Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation
Thermopolis, Wyoming
Wind River Canyon |
Photos copyright Mike Balog, photographer. |
Balog has been interested in photography for years but has recently been introduced to the capabilities of high-quality digital photography. He makes his home in the Wind River Canyon. He can be contacted at mbalog57@hotmail.com. |
 The Wind River Pinnacle is commonly known as Chimney Rock. |
 Wind River Canyon is a spectacular canyon three miles south of Thermopolis on Highway 20. |
 The highway through the Canyon was one of the most difficult and expensive roads constructed in the West, at a cost of $700,000. It was opened January 1924. |
 The Canyon is 13 miles long. As you enter the canyon from the north, the red cliffs are only 300 feet above he Wind River. |
 The Canyon is a geologist’s dream because so many layers of ancient rocks are clearly exposed – from lower level Precambrian age (1.5 billion years) to top-level Mesozoic (250 million years). |
 The angles of sediments show uplifting and movement, the result of the rise of what would become the Rocky Mountains. |
 The Canyon is home to a variety of animals, ranging from small chipmunks to big horn sheep. |
 The Canyon walls demonstrate molten lava stages, the rise of mountains that twisted the layers, as well as evidence of an inland ocean, with beach and ocean sediments. |
 Further into the canyon, canyon walls rise to 2600 feet. |