Wind River Canyon is a steep gorge in central Wyoming between Shoshoni and Thermopolis, known for both dramatic scenery and unusually clear geologic exposures. Although the Bighorn Basin and Wind River Basin differ in elevation by only about 300 feet, the canyon reaches roughly 2,500 feet deep because the river kept its course as the Owl Creek Mountains rose over the past two million years, cutting a water gap. Its walls reveal faulting, Precambrian rocks, limestone, dolomite, sandstone, and the Chugwater Formation. Modern travel through the canyon began with highway construction in 1922–1924, and today the route continues past Boysen Dam to the Wedding of the Waters.