The 30th Anniversary Tour, 9.19.22 - 10.15.22, Part 1 of 12: Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead. “Two of Us” - The Beatles

The 30th Anniversary Tour was our longest and most ambitious trip to date. Thirty years of marital bliss seemed like a biggie and we both wanted to do something special to celebrate. Research started almost a year ago. It had originally been centered around the 100th anniversary celebration of the camp I went to in my youth. Geneva Glen Camp had this celebration planned for Labor Day weekend. As I began to envision a route and where we might go, spending time in southwest Colorado for the turning of the aspens took precedent. This meant starting the trip later than Labor Day so although I would have loved to have gone to the Geneva Glen party, I jettisoned that idea in favor of the aspens near Telluride. Once I determined that I wanted to be in southern Colorado the last week of September, the rest of the trip revolved around that time frame and in hindsight, it all worked out perfectly.

We planned to be gone for twenty-eight days. We knew a trip of this magnitude had the potential to not go entirely smoothly. We prepared ourselves mentally for the possibility that weather or problems related to the Navibahn could affect our plans and we vowed we would take it all in stride and stay positive for the duration. Weather and a few glitches did actually affect our plans but overall we had fantastic weather and the things that went wrong were relatively minor issues so we were extremely lucky.

Bridgit and I loaded up the Navibahn, hooked up Mr. Green Jeens behind and hit the road on September 19th. Our first destination was Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. From home that was a two day drive so we planned to stop in Mountain Home, Idaho that first night. Right out of town we noticed that the refrigerator wasn’t cooling. Pulling off at a rest stop we tried a few things and discovered we couldn’t even light the gas stove so even though the gas switch was on, we weren’t getting propane through the line. Now I’m the farthest thing on the planet from being considered a handyman but as I tried to think of what the problem could be it dawned on me that I had the propane tank topped off before the trip. I went out to the intake valve and sure enough, the guy that filled the propane hadn’t turned the master propane switch back on. Voila, I was now able to light the stove as a test and within a half hour the temps in the fridge were dropping towards where they were supposed to be. I started contemplating a second career as an RV repairman but decided to at least wait until we got back from our trip.

With construction slowdowns and a stalled RV blocking a lane on I-84 it took us until 5:30PM to get to Mountain Home where we settled in to a reserved spot in the Mountain Home RV Park. It was a bit expensive but this was a really nice RV Park and it had a pool. With temps in the 80’s, we took full advantage of the pool before retiring for the evening.

We were up and out before the sun the next morning. Continuing east on I-84, just past Ogden, Utah we veered east instead of exiting south on I-15. We were now on new roads we hadn’t been on before. Stopping for gas, when I turned the engine back on we had lost our in dash radio. This also meant we lost the ability to play music from my phone or view the rear camera. Hmm. We pulled off at a very nice rest area in Echo Canyon and after fiddling around with the fuses I managed to tighten a fuse connection and poof - we were functioning normally again. Bridgit was really starting to think I was hot by this point.

Continuing east on I-80 we entered Wyoming and got to Fort Bridger. Here we turned south. The scenery began to get a lot nicer here as we drove past some badlands that reminded me a Badlands National Park (although not quite as cool). Turning onto 44 and then 191 we made our way back into Utah to Pine Forest RV Park. Our camp sat at 7,000’ in a pine forest of all things and to save money we had opted for a dry site (no hookups). This was a good choice because all the other RVs were in another area of the campground and we had the dry section all to ourselves.

That evening we drove about twenty miles to the Dowd Mountain Overlook for sunset. We were the only ones there. The view of Flaming Gorge Reservoir was really nice. We watched the sun go down for awhile and then drove some of the side tracks and found some great dispersed campsites on the edge of the ridge. At one we caught a blazing orange sunset enhanced by distant rain clouds that made for a great finale to our day and a great start to the sightseeing that would continue for the next few weeks.

**Flaming Gorge from Dowd Mountain Overlook**

You will see that this entire trip revolved around sunrises and sunsets. Much of my advanced research dealt with what time of day the sun rose, when it set and the phase of the moon on any given day. We planned for a full day at Flaming Gorge before moving on so we got up early and drove the Jeep just over eight miles to a spot called Red Canyon Visitor Center and Overlook. We didn’t expect the visitor center to be open at six in the morning but we really didn’t expect to find fencing and yellow tape blocking all the paths that led out to the overlooks. Apparently they were in the midst of installing railings all along the rim since there had been none and the drop is a couple of thousand feet. Not to be deterred, we made the command decision to be scofflaws (by the way, I looked up the definition and a scofflaw is a person who flouts the law, especially by failing to comply with a law that is difficult to enforce). Yep, that was us. Not a ranger in sight, we slid around the fence and walked out to the overlook. It was extremely quiet but for the sound of elk bugling all over the canyon. For the altitude it was very pleasant as we sat and watched the sunrise over Red Canyon. Wonderful morning and thank God I’m not writing this from a jail cell!

I can’t continue the story without a shoutout to my new friend Gary. To be honest, I can’t even recall exactly how we connected, but Gary and his wife Wanda live in Virgin, Utah. I think he must have stumbled across my website but whatever it was, we eventually traded emails and began communicating. The more we talked the more we realized we were two peas in a pod. With a shared love of travel, wilderness, photography, travel research and an insane love for details, we traded tips on all sorts of places for present and future use. More on Gary later, but after we left Red Canyon and with the rest of the day to explore, we followed a tip Gary had just recently found about an arch that might be near our trajectory. About an hour south towards Vernal we pulled off on a dirt road and parked at the end. What seemed like a common pattern, we were the only car in the lot. The trail was really an old Jeep track through the sand and up a slickrock bench just less than a mile leading to Moonshine Arch. The arch turned out to be really cool. It has a span of eighty-five feet and a height of forty feet. It stands in front of a giant alcove with a small cave at one end. It was really a treat being the only ones there and we explored all around the arch area before heading back to the Jeep.

You can get a lot done when you get up before the sun. After our sunrise at Red Canyon and our hike to Moonshine Arch it was still only about nine-thirty. We still had one other thing we really wanted to do which was to drive a very scenic loop through what is called the Sheep Creek Geologic Loop. I had read that not only does it have spectacular scenery, but also an abundant herd of bighorn sheep. Thinking that if we stayed on the move, we might stay one step ahead of the law who by now must surly be looking to apprehend us for our transgressions at Red Canyon Overlook, we backtracked up past our campground and beyond Dowd Mountain Road to the lower entrance to the Sheep Creek Geologic Loop. This is where we ran into one of our trip glitches. A big sign at the beginning of the road stated that the road was closed ten miles in due to construction in the canyon. We decided to drive as far as we could. It was definitely worth the drive. We saw twisted, convoluted multi-colored rock walls and rows of sharp pinnacles jutting up above us but the road block was right before you enter the most scenic part of the canyon. Ah well, can’t control UDOT so we checked out the Flaming Gorge dam and visitor center and headed back to camp to relax the rest of the day.

That night it began to rain and it was really coming down by morning as we broke camp to leave. Driving south from Flaming Gorge we passed by the turnoff to Moonshine Arch, drove through Vernal and up to the quarry at Dinosaur National Monument. I had been to the quarry way back in 1972 on our way to a raft trip down the Yampa and Green Rivers but Bridgit had never been. We both loved seeing the dinosaur bones. If you’ve never been, it’s a large hillside that has been covered with a building. The hill has been excavated to expose hundreds of dinosaur bones that have been left in place half showing where they were found. There are also many great exhibits and other bones and dinosaur skulls on two levels of the building. It’s a truly fascinating place that really stirs the imagination. What’s not to like about dinosaurs?

At the quarry we encountered our next glitch in the itinerary. Just a half hour from the quarry in the lower part of Dinosaur Monument is another visitor center. We had hoped to leave the RV there and drive the Jeep up the road to a trailhead and hike out to a spot called Harper’s Corner. This hike would have taken us to a wonderful overlook high above the Green River. Then we were going to drive down a Jeep road way down to the river itself in a spot called Echo Park which has great views of the canyon and a prominent landmark called Steamboat Rock. Sadly, upon inquiring, the ranger had said that with all the recent rain, the roads would be too slick to safely drive on and we wouldn’t be allowed access to them so we had to scrap that plan. Instead, we carried on with the next phase of the trip which was a two hour drive to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where we stayed overnight at our good friends Mike and Sandy. We would be seeing them later in the trip as well.

On day five we drove to Denver where I grew up. We based the Navibahn at Standley Lake State Park and drove around Denver for three days visiting many old and dear friends. On that Sunday night I also got to go see one of my favorite bands, Porcupine Tree.

Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur were great places to visit, but as we wrapped up the Denver stop, I knew the really cool stuff was just around the corner. To hear about that, move on to Part 2!

The 30th Anniversary Tour, 9.19.22 - 10.15.22, Part 1 of 12: Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument

Mount Baker Snowshoe, 3.7.23

The 30th Anniversary Tour, 9.19.22 - 10.15.22, Part 2 of 12: Ridgway, Telluride