Day 6 Part 3 - Green River to Vernal, UT
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In 1869, John Wesley Powell and nine other men piled into four wooden boats and headed south from Green River into the unknown. I did the same in my RV. Almost immediately they, and I, were into a river canyon.
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A good look at Pinnacle Rock.
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| There is probably more water now than back in 1869 thanks to the dam. |
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The Green River turns into the Flaming Gorge Reservoir thanks to the Flaming Gorge Dam, which was finished in 1964.
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| I deviated from the reservoir to have a little low-level fun. |
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A good look at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
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| Thanks to an input from one of my blog's readers, I now know that this is a Pipeline Bridge. As a matter of fact, it is the highest pipeline bridge in the United States! Link |
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| Looking over my left shoulder north. |
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| I start to understand why it is called Flaming Gorge. |
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I was confused a little on which way to go since the reservoir had multiple offshoots at this point.
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| I did end up finding the right path. |
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| Now this is really the Flaming Gorge. Too bad my picture came out blurry. |
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| Looking back. |
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| And there is the dam. Construction started in 1958 and the dam was finished in 1964. |
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Downstream from the dam.
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| Now we're out of the gorge and into some flat lands. |
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| Some weather in the distance. Nothing to worry about. |
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About to enter another canyon. I believe I have crossed briefly into Colorado.
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Pretty.
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| The rock shifted from reddish color to this yellowish-white. |
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Just mind-blowing scenery.
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| Wow. |
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| Looking north. |
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Looking back at the way I just came through.
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| The Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center is down below at the foot of the "Dinosaur Wall" with the town of Vernal in the distance. There are lots of dinosaur fossil beds in this area. |
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On downwind at Vernal Airport, my stop for tonight.
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| Dinaland Aviation fueled up the RV and gave me the keys to the courtesy car. |
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| Can you guess what Vernal is known for? It was past 5PM and the museums were closed so I just found a cheap motel, had dinner, and was done for the day. What a day! Sawtooth Mountains, Green River, Flaming Gorge and River Canyons. Sensor overload. Tomorrow would be even better. |
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