Flaming Gorge

Flaming Gorge 9-10-2009

As I sit looking out the window of our motorhome, I see the reservoir, which is the heart of the Flaming Gorge National recreation area. It was created from damming the Green River that winds through the gorge. We were told today that you could travel 91 miles by boat end to end. That is some lake. As you can imagine it is a fishermen’s and boater’s paradise.

As we arrived at the campground a family of pronghorn greeted us. We were amazed how tame they appeared. They aren’t tame though; they must know that they are safe in the campground. Later they were very near our campsite. It was warm today—about 86. About 6 p.m, or so, the temperature starts to fall, and the nights are cool. We are told that the past couple of days were a rarity, as the lake was as calm as glass.

The plan for tomorrow is to get up early and head for the visitor’s center by car. We heard the sunrise hitting the rocks is what gave Flaming Gorge its name. The visitor’s center is perched on the edge of the gorge and has a glass wall overlooking the gorge.

9-11-2009 Flaming Gorge Day 2

We didn’t get up early. We took the car and headed out around 8 a.m. We stopped at the Ashley National Forest Visitor Center in Manila, seven miles from our campground. The lady there was very helpful, suggesting where to stop for the best views and to be sure to take the Sheep Creek Loop where there may be some bighorn sheep to see. She did inform us that the Red Canyon Visitor Center was only open weekends after Labor Day but the views from the trail were great anyway. Next we headed to the dam near Dutch John. We went from sagebrush in the lower elevations to forests of Rocky Mountain Cedar, Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir in the higher elevations. The variety of scenery was spectacular. But the deep blue-green color of the lake in contrast with the gorge walls, varying in color from a cream to deep red was amazing.