Glacial Lake Floods Canyon

Pinedale, WY – A 30 acre mountain lake contained by a glacier in the Wind River Range broke loose and flooded a remote mountain canyon. The unusual geological event occurred in western Wyoming in September and only a few witnessed the resulting flood. Nobody was harmed. The lake apparently eroded through the glacier and roared down Grasshopper Creek to the Downs Fork and into Dinwoody Creek. An estimated 650 million gallons gouged a 30 foot deep trench a half mile down the glacier. It deposited tons of glacial silt across 70 acres of the Downs Fork meadows. The flood clouded several downstream lakes and filled normally dry irrigation ditches more than 20 miles away in Fremont county with silty water.