We departed Rocky Mountain National Park after a night of rain and hail camped along the source of the Colorado river on the west side of the park. Our attempts to spot a moose had failed, but we did see a lot of Elk and enjoyed the wistful airy and somewhat magical sounds of their bugling to one another across the marshy lowland spanning the slow moving waterway. The morning broke clear and very cold so we determined to find warmer climates and improved weather for our final leg homeward. Just outside the park is the mountain hamlet of Grand Lake, on the shores of, you guessed it, Grand Lake. Lots of newish development, but also a few gems found as we seek out internet connectivity to check weather and to look for groceries. The small country store in the rustic barn like building has the essentials that we need, but we pass on the overpriced bacon ($9.00/package). A quick stop at the local soft ice cream shop (called Dairy King) nets a wonderful coffee milkshake and news of a used bookstore nearby (named Hoarders). At the bookstore we find a very helpful book seller willing to take a pile of used books off our hands (a 2 month trip will generate a pile of used books) and in exchange for a very small amount of cash we are provided with a restocking of our on-board library suitable for the trip home. (Basin and Range by John McPhee, Close Range - Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx, and English Creek by Ivan Doig). Sufficiently fortified and reprovisioned, and informed by weather updates from a stop at the visitor center upon exiting the park, we set our sights on northwest Wyoming, and the Grand Teton National Park.
After a long afternoon's drive we arrive in Lander Wyoming and discover Sink's Canyon State Park, just west of town. I believe I stayed here over 30 years ago but had no clue at that time of what a jewel the place really was.
Sinks Canyon is so named because of the Middle Po-Po Agie (pronounced Po-Po-shuh), a rushing mountain river that flows out of the the Wind River Mountains and through the deeply gouged and ancient canyon. Halfway down the canyon (near the campsite in fact), the river abruptly turns a corner into a large limestone cavern, and the crashing water - all of it - disappears (sinks) into fissures and cracks in the back of the cave. The river runs underground for 1/4 mile before emerging in a crystal clear sandy bottomed pool down the canyon called "The Rise". From there it continues down the expected watercourse down the canyon. In "the Rise" there is a year round congestion of very generously sized brown and rainbow trout feasting on the rich cold, upswelling water, all easily viewable from the overlook above.
What's truly amazing is that dye studies have shown that the water takes about 2 hours to travel the 1/4 mile underground, and comes out at a higher volume then it went in. No fish can make it upriver from the Rise. Geologists speculate that the water circulates up and down through a series of narrow winding fissures and subterranean pools until it resurfaces.
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