Wyoming: Badlands, Canyons, Forests & Mountains

 We left Riverton WY Wednesday morning and spent the day driving through some of the most scenic landscapes on any trip we have taken. There was a region on the Wind River Indian Reservation that was just as beautiful as the South Dakota Badlands.

We did not see any Bighorn sheep just as we did not see any deer, elk or moose on the Buffalo to Riverton drive.

Looks much like the terrain of western South Dakota, maybe more scrub plant life.

The only green was along the Wind River.

Looks like the South Dakota Badlands.

No wildlife sightings, but we did see some cattle and horses in the valley regions. We also saw a bit of cropland and hay fields.

More colorful cliffs along the Wind River and US Highway 26 & 287.

Geologic layers are very visible.

Hoodoos?

The Wind River Canyon section was stunning, but the wind was blowing through the canyon walls making me, the passenger, little nervous. The driver was not nervous at all. I did not take a single photo on that section of the scenic drive. (We will be traveling the same road on Sunday. If the wind isn't blowing too strong, I will be relaxed enough to take photos.)

After Wind Canyon there was a nice reprieve from the winding and windy conditions, but we immediately noticed the hazy horizon. The smoky sky was much worse than it had been farther east.

Once we got to the national forest area, the elevation increased by 5000 feet from that in Riverton. So did the hazy, smoky sky.

hazy, smoky sky

We stopped at a geocache telling us about the shrinking glaciers in the Teton Mountains. This is what we saw from the sign posted below.

We could barely make out the glaciers. A person also at the pullout remarked how clear the sky was the day before. We have two more days to hopefully see the Teton Mountains.

Oh, I do hate thistles that grow in my flower bed. But they do have pretty flowers! These were near the shrinking glacier sign post as were the yellow flowers in the photo below.

We arrived at our campground, set up the camper and headed into the town of Jackson to do some exploring. But that is another post...