two canyons

Leaving the Big Horn Mountains this morning, my route was through Shell Canyon, which is wedged between several mountains. 

 

Of course, Shell Canyon is home to Shell Falls. Beside the falls, you can see a variety of plant life, from the mosses & ferns that thrive in the spray from the falls up to the very dry main canyon above.



The lower canyon features some colorful rocks. These strata are an example of the Great Unconformity, which is where older rocks lie on top of younger ones, or there' a big gap in time between adjacent strata. I'm sure that Meredith will remember this from Scotland, where James Hutton first described the phenomenon in 1787 at Siccar Point. 😉


After a drive across a corner of flat, dry, desolateWyoming, I set up camp. By then the temp had reached 102 (average high here in July is 87), so I drank water & napped in the shade for several hours. 

Once the sun began to drop, & the temp plummeted to 100, I set out to drive through Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area. The first pic is the view out my back window here. This canyon is carved into the flatish landscape below the Big Horn Mountains & straddles Wyoming & Montana.


 





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