10 Notorious Outlaw Hideouts You Can Visit

If you love stories about bandits, frontier justice, and narrow escapes, you can actually visit many places where real outlaws once hid from the law. These locations are not just dusty footnotes in history. You can walk through tunnels, mountain cabins, and steep canyons that once echoed with the sound of horses and whispered planning. Standing in these places makes old stories feel real, and you understand how desperate and dangerous life as a fugitive really was. Each hideout offers a perspective on history that you cannot appreciate from books alone.

1. The Hole in the Wall, Wyoming

This remote canyon in northern Wyoming served as a stronghold for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. When you arrive, you can see how the rugged terrain gave fugitives the upper hand. The narrow passes, natural cover, and open draws made it nearly impossible for lawmen to surprise anyone hiding inside. You can hike the same trails the gang once used to plan robberies and ride out under the stars. The landscape still feels wild and untouched, so you understand why outlaws chose it as a reliable place to vanish.

2. Robbers Roost, Utah

Robbers Roost sits in a remote part of Utah and became another trusted hideaway for Butch Cassidy. When you hike into the canyons, you realize why lawmen rarely try to follow. The jagged sandstone walls and twisted paths allowed outlaws to spot pursuers long before they arrived. You can explore hidden alcoves and narrow trails where horses once stood waiting for the next escape. The isolation is still strong today, so the silence and scenery make it easy to imagine the life of a bandit who needed a safe place to regroup.

3. Jesse James Farm, Missouri

You can visit Jesse James’s childhood home near Kearney, Missouri, where he sometimes hid between robberies. The farm sits on quiet land, surrounded by rolling fields and simple wooden structures that still tell the story of a rural upbringing. Inside the house, you can see period furnishings and bullet holes from a 1875 raid. Walking through the rooms gives you a sense of how this rural environment shaped the mind of someone who would become one of the most famous outlaws in American history.

3. The Dalton Gang Hideout, Kansas

In Meade, Kansas, you can explore the Dalton Gang’s old hideout. A simple house sits above a secret tunnel the gang used to slip away unseen when lawmen got too close. You can still walk the passage and picture the gang scrambling for safety in the middle of the night. The house itself looks like any small frontier home, which made it the perfect cover. A visit helps you picture daily life when an ordinary building could conceal some of the most wanted fugitives in the region.

4. St. Elmo Ghost Town, Colorado

St. Elmo once bustled with miners, saloons, and secret safe houses. When you walk its empty streets, you can imagine how this isolated mountain town made a good place to blend in after trouble. Many buildings remain standing, so you can explore the old wooden structures and picture the outlaws who passed through while pretending to be just another face in the crowd. The quiet mountain air and preserved storefronts give you a strong sense of the uneasy calm that must have filled the streets when someone on the run stopped to rest.

5. St. James Hotel, Cimarron, New Mexico

The St. James Hotel served as a safe stop for outlaws, gunslingers, and gamblers in the late 1800s. When you walk its hallways, you can still see bullet holes in the ceiling from heated fights and late night standoffs. Many guests slept with guns within reach, never knowing who might kick in a door before sunrise. You can stay in the same rooms where famous figures once rested before continuing their travels. The hotel offers an atmosphere that helps you understand the constant tension of frontier life, where danger follows you even indoors.

6. Cave-in-Rock, Illinois

You can explore Cave-in-Rock State Park along the Ohio River, where river pirates and frontier outlaws once operated. The massive cave sits in a rock bluff, large enough to hide boats and men away from sight. When you step inside, you understand how criminals could hide their loot and plan their next move while listening for anyone approaching from the river. The cave has changed over time, but you still sense the danger and secrecy that must have filled the space when it served as both a refuge and a staging point.

7. Old Bent’s Fort, Colorado

At Old Bent’s Fort, you can walk through reconstructed rooms of a trading post that once drew explorers, soldiers, and outlaws in search of opportunity. The adobe walls show how the fort could protect anyone seeking shelter from law enforcement, weather, or rival bands. While it was never built for outlaws alone, its remote location on the frontier made it an easy stop for anyone who needed supplies before disappearing again. The fort lets you picture the uneasy meetings that must have happened between respectable traders and people avoiding the law.

8. Bodie, Ghost Town, California

Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay, meaning buildings stand as they looked when people walked away. You can wander the old streets and feel the tough atmosphere of a mining town where law and order were sometimes secondary to survival. Some buildings once held gamblers and gunfighters who passed through while running from trouble elsewhere. The cold winds and silent houses give you a sense of how lonely and tense life must have been for anyone waiting to learn whether lawmen were closing in.

9. Panamint City, California

You can hike into the Panamint Mountains to reach the remote ruins of Panamint City, a place that once sheltered outlaws fleeing justice during the mining boom. The steep canyon walls and long approach make the journey challenging even today, so you understand how riders could vanish for weeks without a trace. Rusted machinery, scattered stone foundations, and weathered structures show how people lived with one eye on the hills, always ready to pack up and move if a posse got close. When you walk through the empty site, you feel the isolation and pressure that come with choosing a life outside the law.