This morning I woke early to drive from Vernal, Utah up to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. The guy that I met last night while at Fantasy Canyon told me that Flaming Gorge was an area of immense beauty and that it would be a good place for some pictures. The drive itself from Vernal to Flaming Gorge was beautiful. The road crossed a pass with quite a few switchbacks and once I reached the top the plateau was covered with snow. Aspen trees littered the plateau. The morning light on the aspens was sublime. I was on a mission, though, to get to the gorge and so I didn't stop to take any pictures of the aspens.
Once I arrived at the gorge I followed the signs to the visitor center, as the guide book that I have said that was the area with the best views. Unfortunately, the visitor center was closed and the road had not been plowed. I didn't feel like walking the 3 miles through the snow, so I just drove around the gorge area for a while. Eventually I made it to the Flaming Gorge dam and after driving across the dam and following the hill up on the other side, I came across a parking area and an excellent overlook area for viewing the dam and part of the reservoir.
Flaming Gorge straddles the Utah/Wyoming border and encompasses 207,363 acres of land and water, divided almost equally between Utah and Wyoming. Apparently the gorge is also very well known for its trophy lake trout, with the Utah record fish weighing in at just over 51 pounds. There wasn't much activity in the area.... I can imagine in the summer that this is a popular place. During my visit the waters were incredibly calm and I could hear geese and ducks chattering along the shores of the reservoir. There is also a river access road that goes down into the gorge just below the dam, and I read that this is a popular starting point for rafting trips on the Green River.
(Click on the above image to view a larger version so you can read the stats on the gorge!)
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