Friday, September 23, 2016

Flaming Gorge: Red Rock and Green River

 

P1050357

On Monday we drove 250 miles from Grand Teton National Park to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area near Dutch John, Utah. We don’t normally drive that far in a day, but there just really isn’t any place to stop in between, although it’s a lovely drive. Many of the forest service campgrounds are closed for the season, so the closest one open that we came to was Dripping Spring, just a few miles from the Flaming Gorge Dam. Due to a fire here many years ago, our first impression was that we’d spend the night and find something better the next day. As it turns out, we spent four nights. It kind of grew on us, and there have only been a few other RVs here so it’s been very quiet.

The entrance wasn’t too appealing with all the dead trees still standing.

DSC06272

But we liked our site with the surrounding rabbit brush in bloom.

P1050370

DSC06274

We are still fighting colds, but on Tuesday we drove down to the dam and Red Canyon see if we felt up for a short hike. Unfortunately there was a controlled burn going on near the canyon so the air was hazy and the views not so great, but it was nice being back in red rock country.

DSC06256

We walked the rim trail for a mile, which was about the extent of our energy levels.

DSC06255

DSC06260

Flaming Gorge Dam. Here’s a bit of history from the Forest Service website:

Flaming Gorge Reservoir was created in 1962 with the completion of the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River by the Bureau of Reclamation. At 502 feet tall, the dam is part of the Colorado River Storage Project, and provides water storage,
hydroelectricity, and recreation. There are three generating
units in the Flaming Gorge Power Plant, which produce enough
energy annually to serve about 50,000 households.

P1050358

P1050362

P1050347

And reservoir.

P1050349

We were feeling better on Tuesday so decided to go for a hike on the Little Hole Trail. We were here in 2010 at a different campground and hiked several miles of the trail right along the Green River across from the dam, but this time we were closer to the other end of the trail, just a couple miles past the campground at the Little Hole boat launch area, so we started there. Apparently although we started at the trailhead sign, we didn’t realize the trail continued past the boat launch so we actually hiked away from the dam and missed the trail right along the river.

Looking back through the dead trees to our starting point by the boat launch.

DSC06275

Although most of our hike was not by the river we still enjoyed the scenery.

DSC06278

When we saw this we decided to keep going.

DSC06280

It was 1.75 miles until we got down to the river.

DSC06282

One of several river campsites we passed.

DSC06284

It was so peaceful. Wish we could have gotten out on the water.

DSC06287

DSC06288

DSC06290

We only saw this one boat of fly fishermen.

P1050384

DSC06292

P1050383

It rained all day and night yesterday but luckily the predicted heavy winds and severe thunderstorms missed us. I did a little cooking and cleaning, while Jim did some sorting and scanning of papers that somehow continuously pile up. Today we’re moving on to Dinosaur National Monument.

Parting shots of our ever-changing view.

P1050394

P1050377

P1050397

12 comments:

  1. Glad to read that y'all are feeling much better. It would have been a shame if you were sick the entire time you were there and couldn't enjoy that gorgeous area.
    Love the photos looking down at the river.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful! The rabbit brush sure can turn a blah landscape into a lovely view!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great photo's. We love the area. Safe travels.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad you're feeling better. We ran into controlled burns too, September must be when they do them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Where does all that paper come from anyway. Looks gorgeous. Glad to hear you're both feeling better.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks like a pretty sweet campsite after all. The river is beautiful, what a lovely hike.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great pics - as always. Glad you're feeling better!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such gorgeous country! Glad to hear you are feeling better and back out on the trails.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is such a beautiful area. Enjoy Dinosaur NM. Make sure you hike back down taking the trails.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That rabbit brush is stunning and I just wanted to jump in the pic of that riverside campsite and pitch my tent!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Can't believe I missed this post somehow. Flaming Gorge is a place I have had on my list since we started out. Great pictures showing me what I haven't gotten to see yet. Sorry you missed the hike along the river but finding it must have been great fun. It really does look like a terrific place to kayak. Those last 3 shots of your view show just how great your campsite was. You do find the best places to camp. Tell John I have the same constant problem with papers. How can there be so many? I seriously think there are more now than ever in our “paperless” society.

    ReplyDelete