The Nowood River is a river in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. The 95 miles (152.9 km) river rises in the Bridger Mountains

Bridger Mountains (Wyoming)

The Bridger Mountains are a short subrange of the Rocky Mountains, approximately long, in central Wyoming in the United States. The range forms a bridge between the Owl Creek Mountains to the west and the southern end of the Bighorn Mountains to the east. The Wind River passes through the gap...

 on the southeastern side of the Bighorn Basin

Bighorn Basin

The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Bighorn Mountains on the east, and the Owl Creek Mountains and Bridger Mountains on the south...

. The stream runs north through the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains and past the town of Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep, Wyoming

ŋTen Sleep is a town in Washakie County, Wyoming, United States. It is located in the Big Horn Basin in the western foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, about 26 miles east of Worland and 59 miles west of Buffalo....

 where it is joined by Tensleep Creek

Tensleep Creek

Tensleep Creek is a stream that originates in the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area in the U.S state of Wyoming. Lakes that are along the river are Misty Moon, Lake Marion and Lake Helen. Tensleep Creek is a tributary of the Nowood River which then flows into the Bighorn River....

. The river then flows out of the Bighorn mountains to join the Big Horn River near Manderson

Manderson, Wyoming

Manderson is a town in Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 104 at the 2000 census. The town was originally called Alamo, but it was renamed in 1889 in honor of Charles F...

. Local tradition relates that a group of men arrived on the river and found no wood to construct a fire, thus the name "No wood".