Sinks Canyon State Park

Today was too much driving, but we had decided we would spend the night at Sinks Canyon. We still had 60 miles of South Dakota to cover and then another 80 miles to Gillette WY where we would leave the interstate.

It is rather amazing how qupickly the terrain changed when entering WY. Much drier. More dispersed cattle and lots of oil rigs pumping away. We soon entered rolling, hilly terrain with mountains in the distance. Casper sits right at the foot of a mountain. As we turned west we began to see snowcapped mountains. A quick stop at Independence Rock was pleasant but we hurried as rain could be seen in the distance.

Sinks Canyon State Park is very nice. There are lots of views of the high rock walls and overlooks of the raging river. Of interest is the fact that the river disappears into the canyon wall and then reappears further north. It was interesting to see it reappear and bubble up through the sand bar.

Our camping spot was right next to the raging river, which made for a noisy night. There are two campgrounds in the park. There is a large one called Popo Angie that was full on a Saturday night in June. The Sawmill campground is just 6 sites along the river. Picnic tables and fire rings are available but we did not use on this rainy, cool evening. There is a playground, firewood for sale, and pit toilets. There is nice hiking in the park to some falls, but we are on a mission to get to Oregon so did not hike — it was raining anyway.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)