Started with a hike, ended with a banya

It’s hard to whittle down this day. After breakfast I squeezed in a virtual work interview before we hit the road for a hike — heading up, up, up into Shoshone National Forest with a landscape dotted by vibrant gold foliage mixed with pine. Wyoming Highway 131 Had a trail entirely to ourselves as we continued our upward trajectory into the Popo Agie Wilderness region. It’s pronounced puh-POE-zha and means “beginning of the waters” in the Crow language. I’d find myself whispering puh-POE-zha out loud to feel the syllables flow, in hopes it’d stick and I’d stop saying my previously butchered pronunciation. Our turning point was Roaring Fork Lake and we celebrated by sitting on a very large rock and had a beer while Daisy continually tested the length of her lead. Roaring Fork Lake On the way back to town we popped into Sinks Canyon to peek at the subterranean river and large rainbow trout. Banya That night we’d enjoy a visit to the banya that GW designed and built. (Banya = Traditional…