Wright, Wyo. – the site of the Black Thunder Mine – is not an easy place to get to. But it’s one of the world’s largest mines, so we made the trek.

You can fly into Gillette, which is about an hour away, but those flights are often canceled. We decided to drive from Denver, which is about six hours away (but runs through the town of Douglas, the self-proclaimed Home of the Jackalope!).

The land out here is beautiful but different than anywhere else we’ve been. There are rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see but (due to the semiarid climate) little in the way of tall vegetation.

When we arrived at the mine site, we couldn’t help but notice that everything about the Black Thunder Mine is enormous. The coal field continues in every direction as far as the horizon. The trucks, often carrying loads of more than 240 tons, have wheels that are taller than we are!

And as for Black Thunder’s dragline excavator, which is the biggest in the world… you’ll have to see the video to see for yourself.