Sinks Canyon State Park provides a couple of pet friendly hikes near Lander, Wyoming. Sinks Canyon starts where the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River falls down a series of escarpments at the base of the Wind River Mountains.
The Sinks and the Rise
There are a number of trails to hike in the park, most of which are of moderate difficulty. The easiest hike is the quarter mile, ADA accessible, trail between the Sinks and the Rise. Starting on the Sinks end there is the visitor’s center and an overlook of where the Popo Agie, pronounced Puh – Po Shuh, disappears into a limestone cavern. A short trail allows a closer look at the cavern as the water thunders into it. Hours later the water emerges a quarter of a mile downstream at the Rise. At the rate the river flows the water should only take a few minutes to travel the quarter mile but dye studies show it takes over 2 hours to wind through the small cracks.
The Rise of the Sinks is over 20 feet deep. Large trout, mostly Rainbow and Brown, congregate in the pool since the park provides fish food vending machines. Be careful about the decking which overlooks the Rise, it can get very hot in the sun. Martok couldn’t walk on it for more than a couple steps before he was hopping from foot to foot.
Popo Agie Falls
A popular hike in the area is the Falls trail. Park at Bruces Parking and follow the footbridge over the river to the trailhead. I also mentioned this hike in another post about pet friendly hikes in Wyoming.
The first half of the trail is easy and second half more moderate and rocky. The roundtrip is 3 miles with an elevation gain of 660 feet with the falls at 7800 feet, mean sea level. During the summer it can be hot with little shade on the trail.
The first waterfall along the trail is Middle Fork Falls. Keep going to reach Popo Agie Falls. These falls cascade over smooth rock which people use as a slide into the pool below. Varel learned the hard way that the water in the pool is extremely cold. She jumped in the water and then frantically tried to get out. She was happy to sit and watch after that.
Other hikes can be found on the Sinks Canyon State Park website. We have only done the two discussed here so I know they are Great Dane friendly, I don’t know about the others.
Local tip
A pet friendly stop to make before hitting the trails is a restaurant called The Middle Fork. They serve breakfast, brunch and lunch only but the food is amazing, especially the fried to order Beignets. While the patio is shady and dog friendly, the ground is gravel so bring a comfy blanket for your dog.
