Wind River Canyon to the Riverton Balloon Rendezvous

While we were camping in Thermopolis, Wyoming, we drove the pickup down through the Wind River Canyon just south of town. The tall canyon walls were carved by the Wind River, which still flows down the center of the gorge. We looked into taking our kayak down the river, but individuals aren't allowed to do that. You must go with a certified rafting company that has gotten a permit from the indian tribe that owns the land on both sides of the river. To the right of the river is just enough room for train tracks, and on the left is a scenic highway that we were allowed to drive.

Before entering the canyon, we stopped at the wayside park called "The Wedding of the Waters." This is where Wind River ends, and Bighorn River begins. Because of the thermal water springs in this area, this river will not freeze in the winter. Thousands of waterfowl winter here in this unique environment, including eagles that will prey on the fish and small waterfowl all winter.

While we did spot eagles still here in the summer, we were really looking for mountain sheep in these tall canyon walls along the river.

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep once inhabited this part of Wyoming. But they have been hunted and lost their habitat until few remained. In 1995, 43 bighorn sheep were brought to live in this canyon and they have multiplied and prospered. Mark was looking up on those rocky walls, hoping to spot some sheep.

We stopped the pickup in many different pull-outs, but we never did see any of those bighorn sheep. We had to notice that it looks drier here than any place we have seen this summer. We drove the entire 19-mile length of the canyon, until the width between the walls became so narrow that there was no longer room for a highway and train tracks. So tunnels were blasted on both sides of the river so the cars and trains could continue their journeys through the canyon.

It was quite an engineering feat to support the canyon wall, while still making room for vehicles.

A series of three tunnels were made in Wind River Canyon. At the end of the canyon, the river opens up into Boyson Reservoir State Park. We might have stopped in to check out the lake, but Wyoming is one of those states that charges everyone to enter their state parks (except for Hot Springs State Park). They charge Wyoming residents $7 to enter, but non-residents must pay $12. Likewise, camping with no hook-ups for Wyoming residents is just $18.25, but non-residents pay $32.25. You must add a $10 fee for an electric site. As much as we like to visit state parks, Wyoming has priced them out of our budget.

The day after our pickup drive through Wind River Canyon, it was time for the motor home to leave going that same direction. We filled up our 90-gallon water tank before we left our full-hook-up camp site, as we would be without water hook-ups for the next nine days. We took fast showers and went into water conserving mode for over a week! In the picture below we weren't stopped in a pull-out to look for bighorn sheep this time. Instead, Mark pulled over for faster vehicles to pass us on this narrow curving road through the canyon. 

At the end of Wind River Canyon we had to go through those three tunnels, that we had noted were 14 feet tall.

Our 13-foot-tall motor home pretty well filled those tunnels top to bottom and side to side.

Our next camping spot was in Riverton, Wyoming, where we were staying at the Riverwind Casino RV Park. Pictures weren't allowed inside the casino, but they were running a promotion and wanted to take our photo with this hairy guy for some reason. We don't usually stop at casinos, but this was a cheap place to camp in an electric-only camp site. The price was reduced for people with a player's card, so we stopped in at the customer service desk to get a card and $5 in free slot play. We like to use the casino's free play money to make a little extra money.

We got some interesting weather while we were camping at the casino. But we were glad that those interesting clouds stayed west of us, and didn't interfere with the festivities we had come to see.

The reason we had come out of the mountains to hang out in the Wind River valley was the Riverton Balloon Rendezvous. While we were here for the balloons, the festival started with a car show. The main roads in town were blocked off for the classic car parade at 6:00 p.m. 

Besides classic cars, they also had races for non-motorized vehicles. This soap-box derby started on the hill on Main Street, where children and adults took turns trying to see who could get the furthest and the fastest down that hill.

We didn't see all of the parade, because we were going to the celebrity balloon speaker at the local barbecue place. In the fine print of the festival's events, it mentioned that the public was invited to hear the speaker, who was one of the hot air balloon pilots from Canada. While the restaurant was full of fellow balloon pilots, we were the only "public" that came for the very interesting talk. We learned about how his town started their own balloon festival after a "thousand-year-flood" damaged every house in town. His balloon was totaled in the flood, and he also explained how he designed and sewed a new envelope. We learned some ballooning terms--like envelope. That is the bright outside material that you most recognize when you see a hot air balloon in the air. The pilots and their crews left the barbecue restaurant so they could get set up for the candlestick on Main Street.

That's another new ballooning term that we learned. The pilots set up their baskets and their propane burners, and then blow pulses of fire without the balloon attached. Some of the pilots even allowed children to crawl into the basket and press the controls to make it burn.

Some older kids were also allowed to try their hand at candlesticking. That's when we met pilot Bob and his crew chief and wife, Kris. They were visiting Wyoming for this festival just like us, but they brought their balloon all the way from Arkansas with them. We had planned to volunteer to help with a crew, and they invited us to join them since they were here by themselves. 

That sounded great to us, so we promised to meet them at the launch field the next morning. We had planned to stay for the entire street dance, but we had to get back to the motor home and go to bed. Check in time for crew members was at 5:30 in the morning!