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| Boysen State Park offers 3 entrances: U.S. Highway 20 (east side), U.S. Highway 26 (south side) and Bass Lake Road (west side). Boysen State Park is one of the larger parks in the State Park System. It is a lake-orientated park at the south end of the Owl Creek Mountains at the mouth of Wind River Canyon now part of the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway. It offers a variety of water type recreation. Day and camping facilities are available. It features interesting geological formations. Several state record fish have been caught out of the reservoir. |
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| Scott Hunter checks out where the Popo Agie River disapears into the mountain in Sinks Canyon state park in Lander Wyoming |
Sinks Canyon is so named because the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie, a rushing mountain river, flows out of the Wind River Mountains and through the Canyon. Halfway down the canyon the river abruptly turns into a large limestone cavern, and the crashing water "sinks" into fissures and cracks at the back of the cave. The river is underground for 1/4 mile until it emerges down canyon in a large calm pool called "The Rise" and then continues its course into the valley below. Where the water goes while it is underground is unknown. The sinks narrow to small, unexplorable log and rock jammed fissures. The Sinks and Rise occur in the thick, easily eroded off-white Madison Limestone formation. The amount of water flowing into the Sinks varies with the season. The average amount of water in the river is 150 cubic feet per second. During spring run-off over 500 cubic feet of water per second roar down the rocky Popo Agie River channel. For many years it was unproven that the water flowing into the Sinks was the same water flowing out at the Rise. Dye tests have proven it is the same water but have revealed other mysteries: it takes the water flowing into the Sinks over two hours to reappear at the Rise. Geologists speculate that while underground the water circulates up and down and through many narrow, winding passages and pools until it resurfaces. It was also discovered that more water flows out at the Rise than goes in at the Sinks. The additional water may be coming from underground springs or other sinks formations in the area. It is unknown exactly how old the Sinks are although they are likely an Ice Age feature thousands of years old. The massive glaciers that carved the canyon exposed the soft limestone and the millions of gallons of water from the melting ice helped erode the underground passages. Native Americans knew of the Sinks for generations. The first white men to see them were fur trappers in the early 1800s. |
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Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National
Park is the first and oldest national park
in the world.
Preserved within Yellowstone are Old Faithful Geyser and
some 10,000 hot springs and geysers, the majority of the
planet's total. These geothermal wonders are evidence of
one of the world's largest active volcanoes; its last eruption
created a crater or caldera that spans almost half of the
park.
An outstanding mountain wildland with clean water and air,
Yellowstone is home of the grizzly bear and wolf, and free-ranging
herds of bison and elk. It is the core of the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems
remaining on the planet.
The human history of the park dates back 12,000 years. The
events of the last 130 years of park history are reflected
in the historic structures and sites associated with various
periods of park administration and visitor facilities development. |
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Established in 1929, Grand
Teton National Park emerged from a complicated
and controversial series of events. The
park first consisted of the mountain
range and several glacial lakes. Later
the valley floor was protected as Jackson
Hole National Monument. The two areas
were combined in 1950.
Today the park encompasses nearly 310,000 acres and protects
the Teton Range, Jackson Hole (mountain valley), a 50-mile
portion of the Snake River, seven morainal lakes, over 100
backcountry and alpine lakes, and a wide range of wildlife
and plant species.
The park is also rich in a cultural history that includes
seven eras of human history: early peoples (paleo-indians),
Native Americans (modern tribes), fur trappers, homesteaders,
ranchers/farmers, conservationists, and recreationalists.
Climbing, hiking and backpacking, camping, fishing, wildlife
and bird watching, horseback riding, boating on Jackson and
Jenny Lakes, rafting on the Snake River, bicycling, and photography
are all common activities in the area.
About 4 million visitors enjoy the park each year, most visit
between Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day. |
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 Located in Western Wyoming, the Bridger-Teton
offers more than 3.4 million acres of public land for your
outdoor recreation enjoyment. With its pristine watersheds,
abundant wildlife and immense wildlands, the Bridger-Teton
National Forest comprises a large part of the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem - the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 United
States. Offering nearly 1.2 million acres of designated Wilderness,
over 30,000 miles of road and trail and thousands of miles
of unspoiled rivers and streams, the Bridger-Teton offers
something for everyone. We encourage you to visit this beautiful
landscape and experience this unique piece of American Heritage. |
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 Nowhere else in the United States, including
Alaska, can the casual visitor observe such a striking diversity
of "charismatic mega-fauna" (the large mammals)
that abound in this region, Bald eagles, golden eagles, black
bear, the elusive cougar, the wolverine, the pine marten and
the gray wolf. Jackson Hole and Yellowstone are home to that
most formidable icon of wildness, the grizzly bear. The region
also hosts the largest herds of elk in North America and is
one of the few remaining areas in the lower 48 states where
the grizzly bear still roams in significant numbers, and is
home to the largest free-ranging herd of bison in the lower
48 states. |
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Shoshone National Forest is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2.5 million acres in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. There are four wilderness areas within the forest, protecting more than half of the managed land area from development. From sagebrush plains through dense spruce and fir forest to craggy mountain peaks, Shoshone National Forest has a rich biodiversity rarely matched in any protected area.
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Have a great hiking adventure along the Highland Trail, obviously you could also have a look at Alpine Lake since you're here; it's not far at all. Custer National Forest has lovely nature scenery for your viewing satisfaction. Fun pursuits are bountiful; there's always something for everybody to love. At Custer National Forest you find a heap of outdoors recreation, so you could have a heap of fun. Hiking along the Pyramid Trail is glorious fun. West Fork West Boulder River is a stream that you may come across while here; a lake nearby is West Boulder
Lake.
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