Wind River Canyon
Wind River Canyon National Scenic Byway
Wyoming’s newest Scenic Byway, the Wind River Canyon National Scenic Byway, stretches for 34 miles beginning in the arid desert plains near Shoshoni, Wyoming and then traveling through the spectacular Wind River Canyon before ending near Thermopolis, the site of the world’s largest mineral hot spring. The highlight of the scenic byway is Wind River Canyon, renown for its sheer rock walls, which tower 2,000 feet above the valley floor in a series of steep, vegetated slopes and vertical cliffs.
Visitors can start their journey with a malt or burger from the locally famous Yellowstone Drug Store in the town of Shoshoni. Fortified and ready to go, you’ll follow the highway west to Boysen Reservoir home to the best walleye fishing in Wyoming. The landscape around Boysen is one of dramatic, surreal contrasts with the sparkling blue water of the reservoir juxtaposed against the startling brown desolation of the surrounding countryside. Several campgrounds and picnic areas are located along the shores of the reservoir offering visitors access to the cooling waters of the lake and a reprieve from their cars before they drive into Wind River Canyon, which is mostly on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The drive through the canyon quickly becomes dramatic as the river plunges its way downstream, dropping rapidly in the first few miles and carving through layer after layer of rocks beginning with vertical pink and black Precambrian cliffs, which at 2.9 billion years old, are some of the oldest rocks found on earth. Signposts along the highway identify and date the different rock layers for travelers as they pass by.
For more adventurous types, you can arrange a whitewater trip through the canyon. The upper canyon has some exciting rapids and a Native American outfitter (link to company) offers daily rafting and fishing trips in the summer. The river’s hydraulics create great fishing. With lots of eddies and boulders to drop a line into, the Wind River is a blue-ribbon trout stream with some world-class fishing available, both from the shore or in a boat. You’ll need a special Indian Reservation Fishing Permit to fish most of the canyon.
Just outside the canyon’s mouth, the Wind River changes its name and becomes the Bighorn River. This curious detail dates back to the Lewis and Clark (http://www.lewis-clark.org/) expedition of 1803-1806. The Corps of Discovery, as the expedition was known, was traveling far to the north of Wind River Canyon when they named one of the rivers they bypassed the Big Horn River, not knowing that the Crow Indians, who lived near the river’s headwaters in the Absaroka Mountains, already called it the Wind River. Both names were firmly established before settlers realized it was the same river. Today the Wind River officially becomes the Big Horn at the “Wedding of the Waters” just outside the northern edge of Wind River Canyon.
All along the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway, you can expect to see lots of wildlife, including raptors, waterfowl, pronghorn, mule deer and bighorn sheep. In 1995, 43 bighorn were moved from Whiskey Mountain, near Dubois, Wyoming to attempt to reestablish a population of bighorn sheep in the canyon. Today the herd is estimated to contain around 100 animals.
Wyoming’s newest Scenic Byway, the Wind River Canyon National Scenic Byway, stretches for 34 miles beginning in the arid desert plains near Shoshoni, Wyoming and then traveling through the spectacular Wind River Canyon before ending near Thermopolis, the site of the world’s largest mineral hot spring. The highlight of the scenic byway is Wind River Canyon, renown for its sheer rock walls, which tower 2,000 feet above the valley floor in a series of steep, vegetated slopes and vertical cliffs.
Visitors can start their journey with a malt or burger from the locally famous Yellowstone Drug Store in the town of Shoshoni. Fortified and ready to go, you’ll follow the highway west to Boysen Reservoir home to the best walleye fishing in Wyoming. The landscape around Boysen is one of dramatic, surreal contrasts with the sparkling blue water of the reservoir juxtaposed against the startling brown desolation of the surrounding countryside. Several campgrounds and picnic areas are located along the shores of the reservoir offering visitors access to the cooling waters of the lake and a reprieve from their cars before they drive into Wind River Canyon, which is mostly on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The drive through the canyon quickly becomes dramatic as the river plunges its way downstream, dropping rapidly in the first few miles and carving through layer after layer of rocks beginning with vertical pink and black Precambrian cliffs, which at 2.9 billion years old, are some of the oldest rocks found on earth. Signposts along the highway identify and date the different rock layers for travelers as they pass by.
For more adventurous types, you can arrange a whitewater trip through the canyon. The upper canyon has some exciting rapids and a Native American outfitter (link to company) offers daily rafting and fishing trips in the summer. The river’s hydraulics create great fishing. With lots of eddies and boulders to drop a line into, the Wind River is a blue-ribbon trout stream with some world-class fishing available, both from the shore or in a boat. You’ll need a special Indian Reservation Fishing Permit to fish most of the canyon.
Just outside the canyon’s mouth, the Wind River changes its name and becomes the Bighorn River. This curious detail dates back to the Lewis and Clark (http://www.lewis-clark.org/) expedition of 1803-1806. The Corps of Discovery, as the expedition was known, was traveling far to the north of Wind River Canyon when they named one of the rivers they bypassed the Big Horn River, not knowing that the Crow Indians, who lived near the river’s headwaters in the Absaroka Mountains, already called it the Wind River. Both names were firmly established before settlers realized it was the same river. Today the Wind River officially becomes the Big Horn at the “Wedding of the Waters” just outside the northern edge of Wind River Canyon.
All along the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway, you can expect to see lots of wildlife, including raptors, waterfowl, pronghorn, mule deer and bighorn sheep. In 1995, 43 bighorn were moved from Whiskey Mountain, near Dubois, Wyoming to attempt to reestablish a population of bighorn sheep in the canyon. Today the herd is estimated to contain around 100 animals.
