Dinosaur Tracks and Flaming Gorge

After having lunch and leaving Vernal on our way home, we decided to go back by way of Flaming Gorge. About 12 miles out of Vernal, I saw a road sign that said "Red Fleet Dinosaur Tracks". Naturally I had to turn around to check it out. Several miles down a narrow paved road, we came to an interpretive sign showing a path that can be hiked down to a reservoir where there are lots of dinosaur footprints.

Because we had the dogs with us, we decided to try another path shown on the sign that would be a lot closer. To make a long story short, we were driving down a dirt road several feet off the road where no one would be able to see us. All of the sudden, I hit a very sandy spot and almost stuck the car. I scared myself - badly! I realized we could be in very serious trouble as I could not back the car up since the dogs were in my way and the single lane road was very curvy. While continuing to pray for help, I debated about trying to drive through the sand hoping it would be better over the side of the hill, but immediately decided not to as I'd still have to come through this sand and it might be worse on the other side.

I decided the best recourse was to do a "3 point turn" which wound up being much more than three tries. I could only go forward and backward in small inches as the sand was piled up on the side where I was almost stuck. Finally I was able to have the car turned around and we drove out with my heart still beating wildly.
How's this for interesting rock formations?



After the fun of almost getting stuck, we headed north to Flaming Gorge.

On a spring day in 1869, John Wesley Powell and nine men boarded small wooden boats at Green River, Wyoming to embark on a daring exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Powell and his men slowly worked their way downstream, successfully completing their journey in late summer. It was on May 26, 1869 that Major Powell named the Flaming Gorge after he and his men saw the sun reflecting off of the red rocks.

We also got to drive through the Ashley National Forest for a second time. The forest is thick with evergreen trees, pinyon pines, and junipers that grow down to the clear blue waters of the reservoir.

This is the bridge that goes across the gorge and near the dam.