OUR 2019 WIND RIVER RANGE TRIP Day 4

by vols4everus · Published 06/13/2020 · Updated 05/08/2021

The Washakie Museum in Worland, Wyoming. Although open daily through the summer, they were closed on the Sunday that we arrived.

That is a replica of a life-sized mammoth in front of the Washakie Museum

Sunday 10/6/19 (Onward to the Bighorn Mountains)

According to Doug, our Saturday night sleeping experience was the worst Motel 6 experience ever. The heater did not work very well, it provided incredibly dry air, was excessively loud and was a thoroughly uncomfortable experience. Not to mention the bathroom was not the best I have ever experienced; way too small, not clean, and the shower curtains were not sufficient, so the floor stayed wet all night. In other words, there were no redeeming qualities for this Motel 6. However, I still consider the one we stayed at while visiting Washington D.C., a decade earlier, as the worst.

Just as all good things come to an end, however, so do the bad. And Sunday morning, October 6, saw us on the move bright and early. It was cold, but clear and sunny. There was not a cloud in the sky. We made good time following US 26/WY 789 northeast and in twenty minutes or so we were pulling into the town of Shoshoni. With a population of less than 700 citizens there isn’t much to do in this semi-desert climate. In some years they don’t even receive four inches of rainfall.

It is about thirty-three miles from Shoshoni to Thermopolis. In Laurence Parent’s Scenic Driving WYOMING, this is Scenic Drive #25 Wind River Canyon: Shoshoni to Thermopolis. US 20/WY 789 covers this area threading its way on a mostly northern course until you reach the somewhat-larger city of Thermopolis. The county seat of Hot Springs County had a population of about 2,850 in 2018 and is best known for its hot springs. In fact, the world’s largest hot mineral spring is in nearby Hot Springs State Park.

That is the Boysen Reservoir to the left, or west, of US 20. Those are the Owl Creek Mountains in the distance.

From Shoshoni we continued north on US 20/WY 789. Around three miles after leaving the town, we saw the Boysen Reservoir on the left side of the road. Halfway through this scenic drive we left the reservoir behind and entered the foothills of two mountain ranges, the Owl Creek Mountains to the left (west) side of the road, and the Bridger (Wyoming version) mountains are to the right, or east of the road. The mountains rise abruptly, and you enter the Wind River Canyon almost immediately.

Wind River Canyon, so named because the river with that name runs through it, while very picturesque is not nearly as nice a view as its more distinguished cousins, the Grand Canyon in Arizona or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. But it was a good drive, and I got several worthwhile photographs.

This 185-mile long river, which actually starts near the summit of Togwotee Pass, an area where the Wind River and Absaroka Ranges come together in northwest Wyoming, travels southeast before turning north at Riverton and flowing through the aforementioned canyon. This body of water, changes names just after it passes through the canyon, and becomes the more commonly-known Bighorn River just outside Thermopolis. From there, the watercourse continues north, past the west side of the mountains named after it, until finally emptying into the Yellowstone River about fifty miles north by northeast of Hardin, Montana.

Wind River Canyon; the further you get in, the more magnificent it gets.

There are few places to pull off for photographic opportunities of the Wind River Canyon. When you find one, Take It!

Wind River Canyon. This was a great pullout.

The Wind River Canyon is a narrow but steep-walled V-shaped canyon, in accordance with its riverine formation, which exposes Cambrian Period Geological Formations (500-600 million years old). There is a sizable pullout area to take a break and stretch your legs, but no restroom facilities, near mile marker 124.

Round Top Mountain just outside Thermopolis, Wyoming.

The snow-capped peaks looming, seemingly, directly ahead are, presumably, the Bighorns and become visible well before reaching the intersection of Wyoming Routes 431 and 432.

That’s the Bighorn Mountains in the distance.

For future reference, Wyoming 31 from Manderson east to Hyattsville and Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site (22 miles) would provide access to additional portions of the southwestern Bighorn Mountains that we otherwise would not see via US 16 (Cloud Peak Scenic Byway) and US 14 (northern route). Manderson is about twenty miles north of Worland so we did not visit it on this trip.

That’s a mammoth. It was in front of the Washakie Museum in Worland, Wyoming.

At the Washakie Museum in Worland. We turned right onto US 16 E. This is the southern route across the Bighorn Mountains.

It was sometime after noon when we turned right onto US Highway 16, the southern route across the Bighorn Mountains, at Worland, Wyoming. Before heading to the high country, though, we stopped at the Washakie Museum. It was Sunday, however, and the museum with the same name as the most famous chief of the Eastern Shoshoni Tribe, was closed. There is a life-sized Mammoth in front of the museum, and I snapped several photographs of it. Someday I will return and visit the inside of this fine building.

Ten Sleep, Wyoming, the starting point of the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway.

US 16, otherwise known as the Cloud Peak Scenic Byway, is Scenic Drive #25 Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway in Laurence Parent’s Scenic Driving WYOMING. At one time, it was the main route to Yellowstone National Park from the eastern United States. The twenty-five miles from Worland to the small town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming is the eastern most point of the Big Horn Basin. This town of barely 300 people is the jumping off point to the southern Big Horn Mountains.

Ten Sleep Canyon is the true entrance to the Bighorn Mountains, from the west side.

Ten Sleep Canyon, a short but extraordinary stretch of highway takes you into the Bighorn Mountains from the west.

The Cottonwoods along Ten Sleep Creek are transitioning, but have not reached their fall splendor yet.

Ten Sleep Creek rushes down from the Bighorn Mountains and forms the Ten Sleep Canyon. It is a beautiful drive.

Five miles east of Ten Sleep, the cottonwoods adjacent to the road are transitioning nicely from lime green to yellow, both soft and vibrant shades of yellow. After about seven miles, we began our ascent of Ten Sleep Canyon which, according to the sign at the pullout nine miles from that town, was glacially carved within the last 250,000 years. Beginning about 75 million years ago, this area began to rise, and the Bighorns eventually reached “an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet,” which would rival the Andes of today. The tallest peak, of this mountain range, in modern-times is Cloud Peak at 13,175 feet.

Sheltered snowfields were becoming visible only ten miles into our traverse of the southern Bighorns, and we were nowhere near the maximum altitude of the highway, which bodes well as a compositional contrast between the brilliant, blue, cloudless sky, dark green conifers, and the aspen we will undoubtedly see at higher altitude.

The rock formations in Ten Sleep Canyon were magnificent. Although small, as canyons go, this short drive left me awe-struck the first time I viewed it in the 90s.

We entered the Bighorn National Forest, fifteen miles east of Ten Sleep, where the “Cloud Peak Skyway” officially begins. Lake Point, which is nineteen miles east of Ten Sleep, provides a pull off on the east side. Meadowlark Lake, which at 8,462 feet, was visible to the east from this vantage point. It was slightly below road level where we stood, so I would estimate the altitude of Lake Point at, or slightly above, 8,500 feet. Incidentally, I would say there was about two inches of snow on the ground where I shot my photos of that lake. Obviously, snow depth will only increase as we approach Powder Pass, which I believe is 1,000 feet higher.