Wind River Range
Range
Wind River Range highcountry
Country	United States
State	Wyoming
Part of	Rocky Mountains
Highest point	Gannett Peak
- elevation	13,804 ft (4,207 m)
- coordinates	43°11′04″N 109°39′12″W / 43.18444, -109.65333
Length	100 mi (161 km), NW/SE
Width	30 mi (48 km), SW/NE
Area	2,800 sq mi (7,252 km²)
The Wind River Range highlighted in pink

Green River Lakes and Squaretop Mountain, Wyoming

Titcomb Lakes, Wyoming

The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short), is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. Gannett Peak is the highest peak in the US state of Wyoming and straddles the boundary between Fremont and Sublette Counties A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of A mountain range is a chain of Mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The range runs roughly NW-SE for approximately 100 miles (161 km). The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and includes Gannett Peak, which at 13,804 feet (4,207 m), is the highest peak in Wyoming. A continental divide is a line of elevated Terrain which forms a border between two watersheds such that Water falling on one side of the line eventually Gannett Peak is the highest peak in the US state of Wyoming and straddles the boundary between Fremont and Sublette Counties There are more than 40 other named peaks in excess of 13,000 feet (3,962 m). ^[1] Two large National Forests including three wilderness areas encompass most of the mountain range. "National forest" redirects here for the National Forest in England see National Forest England; for those in Brazil see List of Brazilian National Forests Wilderness is generally defined as a Natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by Human activity Shoshone National Forest is on the eastern side of the continental divide while Bridger-Teton National Forest is on the west. Shoshone National Forest () is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2 Bridger-Teton National Forest is located in western Wyoming, United States. Both National Forests and the entire mountain range are an integral part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Greater Yellowstone is the last remaining large nearly intact Ecosystem in the northern Temperate zone of the Earth and is partly located in Yellowstone Portions of the range are also inside the 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

Geology

The Winds are composed primarily of a granitic batholith which is granite rock formed deep under the surface of the Earth, over one billion years ago. A batholith (from Greek bathos, depth + lithos, rock is a large emplacement of Igneous intrusive (also called plutonic rock that forms Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Over hundreds of millions of years, rocks that were once covering this batholith eroded away. As the land continued to rise during the Laramide orogeny, further erosion occurred until all that remained were the granitic rocks. The Laramide orogeny was a period of Mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago and ended The ice ages beginning 500,000 years ago began carving the rocks into their present shapes. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets Within the Winds, numerous lakes were formed by the glaciers and numerous cirques, or circular valleys, were carved out of the rocks, the most well known being the Cirque of the Towers, in the southern section of the range. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. A cirque ( French for " Circus " is an Amphitheatre -like Valley, or valley head formed at the head of a Glacier by The Cirque of the Towers is located in the Wind River Range Wyoming, U Shoshone National Forest claims that there are 16 named and 140 unnamed glaciers just on the east side of the range for a total of 156, with another 27 reported by Bridger-Teton National Forest for the western slopes of the range. Several of these are the largest glaciers in the U. S. Rocky Mountains. Gannett Glacier which flows down the north slope of Gannett Peak, is the largest single glacier in the Rocky Mountains of the U. Gannett Glacier is the largest Glacier in the Rocky Mountains within the United States. S. , and is located in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness in Shoshone National Forest. The Fitzpatrick Wilderness is located in Shoshone National Forest in the U

Hydrology

Several major rivers have headwaters on either side of the range. The Green and Big Sandy rivers drain southward from the west side of the range, while the Wind River drains eastward through the Shoshone Basin. The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The Big Sandy River (also called Big Sandy Creek) is a tributary of the Green River in Wyoming in the United States. The Wind River is the name applied to the upper reaches of the Bighorn River in Wyoming in the United States. The Shoshone Basin is a semi-arid basin area in western Wyoming in the United States, rimmed by the Wind River Range on the west the Owl The Green is the largest fork of the Colorado River while the Wind River, after changing its name to the Bighorn River, is the largest fork of the Yellowstone River

Ecology

The Winds are known to have a small Grizzly bear population, primarily in the northernmost areas. The Colorado River (' Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately The Wind River is the name applied to the upper reaches of the Bighorn River in Wyoming in the United States. The Bighorn River is a Tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 mi (742 km long in the western United States in the states of Wyoming The Yellowstone River is a Tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 671 miles (1080 km long in the western United States. The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis, also known as the Silvertip Bear, is a Subspecies of Brown bear (Ursus arctos that lives Other mammals include the black bear, elk, moose, mule deer, pronghorn and wolverine. Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands The American Black Bear ( Ursus americanus) is the most common Bear Species native to North America. The elk, or wapiti ( Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest Species of Deer in the world and one of the largest Mammals in The moose (North America or elk (Europe Alces alces, is the largest extant Species in the Deer family. The mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus) is a Deer whose habitat is in the western half of North America. The pronghorn ( Antilocapra americana) also pronghorn antelope or prong buck, is a species of Ungulate Mammal native to interior Bald eagles, falcons and hawk are just a few of the 300 species of birds known to inhabit the region. The Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a Bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and There several sports teams with the name Falcons or similar Atlanta Falcons, an NFL (American football team Springfield Falcons, an The term hawk can be used in several ways In strict usage in Europe and Asia, to mean any of the Species in the Subfamily Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The streams and lakes are home to cutthroat trout, brown trout, Mackinaw Trout (Lake Trout), and Golden Trout. The cutthroat trout ( Oncorhynchus clarki) is a Species of Freshwater Fish in the salmon family of order The brown trout ( Salmo trutta morpha fario and S trutta morpha lacustris) and the sea trout ( S The forests are dominated by lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, fir and spruce. Lodgepole Pine ( Pinus contorta) is a common Tree in western North America. The Whitebark Pine ( Pinus albicaulis; family Pinaceae) occurs in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada, specifically the Firs ( Abies) are a genus of between 45-55 species of Evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. Spruce refers to Trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of Coniferous Evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae

The range sits alongside many of the animal migration routes in the United States and contains several important passes, notably South Pass, (7,412 ft / 2,301 m), at the south end of the range, which was one of the more important passes on the Oregon Trail as it passed through the Rockies. South Pass (elevation) is a Mountain pass on the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Wyoming. Pioneers traveled across the Oregon Trail, one of the main overland migration routes on the North American Continent, in wagons in order to settle new parts of the Aside from South Pass, which is at the southernmost tip of the range, no roads cross the mountains until Union Pass, (9,210 ft / 2,807 m) at the northern terminus of the range.

References

Cited references

External links

• Shoshone National Forest Federal website
• Bridger-Teton National Forest Federal website
• General Information on the Wind River Mountains
• Wyoming Tourism information
• Continental Divide Trail information
• Article discussing glacial retreat in the Wind River Range
• Glaciers shrinking