sage benches, and timbered country climbing toward the granite high country. Elevations run from about 5,500 feet on the Wind River valley floor to over 12,000 feet on the high Wind River crest. The valley itself is wide, dry, and windswept—classic high-desert sage and grass with the Wind River cutting through and supporting cottonwood-and-willow bottoms and irrigated hay meadows where the ranches have rights. The mountains rise abruptly from the valley: Douglas fir and limber pine on the lower slopes, lodgepole and aspen at mid-elevations, spruce-fir and alpine country up high. The Whiskey Mountain bighorn sheep herd lives the country south of Dubois—one of the largest in the world. Shoshone NF covers the high country, BLM fills in the lower benches, and the Wind River Reservation forms the southern boundary—tribal permits required to hunt reservation lands and they are issued sparingly. US-26/287 is the paved spine through the valley. Dubois is the supply hub—gas, the Cowboy Cafe, basic groceries, hot springs—and Lander is south of the reservation. Cell service drops past town. Elk in the timbered foothills, mule deer in the foothill mahogany and aspen, antelope on the valley sage, bighorn sheep on Whiskey Mountain (very limited tags). The country is wind country—Dubois is one of the windiest spots in Wyoming.