Jul 19, 2012 - Awesome national park!

July 19,  2012 We were asked what kind of dinosaurs were in there.  The first couple of photos are of some we saw just outside the park.   Seriously, Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus and several others, some big, some little, all scattered in a mudflow at least 10 feet deep.  The wall of dinosaur bones still in the rock inside the building is really cool.  But most impressive was hiking the trail outside and putting my hand on a leg bone weathering out right there in the rock.  Visions of just how big that animal had been, lying there so very...

Jul 19, 2012 - Extended with photos

Good reception in Manila, UT this morning, so I am trying to catch up as John replaces our propane tanks. I should mention that we just caught the tiny western corner of Dinosaur National.  The park is huge, mostly backcountry.  Oh, and the "wall" of dino bone deposits is because the layers of rocks are standing near vertical in this area instead of laying horizontal. Also, a really fascinating feature of the park is the rock art.  We drove up a side canyon and could climb up to the walls to examine it.  Amazing to think about the ancestors...

Jun 6, 2012 - Manila, Utah

We moved camp to Manila, Utah. Manila is a very small town at the southwestern end of Flaming Gorge. No McDonalds, and no stop lights! I had been to Manila in the Phillipines and wonder how this town got its name. It was named for the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. Navy Commodore George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Pacific Fleet of the Spanish Navy in the first major battle of the War of 1898. Now you can take that piece of knowledge and 75 cents and get a senior citizen cup of coffee somewhere. We drove around part of Flaming Gorge and...

Sep 12, 2010 - Flaming Gorge - Red Canyon

We have just completed our stay here in Manila, Utah. Manila, a town of 303 is the only major town providing support for the area. Two gas stations, a restaurant, grocery store and post office are about it. During the summer mouths this area booms with boaters using the Flaming Gorge. The Flaming Gorge is and very dramatic geological area. Driving through the area the rock structures are continuously changing through some 17 geological formations. This is classified as a Federal Recreational Area, and they have done an outstanding job of...

Sep 9, 2010 - Home in Utah - Flaming Gorge

We spent Labor Day weekend in Fort Collins with my brother and wife. Not much happening, except some kickback time after 4 days of driving and some real wind. For one portion of the trip we averaged 7.4 mpg only to turn downwind and average 11.6. These same strong winds continued most of the weekend and contributed to the forest fire in Boulder, CO. Tuesday found us going cross country on a great state highway on our way to Rock Springs, NE and finally on to Manila, UT. Amazing thing about the trip across Wyoming was the extreme number of...

Sep 26, 2009 - Manila, Utah

9/26 – 9/28 In two days we traveled 308 miles to the Lucerne Valley Campground (along the Flaming Gorge Reservoir) in Manila, Utah (I-80, SR130, I-80, SR530). We stopped for the first night at a Wal-Mart in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The drive along SR130, also known as Snowy Range Road, was beautiful. At its highest point (10,800 feet) we were above the tree line and had great views of the surrounding mountains. At the Lucerne Valley campground we met up with our friends David and Dianne, we will be traveling with them for a month or so. In...

Jul 7, 2008 - Flaming Gorge and the Green River

We spent Monday enjoying the scenery of the area surrounding Rock Springs. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area which is on the Green River was close by so off we went. We did a loop drive down Highway 530 and then back up Highway 191, the drive was a long loop around the 91 mile lake and parts of the Green River. It was absolutely beautiful. You could see for so far and the road back had signs marking all the different geological periods that were evident by the layers of earth that looked like a rainbow of colors. Fossilized squid, sand...