Sinks Canyon - Corridor to the Winds

Here in Lander, Wyoming, we're perched on the southeastern end of the Wind River Range, south of the Tetons and Yellowstone.  The Wind River Range is known for its striking beauty, and we are lucky to have easy access into the "other side" of the mountain range through Sinks Canyon, which has been protected both by Sinks Canyon State Park and the Shoshone National Forest.  There are miles and miles of wilderness.  The canyon was formed by the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River (pronounced pu-PO-zhe) and by glaciation which dropped its terminal moraine right where we hiked.

Our hike today was focused on the "Sinks," which is the location where the Popo Agie River sinks underground into a limestone cave or formation, continues underground for a quarter mile or so, then reappears at the "Rise," to continue its tumbling run down the canyon into Lander and on to its confluence with the Wind River in the east.

The river is not to be trifled with.  Here's a photo of it today - early June.  According to the park ranger, the spring snow melts have not even started to flood, so you can imagine how imposing the river is at full flood:

Scientists are not entirely sure what happens to the river as it heads underground into a limestone cave:

However, they have used dye tests and found that the water takes from two to six hours to re-emerge at the Rise - a quarter mile away.  This suggests that the water is percolating through a network of cracks and fissures in the limestone.  It does not have a clear path underground, or it would re-emerge much more quickly.  There cannot be a huge pool or lake underground, or the dye test would not have produced such strong results even within several hours.  The cave entrance is too narrow for spelunkers, so no one has been able to investigate in person.

Here is a short video showing the power of the river as it dives into the Sinks.

Downstream, the water bursts out of many little gaps in the rocks at ground level, and bubbles up out of the sand, creating a large sand bar and pool:

If you look closely, you can see some huge rainbow and brown trout holding along the right bank of the Rise, by the building, and then down along the line where the water gets deeper past the sand bar.  Fishing is prohibited, but people are allowed to feed the fish using special food sold at the site, so these trout are fat and happy.  Some weigh as much as 10 pounds and are the largest trout we've ever seen.

After exploring the Sinks and Rise of the river, we set out on a hike up the canyon, first along a trail newly carved by the park rangers, called the North Slope trail.  It follows the northern slope of the cliffs that sit to the south of the river, climbs quickly to spectacular views up the canyon toward the mountains of the Wind River Range, and then dips back down to the river.

Here's Kathy hiding amid the spectacular golden wildflowers strewn not only all along the path, but scattered out across hillside meadows all along the north slope:

Another view of a meadow stretching up the north slope:

At the top of our climb up the north slope, we get this spectacular view up the canyon toward the mountaintops in the distance.  You can see how the glaciers shaped this canyon.  A road runs up the canyon to the right of the river.  The paved road ends just a couple miles up the river, but continues as gravel for another 30 miles or so out to a state highway to the south and west.

While the upper reaches of the north slope are alpine and dry, the lower sections near the river are simply edenic.  Here's Dave walking along a boardwalk through one of many groves of quaking aspen:

We found a shady spot on a bank of the river to have lunch.  Note the smiles on our faces as we listen to the burbling water and watch it rush by our feet:

The North Slope trail ends at a junction where we can cross to a campground over a cool suspension bridge.  Here's Dave bouncing on the bridge:

From the campground, we hiked further up along the north slope near the river to a second campground.  We encountered a number of striking features, including this old wooden fence with a stile that was barely wide enough for us to fit through:

At the top of our hike, another suspension bridge crossed to the second campground.  We paused to enjoy the rush of the river again before turning back the way we had come.

We retraced our steps back to the trailhead and visitor center, tired, but energized by the absolute beauty of the place and excited about the next couple of days of hiking we have ahead of us in this beautiful canyon.