Sinks Canyon State Park
Sinks Canyon Rd, Lander, WY
Lander, WY
A river that disappears into a mountainside cave and wells up again in a trout-filled pool a quarter mile away, a puzzle geologists still study.
Sinks Canyon State Park protects one of Wyoming's most curious natural wonders. The Popo Agie River, rushing down out of the Wind River Range, suddenly pours into a large cave in the canyon wall, the Sinks, and disappears underground. A quarter mile down the canyon the water wells back up in a calm, deep pool called the Rise, filled with big trout.
What makes it stranger still is that more water seems to emerge at the Rise than went into the Sinks, and the water that comes out is warmer, and it takes longer to travel underground than a straight path would allow. Scientists have studied the puzzle for years, and it only adds to the wonder of a place already set in a beautiful canyon on the doorstep of the high mountains.
What Guests Love
- Watching the whole river pour into the Sinks cave and vanish underground
- The Rise, a calm pool downstream full of big trout, where the water returns
- Rock climbing on the canyon's famous walls
- Hiking trails climbing toward the high country of the Wind River Range
Worth Knowing
- The visitor center and some facilities are seasonal, so check hours before an off-season trip
- You may feed the trout at the Rise with food sold on site, but not fish for them there
- The canyon road climbs toward high trailheads and can be rough and snowy in shoulder seasons
- Watch children near the powerful water at the Sinks
Details
Lander, WY
Learn about Sinks Canyon State Park
The Sinks and the Rise
At the Sinks, the full flow of the Popo Agie River thunders into the mouth of a cave in a wall of dolomite rock and vanishes from sight. The water works its way through cracks and channels in the soluble rock, hidden underground for a stretch of the canyon.
Then, a quarter mile downstream, it reappears at the Rise, a deep, clear pool where the water bubbles up calm and cold, thick with large trout that gather to be fed. Standing at each spot, you can watch a whole mountain river disappear and return, a rare and vivid piece of natural plumbing.
The mystery in the rock
The disappearing act is caused by the dissolving of the dolomite bedrock, which cave water has honeycombed with passages over long ages, letting the river slip underground. That much is understood, but the details remain a genuine mystery.
Dye studies have shown that the water takes surprisingly long to travel between the Sinks and the Rise, that more water emerges than enters, and that it comes out a little warmer. The likely answer involves large hidden reservoirs and slow underground flow within the rock, but the exact workings are still not fully known, which is part of the site's charm.
Canyon walls and mountain trails
Sinks Canyon is a rugged, scenic gorge with tall rock walls that have made it a well-known destination for rock climbers, who work routes on the canyon's cliffs. The Popo Agie itself offers fishing and cool riverside picnicking in the shade of pines.
Trails climb from the canyon toward the high country of the Wind River Range, including routes up switchbacks to alpine lakes and viewpoints. The canyon road continues into the mountains, so the park is both a destination and a gateway to the wilderness above.
Wildlife, the mountains, and seasons
The canyon is home to bighorn sheep on the crags, mule deer, moose in the willow bottoms, marmots and pikas in the rocks, and a range of birds, with the big trout gathered at the Rise a highlight in themselves. The mix of river, forest, and cliff packs a lot of life into a small canyon.
The park lies on the edge of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho homeland, near the Wind River Reservation, and that deep history colors the whole region. Summer brings warm days and full flow, fall is crisp and gold, and winter quiets the canyon under snow, when the river still slips into its cave beneath the ice.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Lander
Lander
About 6 miles northeast
A welcoming mountain town on the edge of the Wind River Reservation, a base for the range's east side.
Wind River Range high country
Up the canyon road
Trailheads climbing to alpine lakes and peaks in Wyoming's highest and wildest range.
South Pass City
About 35 miles south
A preserved gold-rush town and historic site on the old emigrant route over the Continental Divide.