VISION
QUEST
Master plan charts the future of a wonderfully wild Wyoming park
By Bob Brown
As the Popo Agie River descends from the southern end of the Wind River Mountain Range and flows through west-central Wyoming , it does something truly magical . About seven miles southwest of the small town of Lander , the Popo Agie literally disappears .
But don ’ t worry . If you hike about a quarter-mile downstream you ’ ll find that the river reappears in the form of a serene trout pond , from which it resumes its journey .
After witnessing this magic act in 1895 , W . O . Owen , a civil engineer who later would serve as Examiner of Surveys for the
U . S . Interior Department , was moved to write , “ No one visiting Lander should fail to see this great freak of nature .”
Indeed , many have visited this magical spot since Owen ’ s words were written , including Chris Floyd , the manager of the Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation .
Before being promoted to his statewide post , Floyd was a district manager overseeing the area that includes Sinks Canyon State Park , which opened in 1971 as a means of protecting this wild , magical stretch of the Popo Agie . www . AyresAssociates . com 3