Yesterday, I met mountain biker Adam in the Visitor Information Center in Lander.  He drove up today to ride with me.  The ride started with a touch climb from the RV at 7000’ to the ridge at 8300’:

We continued on to Frye Lake:

At the Visitor Information Center, I saw that today, stage 2 of the American Solar Challenge would finish today in Lander.  I’ve been fascinated by these races since high school, so I was thrilled to stumble onto this race in progress!

I checked out the competitors that had already arrived and watched other competitors complete the stage.  The teams put water on the panels to reduce panel temperature, which increases panel efficiency:

University of Minnesota is winning the two-person class so far:

The stage finish line:

After the race was over, I headed back up Sinks Canyon and found a dispersed camping site on Frye Lake.  Nice view out the door:

This morning, I drove to Lander, Wyoming and rode the Bus Loop trail network:

I then headed up Sinks Canyon, where the Popo Agie river goes underground and rises back up 3/4 of a mile away after flowing for roughly 2 hours underground. Heading up-canyon, I visited the “rise” first, where the water comes out of the canyon wall and forms a deep pool where a school of massive trout live:

Next up was the “sink”, where the river flows into its subterranean channel:

At the visitor center, they had this sand pit. A sensor above reads the “terrain” of the sand and projects a real-time colored topographic image onto the sand:

I ended the day dispersed camping up Sinks Canyon in the Shoshone National Forest at 7000-ish feet, at the trailhead for another mountain biking area:

The Middle Popo Agie River is a few steps from the RV:

See the trip map for today’s drive.

This morning I rode my bike south to Big Cedar Ridge Fossil Plant Area:

I think I found the fossil-bearing layer:

Found some fossilized sticks and seeds:

I poked around my camping area:

Howdy neighbors:

I packed up and headed west to Worland to check out an oxbow lake:

I headed south to Thermopolis, home of the world’s largest mineral hot spring:

These fish are very happy in the warm water:

I continued west to Riverton, Wyoming in the Wind River Reservation to overnight at the Wind River casino:

See the trip map for today’s drive.