Forty-eight hit river for third Blueway Trail float

Forty-eight people and one dog gathered in Basin Saturday for the Big Horn River Blueway Trail Float. One of those taking to the river was WYDOT District Engineer Pete Hallsten, who summed up the event with one word: “Groovy.”
 “The Bighorn River Blueway project was born out of a community-led effort in the Bighorn Basin Outdoor Recreation Collaborative and connects the Basin’s communities with Wyoming’s great outdoors,” said Patrick Harrington, manager of the Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation. “If fully realized, the project creates unique economic development opportunities along its 95-mile route, while improving local quality of life and access to the river.”
Prior to setting off down the river, a windstorm, lasting 20 minutes or so, put doubts in some people’s minds about doing the float.  By the time the safety meeting was over, so was the wind.