The lonesome stretch of highway east-west between Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park is said by Teddy Roosevelt to be "the most scenic 50 miles in the world." Where the Shoshone is stopped up by the Buffalo Bill Dam, a glittering blue-green reservoir opens up and follows you into the canyons and steep escarpments of volcanic ash that guide you across western Wyoming. The beauty of the beaches here capture you not by virtue of their silkiness, but in the way their whiteness stands in contrast to the aggressive backdrop of the American wild west.

I will never forget stopping here with a close friend I hadn't seen in a long time, to soak in the wind as it ripped across the water and reinvigorated me after a morning spent helping him cut firewood in those mountains - dead standing timber from a wildfire - just before winter.