We had a day to explore but we had no idea where to go around Lander, WY. Fortunately, very close to town is Sinks Canyon State Park which is located in a canyon running into the Wind River Range of the Rockies. Most of the terrain west of Lander appears to be a gentle climb up some enormous hills stretching from Lander at about 5500 feet of elevation up to around 9000 feet.
Sinks Canyon is a jagged gash in this otherwise smooth terrain and the Popo Agie River runs down the middle of it. Popo Agie’s pronunciation seems to be a local problem. Some around here pronounce it Popo Aggie or Popo Agee but the Shoshone called it Poopoo Assey. I like their version the best. It sounds as if one had shit his/her trousers. The canyon has massive rock bluffs on each side of the river which has a very unique characteristic; the whole volume of the river tumbles over boulders, takes a big U-turn and disappears into a cavern under the south bluffs. The river re-emerges a little over a quarter mile down the canyon in a big blue and green lagoon. There is uncertainty about the path the river takes to go from where it sinks into the cavern to where it erupts again a bit further down the valley. Although the distance between these points is only about a quarter mile, it takes the water two hours to make the underground passage. There are gigantic rainbow trout visible in the lagoon. Fishing here is prohibited, maybe because the huge fish look like they could kick your ass. Many are over two feet long.
After checking out the river’s disappearing and reappearing act, we continued up the canyon on a long series of switchbacks up to about 8500 feet where we found a big reservoir called Frye Lake and a bald eagle gorging himself on a trout he has snagged out of the reservoir. We turned around and crept back down the switchbacks toward Lander where we took a spin through town to a Ford dealer where we purchased new windshield jets that spontaneously failed earlier today. Lander has a nice downtown section with lots of bronze statues created by a local firm with the ability to make giant castings. I understand they have a 40 foot tall bronze horse at the factory.
We got some Sinks Canyon photos. To see them, click the asterisk *