Land of the Dinosaurs, Red Rocks, and Outlaws

Manila, Utah (82 degrees during the day, low 50's at night, occasional  brief showers)

"Dinosaurs may be extinct 

from the face of the planet

but they are alive and well

in our imaginations"

Steve Miller

We spent five action packed days at Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge Recreation Area, and Ashley National Forest. Lots of miles were put on the jeep as we went up and down the mountain passes trying to see as much as possible. We did not allot enough time  to see this BIG area but we made a valiant attempt. 

Flaming Gorge Recreation Area

The mountain passes oftentimes are  8% grades with elevations over 10,000 feet. John did a great job. Lucerne Campground is located in a tiny town called Manila and many of the sites have lakes views of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. It's right on the border of Utah and Wyoming and is a Forest Service camp ground run by a concessionaire.The drive down the mountain to the reservoir along the flaming cliffs is spectacular. 

Flaming Gorge  Reservoir

Once again we used the my scenic road trip website to plan our first excursion. Click here for the complete details and map. It recommend stopping at the Swett Ranch and Flaming Gorge Dam. We traveled down a long dirt road to the forest service site where the ranch was located. We had a nice tour with a volunteer of the buildings and grounds. It's a classic ranch established in 1909 by Oscar and Emma Swett. They started with a one room cabin and then two and finally after having nine children built a larger home. They lived here until 1960. This area at the time was very remote and you had to be very self reliant. 

Swett Ranch

Volunteer Forest Service Jim showed us all around the Swett Ranch

Sweet ranch

Flaming Gorge Dam

Not far from the ranch is the huge Flaming Gorge Dam. The road trip website recommended taking the free tour. What a great tip! After going through a security check our  guide took us across the top of the dam and then down an elevator to the very bottom where  the power plant was located.  She told us all about the building of the dam (built in 1960). The most spectacular part was seeing the power of the water jetting out the bottom of the dam into the Green River. 

Flaming Gorge Dam

Water jetting out of the reservoir into the Green River

Dam Overlook - Green River

This is taken from the base of the dam. Watching the water jetting out of the reservoir was an amazing sight

View from the base of the dam looking up

Red Canyon Visitor Center

The volunteer at the ranch also recommended a side trip to the Red Canyon Lodge and Visitor Center. The pictures below are taken inside the visitor center. What a view the Forest Service employees and volunteers have working there.

Red Canyon Overlook

The reservoir below is 1700 feet deep and 4000 feet wide. Many explores like John Wesley Powell and William Ashley traveled this river. Other visitors in this area included Indians, fur trappers, ranchers, mountain men and even outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch hid out here.It has quite a colorful history.

Red Canyon Overlook 

Lake at Red Lodge. Cabins for rent surrounded this peaceful place.

Red Canyon Lodge

This visitor centers have these free quides with lots of road trip idea

Map of area

Sheep Creek Loop

This was another full day road trip from the Manila area. It rained on and off but the scenery was still delightful. There are a lot of very cool rock formations on this byway. . 

We continued on the Spirit Lake Backway which had been highly recommended by several people. It was mostly a gravel road but easy to navigate. It dead-ends at the beautiful Spirit Lake. It thought it was a perfect name for this special place. There is a small restaurant there ran by a barefoot crew and small cabins for rent. It looked like it could have used a little TLC but the views overcame the cabin conditions. We then drove back the same way and saw a few dispersed camping sites in this area. A storm had passed through and sleet was in the area we had recently passed by on the way up. Camping in a tent right now would be chilly. 

Spirit Lake Backway

Young moose enjoying the wildflowers

Leidy Peak in the distance

Spirit Lake

Dinosaur National Monument

Our last day was spent at Dinosaur National Monument. It is about a two hour drive from Manila. We found it to be fascinating. From 1909-24 Earl Douglass, a paleontologist hired by Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh evacuated thousands of dinosaur bones from  this area. Oftentimes complete skeletons were found.(over 700,000 pounds of material was excavated) The remains were shipped to Pittsburgh and over time the fossilized bones have been displayed in museums all over the world. A part of this quarry wall still exists at the park and hundreds of bones are encased in the rock of the wall. There were volunteers and staff throughout the quarry area to answer questions. This wall was originally a river bed which encased the dinosaurs in a type of rack called Morrison Formation. 

Morrison Foundation rock known to oftentimes contain dinosaur bones

John and his new friend outside the Visitor Center

Shuttle to Quarry Exhibit Hall from Visitor Center (you can also hike out to it)

Quarry Exhibit Hall built right into the famous site

Skull of a meat eating dinosaur - most intact specimen

After visiting the quarry exhibit we drove the Cub Creek Road. Be sure to buy an auto tour brochure from the Visitor Center for $1. It's called the Tour of the Tilted Rock- good description. There are some interesting petroglyphs, rock formations, and historic home sites. 

Petroglyph

Green and Yampa Rivers

Turtle Rock - can you see it?

Elephant toes Butte

Jose Morris Cabin-a very interesting lady who was a local legend. 

We traveled back to our campground through the town of Vernal . I didn't get any photos but there were  hundreds of the most beautiful hanging baskets and planters dispersed all throughout the town.

Lessons learned:  our campground was a nice place to stay but very remote. If you have a boat and love to fish it's perfect. However, if you would rather sight see there is a lot of driving involved going back and forth. We saw a really nice campground in the Dinosaur National Monument called Green River which would have been more convenient and can handle a big rig. We would also suggest allowing more time to see this really interesting area. We will definitely return here again. 

Lucerne Lake Campground

Our site (50 amp electric only

We are now in Grand Teton National Park visiting with friends and family. We worked there two years ago and it feels like home to us.  It's a very special place. Be sure to check back soon.

Lonesome Desert - Mojave National Preserve

Hole in the Wall Campground (Mojave National Preserve), California

"For all the toil the desert takes of a man it gives compensation, deep breaths, deep sleep, and the communion of the stars"

Mary Austin, "The Land of Little Rain"

Sand Dunes

Our last day with GTA was October 10th and we are now back on the road again. It feels good to be moving and we now find ourselves meeting up with our camping club with FMCA called Cuatro Estados (Four Corners). Our location is a remote campground in the Mojave Desert called The Hole in the Wall. It is such a stark change from the Tetons but we have always found the desert to be very beautiful. It takes a couple of days to adjust to its wonder and fully appreciate the beauty.

Along the way here we stopped for one night in Evanston, WY  at a so, so campground called Phillips RV Park.  However, the breakfast at Jody's Diner was memorable. Waking up to snow was a bit of a shock but it didn't last long. Whew! We got out of the mountains just in time.  

Elks Lodge (five sites) Provo Utah

Elks Lodge

The next two nights were in Provo Utah at a fantastic Elks Lodge. The five non reservable sites have full hook ups, modern lodge, friendly members, and $2 draft beers. For $20/night it is a perfect combination for a nice place to stay. We were like kids in a candy store due to the wide variety of shopping in Provo  Jackson Wyoming is very remote and expensive.  Just to give you an idea the closest Walmart is 100 miles away and in a different state. 

In N Out Burger

Camping World, Sams Club, Verizon, and yes Walmart were some of our stops. A first for us was trying a In N Out Burger. What a yummy treat.  Provo is very green and manicured with mountains surrounding you from all angles.  It's very picturesque but the air quality is rather poor due to almost constant smog.

Our next stop for two was at the Nellis Air Force Base FAM camp called Desert Eagle in North Las Vegas Nevada for two nights. Suddenly we have developed a strange creaking sound in the front of the motor coach over the drivers side wheel.  We spent most of our time here trying to find someone to look at it but couldn't get an appointment for a week at the  nearby Freightliner. Hopefully this repair won't be too complicated or expensive. TBA. We will stop back here after leaving the desert.

Desert Eagle FAM Camp

The campground is really nice with full hookups and a manicured site. As with most military campground everyone is so friendly. There was lots of planes flying over and this is the home for the Thunderbirds. John has been thrilled to see F-15, F-16, A-10, F-22 and C103 planes flying over. This is a very active base. It's only $20/night however you must be active or retired military to stay here with a few exceptions.

So, now we are here in the Mojave desert with our camping rally.  While we were out west three years ago we joined this club during a rally in the Four Corners area with FMCA.. Then we spent the rest of the time out east and were only able to attend one rally. It's a very active club and each one is so well planned. We met the rally leaders in Florida (Barry and Jann) last winter and spend about a month with them on and off seeing some of the sights around Sanibel and south Florida. They also came to visit us in the Tetons this summer and we had a fun kayak trip down the Snake River.  So, we may not have attended many events with the club but we value the friendship we have made with them.  It would never have happened without belonging to Cuatro Estados.  The French call this Lagniappe - something unexpected.

The Hole in the Wall Visitor Center

Note the holes in the "wall"

The Mojave National Preserve is the third largest National Park (Yellowstone and Death Valley are slight larger). It encompasses over a million acres and is very remote.  There are two campground and we are staying in The Hole in the Wall. It's a primitive campground (unreservable)with nice sites and breathtaking views and did I mention the stars at night are awesome.  Just the way we like it! And, it's only $6/night with a Golden Age or Access Pass. 

Our site 

Barry and Jann planned some great hikes and off road trips. However, the day after we arrived I found myself at the ER in Bullhead City due to a very painful knee.  I had some concerns about a blood clot but after a few tests they found some fluid had built up in my knee and called it an effusion.  I was certainly relieved.  The sudden onset of it in conjunction with driving such long distances without much exercise had me concerned.  The care at the ER was top notch and soon we were back at the campground. I'll just have to scale back some of my activities for a few days.

The next morning we woke up to this outside our front window. 

The sunrise in the desert is truly breathtaking.  

We are heading out to see the sand dunes and Kelso rail station.  Check back tomorrow to see how the day unfolds.