Small university town (15,000 at the time) in the midst of cowboy country. OK, it was the only university in Wyoming (a state still so small of population that it still has only one representative in Congress), the town was Laramie. EDIT, later: The U. of Wyoming athletic teams are, of course, the "Cowboys." Starting thirty miles west of town, you could start out and end up halfway down Colorado and come back again. We did this with the horses (6-7 weeks' trip) every summer. It's not something I'd want to do with horses now, but it certainly would make a feasible backpack as long as you don't mind some road walking. In fact, about 2/3 of our trip most years was on what is now the Continental Divide Trail.