Tuesday, July 15
Bridget, Spike, and I leave camp and go north on Highway 191. We bear right at Greendale Junction, entering Flaming Gorge Recreation Area. A pass is required. Daily passes are $5. A pass for seven consecutive days is $15. A pass for one calendar year is $35.
Of course, with a Senior Pass ($10, good for life), the crew and I enter for free!
Cart Creek Bridge, Flaming Gorge Reservoir
The bridge was built in 1962.
Before driving over the dam, I stop at the Visitor Center.
People are waiting to take a tour of the dam. I pass on that, not wanting the crew to wait in the Perfect Tow Vehicle. I’m not much for tours anyway and it’s a lovely day for a drive.
I read in a brochure that a large colony of ospreys nest in the Dutch John Bay area.
Fishing pier and Osprey Island in Dutch John Bay
Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a dream for boaters and people who like to fish.
Lake trout, kokanee salmon, rainbow trout, brown trout, small mouth bass, channel catfish, and burbot inhabit the reservoir.
What’s a burbot? A marmot with indigestion? I don’t know!
Thank heaven for chain-link fences.
I drive us over the dam.
We continue on Highway 191, past Dutch John, and around the bay. I stop at an overlook. I leave the crew in the PTV because I don’t want them falling off a cliff.
Flaming Gorge Dam (502 feet tall)
There are very few boaters out today, it being a weekday.
Here are more photos taken from the overlook.
Back on Highway 191, we make our way across arid land toward Antelope Flat.
If in the distant past you traveled Highway 191, which runs north-south on the east side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, this section looks quite different now. Evidently a fire raged through the area between Dutch John and Antelope Flat. Where it was once green, it is now exposed tan earth with sage brush and charred, leafless trees. A drab landscape!
I’m curious about Antelope Flat.
I’ve heard dispersed camping at the water’s edge is available in addition to a campground with boat ramp.
When we move camp and head into Wyoming, the crew and I won’t go along the east side of the Reservoir. I plan to take Highway 43 along the west side. In order to see Antelope Flat, we’re taking this little excursion today.
In the next post I’ll show you Antelope Flat and the “flaming” rock which inspired John Wesley Powell to give the gorge its name.
rvsue
THANKS FOR SHOPPING AMAZON FROM MY BLOG!
