Wind River Canyon gains state scenic byway designation
Wyoming’s newest Scenic Byway, the Wind River Canyon, offers tourists 34 miles of unspoiled scenic views, geologic field exploration opportunities, abundant wild life, float trips, canyon fishing, boat launching facilities and state park public camping. For hundreds of years, Native Americans, explorers, and pioneers used this scenic canyon as a corridor to travel between central and northwest Wyoming.
Just west of the southern entrance to the Scenic Byway visitors can enjoy 76 miles of shoreline and “one of the best walleye fishery in Wyoming” at Boysen Reservoir. Boysen State Park offers boat launching as well as campsite facilities.
Starting at the southern entrance on US 20/Wyoming 789 in the town of Shoshoni at milepost 100, the Byway goes north through Wind River Canyon boasting spectacular high rock walls with more than 2,500 feet of vertical relief from the Wind River to the mountain ridgetops. Some of the oldest rock formations in the world, dating back to the Precambrian period, (more that 2.9 billion years ago) are visible right from the highway with their black and pink cliffs spectacularly protruding.
As you continue north through the Wind River Indian Reservation, you may spot some of the many wildlife species that inhabit the area such as mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk, marmots and minks. In 1995, 43 big horn sheep were “transplanted” along the canyon rim after being transported in horse trailers from Dubois, WY. The sheep were then loaded onto flatcars by Burlington-Northern Railroad, traveled 7 miles on the railroad tracks and released in the canyon. Today the estimated number of bighorn sheep is over 100.
The Wind River flows north through the canyon and then becomes the Bighorn River named by explorers for the big horn sheep. The site where the name changes is known as the Wedding of the Waters. The river is a blue-ribbon trout stream with abundant rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout. A unique feature is the huge rocks and boulders within the river creating excellent water hydraulics for white water rafting. There is a Native American outfitter who offers guided whitewater and fishing trips down the canyon.
Landowners along the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway include private landowners, the tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the State of Wyoming (Boysen State Park, Hot Springs State Park and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department boat launch area at Wedding of the Waters), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway is open year round and the road surface was just redone in 2005 along with new guard rails and paved turnouts.
The Byway ends at milepost 134 just north of Thermopolis, home of the world’s largest mineral hot springs in Hot Springs State Park. Here you can enjoy hot springs facilities, cooling ponds, a swinging foot bridge across the Big Horn River, hiking paths as well as see wild buffalo.
Thirty-four miles of US 20/Wyoming 789 through Wind River Canyon and the Wind River Indian Reservation have become Wyoming's newest state scenic byway, following action this month by the Wyoming Transportation Commission.
The Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway begins in the City of Shoshoni at milepost 100, goes north through Wind River Canyon and the Wind River Indian Reservation, and ends just north of the City of Thermopolis at milepost 134.
The scenic byway application was submitted to the Wyoming Department of Transportation by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes' Joint Business Council and Tribes' transportation planning office, with support from the Thermopolis and Shoshoni communities and other entities.
"We involved the communities of Thermopolis and Shoshoni, and they were heavily involved in the effort to make this a reality," said John Smith, transportation planner of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes in Fort Washakie. "The tribes have been very supportive of this process."
Smith credited Eric Decker, coordinator of the Big Horn Basin Resource Conservation and Development Council in Worland, Shoshoni Mayor Bud Currah, Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce Director Kathy Wallingford, Paula McCormick of the Wind River Visitors Council, WYDOT and others for assistance in preparing the scenic byway application.
Landowners along the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway include private landowners, the tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the State of Wyoming (Boysen State Park, Hot Springs State Park and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department boat launch area at Wedding of the Waters), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
"The vision of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes needs to be recognized since they were the applicants for the Wind River Scenic Byway designation," Decker said. "It was a team effort to obtain the byway designation with the tribal representatives."
The Tribes and WYDOT will officially celebrate the new state scenic byway this coming spring.
Decker said the next step is development of a corridor management plan that will be "an important tool to determine opportunities for interpretive sites and other visitor-related infrastructure to enhance the experience of driving through the newly designated byway."
The Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway joins 15 other scenic byways and scenic backways in Wyoming, including the Beartooth Highway Scenic Byway (US 212 near Cody), Big Horn Scenic Byway (US 14 near Greybull), Bridger Valley Historic Byway (near Evanston), Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway (US 14-16-20 near Cody), Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (Wyoming 296 near Cody), Cloud Peak Skyway (US 16 between Worland and Buffalo), Flaming Gorge-Green River Basin Scenic Byway (US 191 near Rock Springs), Medicine Wheel Passage (US 14A near Burgess Junction), Mirror Lake Scenic Byway (Wyoming 150 near Evanston), Muddy Creek Historic Backway (near Evanston), Red Gulch/Alkali Backway (between Shell and Hyattville), Seminoe-Alcova Backway (between Sinclair and Alcova), Snowy Range Scenic Byway (Wyoming 130 near Laramie), South Big Horn/Red Wall Backway (near Waltman), and Wyoming Centennial Scenic Byway (US 26-287 between Dubois and Moran Junction, and US 26-89-191 between Moran Junction and Jack son).
Wyoming scenic byways are paved. Backways are either paved or graveled. Some backways are in remote areas and unsuitable for travel in bad weather. For more information about WYDOT's state scenic byways and backways program, contact Kevin McCoy at (307) 777-4178.
Paula McCormick
WRVC Marketing Agent
McCormick Marketing, Inc.
263 N. 8th Street
Lander, WY 82520
Phone: 307-332-5546
Fax: 307-332-5336
email: mccorm@rmisp.com
Wind River Visitors Council
PO Box 1449
Riverton, WY 82501
Phone: 1-800-645-6233 or 1-307-856-7566
email: info@wind-river.org
web: http://www.wind-river.org
The mission of the Wind River Visitor's Council is to
"Develop awareness of unique attractions in Fremont County, and to promote them as a tourist destination, in a manner that protects and preserves the resource for future generations."
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