Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway
Personal Notes
This page contains our personal notes on our visit to Wind River Canyon and the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway in Wyoming.
Thursday, August 28, 2008 and Monday, September 1, 2008
I've been through Wind River Canyon on several earlier trips, most notably in the spring of 1970, and on another trip the following year, after spending the summer working up on the Aquarius Plateau in southern Utah. After the work ended for the season we decided to take a side trip through Yellowstone. We drove through Wind River Canyon on the way home to Nebraska.
The canyon is short, but has some amazing geology, and a wild, fast flowing river running through it. On the side, the Wind River flows into the Canyon. After the Wedding of the Waters, the Big Horn River flows out of the Canyon on the north side. Apparently there was some confusion by early cartographers, and they didn't realize it was actually the same river flowing through the canyon.
Big horn sheep have been spotted along this waterway, and if you are a geology student, the various strata are marked for easy recognition.
