From Buffalo to Bluegrass

After climbing Independence Rock Friday, we drove on to our destination for the night, Lander, Wyoming.  We had tasty dinner then needed to walk it off a bit. We just took off touring downtown at dusk.  We found this sculpture, which I really liked.  Wyoming is full of buffalo depictions but so many of them have buffalo in violent scenes. This one just seemed quite peaceful.  Maybe that is why I liked him so much.

Lander is not a large town.  I think it is quaint and adorable.  We found a lot of people out walking and enjoying the perfect evening.

The next morning we drove just a few miles out of town to The Sinks.  I hope you can read this very informative bit of information about The Sinks, where water disappears underground for a few hours.

I think it is really cool down there.  The river flows down and just disappears.

This photo was Mike's idea. He likes planning out interesting shots like that.

The area is loaded with boulders.  I'd like to see that place in the Spring when the snow is melting on the mountains. It comes flowing over all those boulders at times.

A quarter of a mile down the way there is the area where the water reappears, The Rise of the Sinks. It is marked "no fishing".  People buy food there to feed the fish, though.  A family with little kids was there throwing fish food over, resulting in a lot of swirling and splashing with all those fish competing.

Do you see that sandbar down there by the fish? Magpies hung out down there. Apparently they like the fish food also.

The weird thing in that canyon is that the North wall looks like this,

And the South wall looks like this.  Why, you ask? Because the North wall gets the most sunshine and so its snow melts and is gone too quickly to grow much.  The South side is more shady so keeps its moisture longer.  Interesting, huh? Really, I was standing in the same spot when I took that photo above, then turning to take this photo below.  It is sort of a bipolar canyon.

After we left the sinks area, we drove on up into the mountains. We saw lots of people riding bicycles up the mountain. Why? Why do people do that? It didn't look like fun to me.

Then, we saw this guy hiking... ON CRUTCHES!  Impressive!

We went higher yet and found a lake.  Do you see those mountains in the distance with the snow on them, above the timber line even? That, my friends, is the continental divide.  

This is my guy.  I enjoy adventuring with him.

We headed back down into Lander and wanted to grab a quick bite before heading back home. We spotted a little bakery/cafe and stopped in. What a lovely surprise we found there!  There was a sweet bluegrass group playing. They were wonderful! I found out, from their mother, that they are a group of 4 siblings from Texas.  They are called the 4 Proches. 

We both really enjoyed listening to them play. The youngest brother could really go on that banjo!

Here's a link to one of their YouTube videos.

I hope you also find them charming.

That Sinking Feeling and a Mystery

After we left Independence Rock we headed toward Muddy Gap and Jeffrey City, Wyoming.  As it turned out, we didn't even stop at either place.  It was a lovely drive, though, with lots of space to view.   We talked about how sad we feel for people who don't ever get to see such wide open places.  There is such beauty!

We just kept moving on, enjoying the ride.

We decided to head on to Lander, Wyoming.  We'd been there before but it had been awhile.

Can you see that there is still snow on the very top of the mountains?

As we drove into Lander, Mike spotted a golf course.  I didn't mind exploring for a bit on my own so I encouraged him to go golfing.  Bode and I drove through Lander and then I decided to go out to the Sinks.

"What are the Sinks?" you say.

I was hoping you would ask.

Well, the middle fork of the Popo Agie River, flowing down from the Wind River Mountains, does a very weird thing just a few miles outside Lander, Wyoming...

 it disappears.  I am not kidding you.  It is called the Sinks, and this  is what it looks like:

The river just "sinks" down under ground at that point.

I read that spelunkers had tried to go down into the caverns to get an idea of where the river is going.  Can you imagine?  Who in their right mind would go down into that?  They didn't get far as it quickly narrows down into spaces too tight for humans.

The river resurfaces just 1/3 mile away.  You can follow a trail to where it resurfaces and it takes only a matter of minutes, even walking.  Along the trail is this dry riverbed that only actually has water when there is a water flow higher than The Sinks can handle.  I loved the big boulders!

Where the water comes back to the surface is called "The Rise".  It is a calm, pretty place.

There are a LOT of trout there.

No, they didn't come underground.  

They swam upstream to spawn but

 at that point they

could go no further.

They live out their lives there.

Some have grown to 8-10 pounds there!

The water continues on downstream and looked quite serene to me.

So, what is the mystery?

Well, remember that it is just a matter of minutes from The Sinks to The Rise.

Scientists, using dye, found that the water actually travels for 

OVER TWO HOURS

before resurfacing?

Where is it all that time?

ALSO,

more water comes out at The Rise than goes down at The Sinks.

From where is that extra water coming?

Inquiring minds want to know!