Hello Northern Utah

Flaming Gorge, Utah: known for hiking, fishing, boating and rugged striking canyon vistas. We didn’t fish but man did we hike and enjoy the scenery. The Red Canyon rim trail gave us incredible views of the gorge and the flaming red rock where it gets its name. We ran into pronghorn sheep on the way back down from the rim. They watched us cautiously but didn’t run away.

Nearly every route around the lake is a designated scenic route, so we took the long way home to do the Sheep Creek Geological Loop. This road winds through beautiful rock formations. It has an alpine stream running along the winding road. We stopped along the way and walked along the stream. There was wild salmon swimming in the currents. It is late in their season and they were brightly colored and easy to see in the shallows. We stopped by a road side stand and bought fresh potatoes from a local farmer and his children. He still lives and works on his family’s property. We talked with his father-in-law that was visiting from Idaho. The farmer’s property has petroglyphs that the local college is studying. The glyphs have not yet been identified and the experts say they do not match this area’s known tribes. There is also another local man, who is working with the wildlife services to restock an endangered species of salmon that used to be indigenous to this area. He had a pond on his property, where they have flourished unknown for years. It was a brief encounter but we really enjoyed the moment and the potatoes were delicious too.

The wildlife has been abundant and we have seen a lot more than we were able to catch on camera. There have been innumerable large and small hawks, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope and cottontail bunnies. We have seen apple and what we think were plums. There have been groves of Aspen, Birch and varieties of Pine, Spruce, and Fir trees that created a early fall tapestry of greens and golds across the landscape. And of course, masses of different types of rock, which were pushed up from the valley floor.

And no trip to Flaming Gorge would be complete without a trip to the dam. It looks like a mini-Hoover Dam.

Thanks for checking in on our adventure. We will see more of Northern Utah before we move on.