Last updated: June 13, 2026
Place
The Needles and Yellow Creek Camp
Photo/L Kreutzer
Quick Facts
Location:
Signed highway viewing area on Yellow Creek Rd, about 7 miles south of Evanston, WY. GPS for viewing area 41.165646 -111.053215
Significance:
An emigrant campground sprawled across both sides of Yellow Creek from the 1840s through the 1860s, and many travelers remarked in their journals about the nearby geological formation called The Needles. In 1847, Latter-day Saints climbed to the top of The Needles to offer prayers for Brigham Young and others of the vanguard company who were suffering from mountain fever; and in the 1860s, A Pony Express and Overland Stage station, Needle Rock Station, operated here.
Designation:
Historic site on the Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, and California NHTs.
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private
Amenities
1 listed
Scenic View/Photo Spot
The Needles, at the Wyoming/Utah border, is a spiky, fin-like conglomerate
formation that runs down the spine of an unnamed mountain to Coyote Creek. Orson Pratt, a member of Brigham Young’s 1847 vanguard company, wrote, “The rocks are from 100 to 200 feet in height, and rise up in perpendicular and shelving form, being broken or worked into many curious forms by the rains. Some quite large boulders were cemented in this rock.”
During their 3-night stay at Coyote Creek, Pratt and other Latter-day Saints climbed to the top of The Needles to offer prayers for Brigham Young and other members of the company who had been stricken with mountain fever. The wagon trail and Coyote Creek curl around the formation to the west side of the mountain, where Coyote flows into with Yellow Creek.
Emigrants camped along both sides of Yellow Creek, but the ford was miry and littered with boulders that had detached from their spires and tumbled into the stream. Forty-niner William Johnston reported “great difficulties” in the crossing, with stumbling, lurching mules unseating their teamsters for a dunking in the stream. Men lined up along the opposite creekbank, laughing as they watched other drivers get a sudden dousing.
One teamster, expecting to be thrown into the creek, “stripped himself bare” before urging his mule into the ford but, wrote Johnston, the mule “moved forward with a firmness and steadiness of tread which no mule that ever existed could have exceeded.” Upon the teamster’s arrival, still bare and dry, on the opposite bank, “the very mountains seemed to shake” with howls of laughter from his audience.
Along the trail west of Yellow Creek stood the Needle Rock Pony Express and Overland Stage Station. Little is known about this station, but its location on private land today is marked with a silver fencepost. Visitors can view The Needles, the Yellow Creek camping area, and the Needle Rock Station vicinity from a signed section Yellow Creek Road.
To reach the viewing area, take I-80 Exit 3. Westbound drivers will turn left at the end of the exit to Harrison Drive and cross beneath the freeway. Harrison becomes Overthrust Rd and then Yellow Creek Rd/Summit County Rd 151. Eastbound drivers will turn right at the end of the exit, directly onto Overthrust Rd. In about 7 miles, watch for a brown sign reading, “Historical View Site/The Needles/ Needles Rock Stage and Pony Express Station/1861.” Pull over—there is no turnout—and look left (east) to spot the distinctive Needles formation.
The emigrant camping area and creek ford are at the foot of the mountain, and Needle Rock Station stood in the pasture about ¼ mile from the highway. Brigham Young’s Needle Camp, where his worsening fevers and delirium forced some of his party to camp for 3 nights, is behind the Needles formation, not visible from the road. Please view this private property from the roadside.
formation that runs down the spine of an unnamed mountain to Coyote Creek. Orson Pratt, a member of Brigham Young’s 1847 vanguard company, wrote, “The rocks are from 100 to 200 feet in height, and rise up in perpendicular and shelving form, being broken or worked into many curious forms by the rains. Some quite large boulders were cemented in this rock.”
During their 3-night stay at Coyote Creek, Pratt and other Latter-day Saints climbed to the top of The Needles to offer prayers for Brigham Young and other members of the company who had been stricken with mountain fever. The wagon trail and Coyote Creek curl around the formation to the west side of the mountain, where Coyote flows into with Yellow Creek.
Emigrants camped along both sides of Yellow Creek, but the ford was miry and littered with boulders that had detached from their spires and tumbled into the stream. Forty-niner William Johnston reported “great difficulties” in the crossing, with stumbling, lurching mules unseating their teamsters for a dunking in the stream. Men lined up along the opposite creekbank, laughing as they watched other drivers get a sudden dousing.
One teamster, expecting to be thrown into the creek, “stripped himself bare” before urging his mule into the ford but, wrote Johnston, the mule “moved forward with a firmness and steadiness of tread which no mule that ever existed could have exceeded.” Upon the teamster’s arrival, still bare and dry, on the opposite bank, “the very mountains seemed to shake” with howls of laughter from his audience.
Along the trail west of Yellow Creek stood the Needle Rock Pony Express and Overland Stage Station. Little is known about this station, but its location on private land today is marked with a silver fencepost. Visitors can view The Needles, the Yellow Creek camping area, and the Needle Rock Station vicinity from a signed section Yellow Creek Road.
To reach the viewing area, take I-80 Exit 3. Westbound drivers will turn left at the end of the exit to Harrison Drive and cross beneath the freeway. Harrison becomes Overthrust Rd and then Yellow Creek Rd/Summit County Rd 151. Eastbound drivers will turn right at the end of the exit, directly onto Overthrust Rd. In about 7 miles, watch for a brown sign reading, “Historical View Site/The Needles/ Needles Rock Stage and Pony Express Station/1861.” Pull over—there is no turnout—and look left (east) to spot the distinctive Needles formation.
The emigrant camping area and creek ford are at the foot of the mountain, and Needle Rock Station stood in the pasture about ¼ mile from the highway. Brigham Young’s Needle Camp, where his worsening fevers and delirium forced some of his party to camp for 3 nights, is behind the Needles formation, not visible from the road. Please view this private property from the roadside.
Site Information
Location (Signed highway viewing area on Yellow Creek Rd, about 7 miles south of Evanston, WY. GPS for viewing area 41.165646 -111.053215)
Safety Considerations