Wind River Canyon, Wyoming

A herd of pronghorn antelope. 

The gorgeous Wind River Canyon.

At one of the turnout viewpoints.

At the end there were 3 tunnels for cars, you can see 2 of them and one for the train on the opposite side of the river.

The Wind River Reservoir at the exit of the canyon.

'Hell's Half Acre'

Then the prairie...

Saturday, July 23rd.

I got up, packed and was on the road by 7:30. I decided to ride southeast through Wyoming and east through Nebraska because I’d never seen that state, but also to avoid the distractions of South Dakota: Devil’s Tower, the Badland, Pinnacles, Sturgis and Mount Rushmore, all of which I’ve seen twice before. About an hour after leaving Cody I drove through the town of Thermopolis which has some natural hot springs. But right after that I came across one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ridden in the US. It is called the Wind River Canyon and is designated as a Wyoming Scenic Byway. It is incredible! It descends from west to east for about 20 kms winding through the canyon and following the river. At times it is as much as 2500 ft deep (because of the high mountains on either side), although the overall level change is 300 ft. There is a railroad through it too. I stopped numerous times to take photos and admire the views. It is simply stunning. Right after the canyon is another large reservoir which makes up a large part of Boysen State Park and is used as a boating and camping area. Then land leveled out and became mostly gently rolling dry hills. The rest of the ride through Wyoming was pretty boring, except when I stumbled upon ‘Hell’s Half Acre’, which is a mini badlands where they have discovered that natives used to drive buffalo into it so they could kill them. After Cheyenne I finally arrived in Nebraska which is flatter and although still pretty dry there are some watered fields and the beginnings of looking like a prairie. I passed a long train with about 50 flatbeds containing all manner of military vehicles, including tanks, armoured cars, and medical jeeps, all painted a dull military mustard yellow. I arrived in the town of Sidney by 5:30 and decided to call it quits. I found a cheap motel and an Applebee’s for dinner. A long 844 km ride today.