Scenic Byways

There was fresh snow on the mountain tops when we left Lander yesterday with a forecast of more rain and more flooding on Wednesday so it definitely was time to leave as flood waters still flowed over local fields and were tumbling close to bridges along our route.

After checking our trucker's atlas to make sure there were no low tunnels/bridges I routed us along US 26 to US 20 to WY Hwy 120 up to Cody--all "red roads" which are those red lines on a map indicating a two-lane roadway as opposed to four lane interstates or highways.  US 20 was specifically indicated as a Wyoming scenic byway and indeed it is.  All of my photos were taken from inside the truck, so there are blurry bug splatters and interior reflections unfortunately.  But they should give you an idea of what we were seeing as we traveled through the Wind River Reservation and Wind River Canyon as we headed north towards Thermopolis (named for the hot springs in town).

Boysen Lake at Boysen State Park.

 Approaching the Wind River Canyon area.

 Wind River Canyon.

Wind River Canyon.

We were watching for big horn sheep when we saw these teepees by the river.  Much further down the road nearer to Meeteetse we saw a mule deer doe and her fawn.  The fawn was so tiny the prairie grasses were over his head and the only reason we saw him was because he was hopping over the grass in an attempt to keep up with his mother.

A split rock formation.

Leaving the Wind River Canyon and approaching Thermopolis the difference in the colors of the rock was striking.

There were few ranches in view on our 165 mile journey; this ranch called Monster Lake Ranch (and yes, there was a large lake farther down) was one of the most well kept that we saw.

Approaching Cody, the Absaroka Mountain Range, part of the Rockies, sprawls to the west of town.  Talk about some wide open spaces!


With scenery like this all along our route, the trip between Lander and Cody could have taken twice as long and we wouldn't have minded!