Wind River Canyon is a scenic Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 canyon carved out by the Wind River

Wind River (Wyoming)

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 long. The two rivers are sometimes referred to as the Wind/Bighorn.-Course:...

. It is located between the cities of Shoshoni

Shoshoni, Wyoming

Shoshoni is a town in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 635 at the 2000 census. The town is named for the Shoshone tribe of Native Americans, most of whom live on the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation...

 and Thermopolis

Thermopolis, Wyoming

Thermopolis is the largest town in, and the county seat of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,172....

 and is a popular stop for visitors to Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

. It is accessible by U.S. Highway 20

U.S. Route 20

U.S. Route 20 is an east–west United States highway. As the "0" in its route number implies, US 20 is a coast-to-coast route. Spanning , it is the longest road in the United States, and the route sparsely parallels Interstate 90...

 and Wyoming Highway 789. It was designated as a Wyoming Scenic Byway in 2005.

U.S. 20/Wyo 789 travel through the canyon, at times level with the canyon floor. The scenic route offers views of the canyon and landmark natural structures like the Chimney Rock. The canyon is at times as much as 2,500 feet deep.

The southern mouth of the canyon is near the Boysen Dam

Boysen Dam

The Boysen Dam is a rockfill dam on the Wind River in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The dam lies at the head of Wind River Canyon through the Owl Creek Mountains in western Wyoming and creates Boysen Reservoir. It is owned by the U.S...

 in Boysen State Park several miles north of, and about half a mile east of, the state park's borders with the Wind River Indian Reservation

Wind River Indian Reservation

Wind River Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes of Native Americans in the central western portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming...

. The canyon includes a number of homes along the highway and a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad line. The north end of the canyon is at the Wedding of the Waters, where the Wind becomes the Big Horn River. The Scenic Byway continues for several miles through Thermopolis and ends at T Hill on the north end of that town in Hot Springs State Park

Hot Springs State Park

Hot Springs State Park is a park in Thermopolis, Wyoming famous for its hot springs. It was Wyoming's first state park.The park includes a number of businesses:*Wyoming Pioneer Home, a state-run assisted-living facility*Gottsche Rehabilitation Center...

. It is surprising that as you travel south toward the dam, you have the impression that you are travelling down hill, but the river is flowing against you which would appear to make it flow uphill.

It also notable that the Wind and Big Horn flow north out of Boysen Reservoir, through the canyon, into Thermopolis, and onward to points north.