Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

The entire drive of the loop around Flaming Gorge takes about five or six hours, heading south out of Green River, Wyoming down into Utah, over the Flaming Gorge dam, and then back up Route 191 to Rock Springs.  After all the driving we've done in the past week, we weren't sure we wanted to commit to an entire day in the car, because with stops, the five hour drive would end up being about eight hours, most of it sitting in the Jeep.

One of the campground employees suggested a shorter, but just as scenic trip.  We drove south out of Green Springs toward Manilla, Utah, pulling out at a few of the lookout points along the way.  We tried to rent a boat at a marina to check out the area from the water, but there weren't any available.  After Manilla, we drove the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, a route through mountains that vary in rock composition.  It's an amazing drive between mountains that have been pushed up and out over millions of years.  We read that the part of the gorge in Wyoming tends to be more gold or white, and the buttes and mountains on the Utah side are red, and that's why John Wesley Powell named the area Flaming Gorge after leading a bot expedition through it.  He was also the man who first explored the Grand Canyon.  The area is home to bighorn sheep, but sadly, we didn't see any.  

We packed a picnic for lunch, and drove out to one of the lookouts to stake out a spot.  It was high on a bluff and we could see the Green River as it snaked its way through the gorge.  It was a cloudy day, so the colors of the gorge weren't as vibrant as they could have been, but it was still a beautiful view.  

The gorge is home to desert elk, wild horses, pronghorn, coyotes, marmots, mule deer, eagles and other birds and animals.  If you're into fishing, the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir have trophy-sized fish for the taking.  There are lots of boaters on the water all day long.  Henry wanted to see at least one of every animal they had, but we weren't that lucky.  We did, however, see pronghorn, a marmot, deer, chipmunks and two coyotes on two drives in the area.  

Pictures will not do the Flaming Gorge area justice; between the clouds and the limitations of my ability to capture realistic images on my camera, it's just not the same.  There were times on the ride back where we had completely different views of the gorge than we had on the same road on the way down.  

Whenever I'm planning a trip, I'm always worried about buying into the tourism-hype of certain places and having the family be disappointed when we get there.  After our short time at Flaming Gorge, I'm happy I made the decision to check this place out, and I wish I had booked another night or two here.  If we had more time, we could have explored more of the area, including the Flaming Gorge dam, the Seedskadee Wild Animal Refuge, the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Loop and the Killpecker Sand Dunes.  In looking at the map, we might be able to plan out a future road trip that takes us along Interstate 191, from Moab, Utah up to Dinosaur National Monument, to Flaming Gorge and up to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.  

Whatever the route, the Flaming Gorge will definitely be a stop on a future road trip, and a highlight of this one.