Zebulon Pike, much like Lewis and Clarke, was tasked with exploring the plains and Rocky Mountains. However, he wrote back that the Front Range area of the U.S., including most of Wyoming where the story is set, was a vast desert. This resulted in many people moving to the west coast and other parts of the American West, but the Front Range and high plains areas remained sparsely populated. Thus the setting for Annie Proulx's story of Brokeback Mountain: a rural place where people eck out a hardscrabble living and enlightened thinking is rare.