Real Wyoming

Phil and I left our snowboards at home last weekend and dug out our rockclimbing gear. We grabbed the dogs and headed to Lander, home of The Wind River Range, Wild Iris, Sinks Canyon, and NOLS. It is roughly a 3-4 hour drive, and the scenery is quite incredible. You head north through Grand Teton National Park, and start heading southeast at Moran Junction. The snowiest part is heading up and over Togwotee Pass. It is gorgeous, but the area surrounding Togwotee Lodge is like a Harley convention only with snowmobilers. It is hard not to call them slednecks when the loud hum goes zipping by wide expanses of wilderness. I am sure it is fun, but still it seems like a strange "recreational activity." Nevertheless, we saw some moose napping and nibbling on branches.

As you drive down through Shoshone National Forest and into Dubois, Wyoming, the landscape turns arid and the cliffs and hills are red. You feel like you either took a wrong turn to New Mexico or maybe accidentally landed on the moon. Strange to see red, clay baked cliffs, with snowy peaks in the distance. Dubois banks the Wind River, and had an impressive Jackalope exhibition in the gas station where we stopped.

Eventually you head more south, and through the Shoshone Indian Reservation and Fort Washakie. It is pretty bleak and depressing that this area was their consolation prize. Still, their gas was cheap and they were friendly where we stopped. Slowly, the peaks of the Wind River Range come into view and you hit Lander, population around 7000. According to the sign, it is similar in size to Jackson, but very different in feel. Jackson feels like the glam queen, while Lander feels like a hard worker. It was a nice break for everything not to look too perfect and for the people on the streets not to look too rich.

We had a great time climbing in Sinks Canyon, where the south facing cliff is warm and comfortable while the north facing cliff is covered in snow. The dogs were thrilled to be invited and spent the day lounging in the sun. We spent a night with a friend of Phil's from the Prescott grad program,his cheery wife, and darling baby.

We were super glad to be back on real rock, and I am sure we will be back to Lander quite a lot. As we got close to Jackson on the way home, we saw a pack of wolves in the Elk Refuge- gorgeous! A coworker of Phil's asked "Where is Lander?" and another responded "It's in REAL Wyoming."

Pics to come...