Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Sinks Canyon

Sinks Canyon Park, Wyoming

42 44.914 N 108 48.575 W, 6414 feet altitude.

At first it seemed that Wyoming would be very boring in terms of scenery. Then we came to hills and the beauty returned. Rocky, snow covered mountains could be seen ahead.

We crossed the continental divide. We were surprised because we hadn't crossed The Rocky Mountains. Turns out, we stumbled upon South Pass where settlers followed The Oregon Trail. No big mountains for them to cross.

We took a dirt road 2 miles and found the mining ghost town of South Mills City. Lots of fun stuff to see there.

After that, the scenery turned spectacular. We saw rolling hills covered in green and big areas covered by yellow windflowers. In the valleys, outcrops of red rock contrasted nicely with the green. Soon we arrived at Sink Canyon and set up camp. We loved the camp site. Aspen trees, black dirt instead of red dust, and green grass. A roaring mountain stream was right behind us.

In Sinks Canyon, the Popo Agie River does something very strange. The whole river plunges into a hole in the rocks and disappears. It reappears, 400 meters down canyon, surfacing into a tranquil pool packed with enormous trout as big as a man's arm. (No fishing allowed). If the water stayed on the surface, it would have taken 30 seconds to travel that distance, but dye tests show that it takes two hours underground. They think that it travels through millions of tiny cracks in the rocks (natural fracking).

Augie
Augie
Wow wow wow, what a wonderful place.

Last night we met Augie, the camp ground host. He appeared to be Native American. Augie OSA cruiser like us, but instead of a boat he has an old school bus. Instead of exploring waters, he explores deserts. Augie is a free spirit, semi nomadic. He showed us so,e of the beautiful gem stones he had found. We had great fun discussing the merits of the simple life. We are a lot alike. Augie promised to come East some day and to come visit us on the boat.

 

the river goes in here
The river comes out here
The mountains up canyon.
 

1 comment:

  1. How many times did you see the name "Bridger" around there? Seems one of my many times great uncles wondered around that country. I have the same last name. Ken

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