Wind River

Cody Rodeo

Cody, Wyoming

August 7, 2021

An important river in the area of DuBois to Thermopolis. And it really does wind through the area!

The Wind River is the name applied to the upper reaches of the Bighorn River in Wyoming in the United States. The Wind River is 185 miles long. The two rivers are sometimes referred to as the Wind/Bighorn.

Course

Its headwaters are at Wind River Lake in the Rocky Mountains, near the summit of Togwotee Pass (pronounced toe-go-tee) and gathers water from several forks along the northeast side of the Wind River Range in west central Wyoming. It flows southeastward, across the Wind River Basin and the Wind River Indian Reservation and joins the Little Wind River near Riverton. Upstream from this confluence, it is known locally as the Big Wind River. It flows northward, through a gap in the Owl Creek Mountains, where the name of the river becomes the Bighorn River. In the Owl Creek Mountains, it is dammed to form Boysen Reservoir. The Wind River officially becomes the Bighorn River at the Wedding of the Waters, on the north side of the Wind River Canyon.