A wagon wheel was found stuck in the mud and the “place where the wagon wheel was found” was later named Wagon Wheel Gap.

Colorado's upper Rio Grande River, from the Rio Grande Reservoir above Creede through Wagon Wheel Gap and South Fork to Del Norte is "a high-country angler's paradise…an undiscovered paradise," according to American Angler, the magazine of fly fishing and fly tying.

The Rio Grande is a Trout Angler's Paradise near Creede Colorado.

Farming began at Wagon Wheel Gap as early as 1840 by western settlers.

This Interpretive facility is situated as a rest stop on the Silverthread Scenic Byway. It offers ample graveled parking lot, and interpretive signs explaining the Gap Geology and how it was named. It is not handicap accessible. There is also a small gravel boat launching ramp for rafts and small fishing boats to use on the river.

Public Access to wade fishing for trout from the parking lot.

The town of Wagon Wheel Gap was the scene of several early Indian battles and it's said Kit Carson's brother-in-law farmed here in 1840. The town's railroad station is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway begins at South Fork, continues through Wagon Wheel Gap and Creede and ends at Lake City. South Fork is situated at the western edge of the San Luis Valley, one of the biggest intermountain valleys in the world.

Rio Grande, Spanish Río Grande del Norte, or (in Mexico) Río Bravo, or Río Bravo del Norte, fifth longest river of North America, and the 20th longest in the world, flows through the state of New Mexico then forming the border between the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico. Rising as a clear, snow-fed mountain stream more than 12,000 feet above sea level in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Rio Grande descends across steppes and deserts, watering rich agricultural regions as it flows on its way to the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, Texas. The total length of the river is about 1,900 miles.