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We decided to combine these two areas--Rawlins and Sinks Canyon--because they were merely way points on our escape route from the heat of the Southwest to Wyoming's great national parks.
A note about Wyoming generally: Between any Wyoming towns A and B, there is...nothing. Total population is under 600,000 in the nation’s 9th largest state. The landscape is beautiful, but in most of the Wyoming that we saw, there are a couple of roads and nothing else man-made as far as you can see in all directions. Oh...except for miles of snow fences to keep wind-driven snow from making the roads impassable come winter. Hope you have gas and everything else you need. On Route 287 from Rawlins to Jeffrey City (which is a real misuse of the word “city,”) a truck passed us with 4 new tires in the truck bed. And by day 2 in Wyoming, that made a lot of sense to us.
Above are two views of Split Rock, which was an important landmark on the Oregon Trail, according to the helpful signs.
On night 2 in Wyoming we watched Wind River, set on the Wind River Indian Reservation (a really good movie, but not if you’re needing a lift and looking for something light). Dorian and I already felt like locals knowing all the locality references … Lander, Riverton, the reservation itself, and Loveland, Colorado. We also totally got it when the Indian law enforcement guy responded to the FBI newbie’s request to wait for backup, “There’s no backup out here.” Our summertime visit here makes me think Wyoming folks must set a standard for self-reliance, and I never want to see this place after late September.
Pippi knew instinctively that there was no backup out here, and she didn't want to get a sunburn far from medical help.
We dined at a recommended Mexican restaurant in Sinclair, home of Sinclair Gas...unknown on the East Coast but about as common as BP in the west. Sinclair reminded us of the old phrase "company town" - and we're not talking about a well-planned company town, either. Very industrial.
Sinks Canyon State Park near Lander was also just a way point to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, but we spent five full days here which did not disappoint. Sinks Canyon is named after a roaring stream that plunges down into a cave, disappearing for about a quarter mile before emerging sluggishly into a small lake. We hiked, sat on rocks in the middle of the stream, (one of us) biked, and took several drives into some scary-remote places...again placing a lot of fortunately well-founded faith in our truck.
Rawlins turned out to be a shortish drive from the Red Desert, which we'd never heard of but immediately had to see once we learned it existed. We spent a full day traveling to the north side of the Red Desert and then continuing on BLM dirt roads to the desert's southern side, at which point we turned up Highway 80 to our campsite in Rawlins. You need a lot of confidence in your vehicle to do that; we traveled through some of the most desolate land in a state that is, by nature, already rather desolate. The truck hasn't let us down yet, but we still brought along plenty of water.
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