For many, the enduring images of 2024 are of Wyomingites campaigning, casting votes and bringing fresh creativity to the democratic process. The past year brought much more than a historic election, however, and WyoFile was there to capture it all. This includes Wyoming’s ever-fascinating animals, the self-propelled endeavors of hardy denizens, as well as moments of mourning and transition. Here, organized loosely by theme, are our best photographs of 2024. Smoke from the Pack Trail Fire fills the low-lying nooks and crannies of the Leidy Highlands along the east side of Jackson Hole in October 2024. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile The last year will forever smell like smoke and carry fear of loss from wildfires. The lightning-caused Elk Fire burns in Big Goose Canyon near Sheridan on Oct. 10, 2024. (Daniel Kenah/WyoFile) Preschooler Madilyn Liechty shows off her hands to teacher Dolores Synegard while doing an art project at the Evanston Child Development Center on Jan. 25, 2023. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Reporter Katie Klingsporn documented Wyoming’s students from preschool to high school graduation and the moments in between. Riverton High School students are allowed to check their smartphones during the lunch break, which these two do in December 2024. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Graduate Daylene Robertson adjusts her toddler son’s cap during the graduation ceremony at Arapaho Charter High School, May 18, 2024. (Kyle Duba/WyoFile) Life in the Equality State is, so often, lived among animals, wild and domestic. Luna was born the runt of triplets, and her mother won’t nurse her. The owners of Doyle Family Farm in Riverton have been bottle feeding her as a result. They only name the bottle babies. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Nathaiya Robinson, 8, of Casper, shows off her catch during free fishing day June 1, 2024 at Yesness Park in Casper. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile) Caitlin Tan’s 3-week-old cremello foal, who’s not yet named, forded a diversion ditch for the first time on the afternoon of June 17. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) Children from Green River named their newly adopted horse Rocco even before he was loaded into the family’s trailer at the BLM wild horse and burro adoption near Rock Springs. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) A herd of about 300 elk grazes private land in the Iron Mountain area in February 2024. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) Jack Malmberg drives a two-horse team on a haying job near Lander. Malmberg, 84, puts up hundreds of tons of hay each season using Belgian horses. (Nate Shoutis) A commemorative wreath for Grizzly 399 on the Jackson Town Square on October 23, 2024. (Angus M. Thuermer, Jr./WyoFile) Animals even made their way into the lawmaking process. A failed amendment of Sen. Eric Barlow’s (R-Gillette) is hooked on the horn of a yak skull on the Senate floor. (Maggie Mullen/WyoFile) Lawmakers endured long days and tense moments during the legislative session. Sen. Larry Hicks, right, confers with Senate President Ogden Driskill, middle, in February at the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile) Creativity and collaboration were part of the process too. On the closing afternoon of the Wyoming Legislature’s 2024 budget session, Sen. Affie Ellis (R-Cheyenne) shows a Legislative Service Office employee a quilt she knitted to commemorate the 67th Legislature’s upper chamber. A design in each star represents the 31 members of the Wyoming Senate. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) Politics didn’t just play out in Cheyenne. Gabe Saint, president of Turning Point USA’s University of Wyoming chapter, speaks with Gov. Mark Gordon on Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Laramie. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile) During an election year, impassioned politics were on display across the state. With the Grand Teton looming behind her, Margie Aeckerle waits by the highway hoping to get a glimpse of former President Donald Trump during his fundraising visit to Jackson Hole. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) A woman leans over her ballot on Election Day 2024 in the Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse, a polling station in Lander. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) On Halloween, voters line up to cast their early ballots in Jackson. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) After the ballots were counted, WyoFile was there to document candidates’ joys of victory and agonies of defeat. Ivan Posey hugs a supporter on Nov. 5, 2024 after learning that he won the House District 33 race. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Incumbent Rep. Clark Stith and partner Lisa Ryberg eye disappointing primary results at the Sweetwater County Courthouse on Aug. 20, 2024. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) The loss of beloved community members reminded us that some things are more important than politics. A memorial for Bobby Maher sits at the entrance to Casper’s Eastridge Mall, where he was stabbed to death on April 7, 2024. (Joshua Wolfson/WyoFile) Mourners pause Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in front of a memorial honoring three members of the University of Wyoming swim and diving team who died days earlier in a car crash. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile) A funeral procession for Sgt. Nevada Krinkee travels down Main Street in Sheridan on Friday, March 1. (Daniel Kenah/WyoFile) The year brought hard work, athletic endeavors and adventure. Grace Thigpen, 16, prepares to take aim with the help of guide Mike Ellenwood on Oct. 11, 2024 during the Wyoming Women’s Antelope Hunt. After hours of stalking Thigpen harvested her first antelope. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Cyclists enjoy the car-free period on the road between the West Yellowstone and Mammoth entrances in Yellowstone National Park on Sunday, April 14, 2024. (Angus M. Thuermer, Jr./WyoFile) Joe Stone closes a gate at Johnny Behind the Rocks, a BLM trail area south of Lander, in August 2024. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) University of Wyoming ROTC cadets run to the Colorado-Wyoming line to hand the Border War football game ball off to Colorado State University cadets who will run it to Fort Collins on Nov. 14, 2024. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile) And when the road got rough, as it did when Highway 22 collapsed on Teton Pass, WyoFile covered that too. Reporters, photographers and elected officials receive a briefing at the Highway 22 detour site on Teton Pass. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) May your path through 2025 be smooth and full of wonder. A microburst brings rain and a rainbow in southern Wyoming. (Madelyn Beck/WyoFile) Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS streaks across the sky above the Bighorn Mountains. (Daniel Kenah/WyoFile) The post Photographs that defined 2024, from milestones to memorials appeared first on WyoFile .