Driving through Wyoming
On Saturday, June 14, I drove from Fort Collins, Colorado northwest across Wyoming, ending up just west of Cody in Shoshone Canyon.
Here's a few photos I took along the way:
Hogbacks (or "incipient hogbacks?") north of the Interstate (not sure whether this qualifies as the Laramie Mountains or the Medicine Bow Range, or some other range altogether).
Regardless, what you're seeing here is what happens when tilted sedimentary strata are incised by streams. The stream valleys develop at regular intervals along the slope, and notch the sedimentary layers, which themselves have different resistances to erosion. As a result, these triangular-shaped slabs end up poking up along the flanks of the mountains (the Flatirons outside of Boulder, Colorado, are perhaps the best known example).
The Wind River Range appears in the distance. Seeing big bad mountains makes me happy.
Road trip man!
The Prius at the southern (upstream) end of Wind River Canyon, between Shoshoni and Thermopolis:
...And looking downstream (north):
Unconformity between Archean basement rocks and overlying Cambrian sandstone:
The Wind River:
An outcrop on the way north, somewhere south of Meeteetse. Got some cool green concretions here, and coasted downhill for more than ten miles:
Camp at the end of the day. This is at Buffalo Bill State Park, between Cody and the eastern entrance to Yellowstone (Sylvan Pass, subject of a photo I put up yesterday). The body of water seen here is the Shoshone Reservoir. I enjoyed a pleasant evening here of drinking wine, writing a letter, and watching grebes in the water.
Dark clouds came over later, hastening nightfall over the park. Note the addition of the rainfly to the tent. Turns out we just got a sprinkle, no real downpour.
Life on the road is (was) good. Months later, it makes me happy to look at these photos and think about rolling along across the great North American continent, checking stuff out, seeing new places. Classes start on Monday for me, and I'll be locked down in DC for a bit... a fair trade, it seems to me, if my job allows me to go out and see places like these during the summers.
Here's a few photos I took along the way:
Hogbacks (or "incipient hogbacks?") north of the Interstate (not sure whether this qualifies as the Laramie Mountains or the Medicine Bow Range, or some other range altogether).
Regardless, what you're seeing here is what happens when tilted sedimentary strata are incised by streams. The stream valleys develop at regular intervals along the slope, and notch the sedimentary layers, which themselves have different resistances to erosion. As a result, these triangular-shaped slabs end up poking up along the flanks of the mountains (the Flatirons outside of Boulder, Colorado, are perhaps the best known example).
The Wind River Range appears in the distance. Seeing big bad mountains makes me happy.
Road trip man!
The Prius at the southern (upstream) end of Wind River Canyon, between Shoshoni and Thermopolis:
...And looking downstream (north):
Unconformity between Archean basement rocks and overlying Cambrian sandstone:
The Wind River:
An outcrop on the way north, somewhere south of Meeteetse. Got some cool green concretions here, and coasted downhill for more than ten miles:
Camp at the end of the day. This is at Buffalo Bill State Park, between Cody and the eastern entrance to Yellowstone (Sylvan Pass, subject of a photo I put up yesterday). The body of water seen here is the Shoshone Reservoir. I enjoyed a pleasant evening here of drinking wine, writing a letter, and watching grebes in the water.
Dark clouds came over later, hastening nightfall over the park. Note the addition of the rainfly to the tent. Turns out we just got a sprinkle, no real downpour.
Life on the road is (was) good. Months later, it makes me happy to look at these photos and think about rolling along across the great North American continent, checking stuff out, seeing new places. Classes start on Monday for me, and I'll be locked down in DC for a bit... a fair trade, it seems to me, if my job allows me to go out and see places like these during the summers.
2 Comments:
Nice photos of the trip. Did you take the first photo from I-80?
Yep -- I-80 west of Cheyenne somewhere...
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