June 30, Flaming Gorge into Idaho, Bear Lake

Tuesday, June 30

41 degrees this morning.  French toast and coffee as we wait for the sun to break through over the Green River.

  We head out and spot a few of the antelope the campground was named for.  The pronghorn antelope are the fastest North American mammal.  They can run up to nearly 60mph - about the same as the gazelle.

 We go back to the main road around the gorge, which isn't always close to the water,  and explore a few of the turnoffs that go to the water.  At Mustang Ridge the sun is making an appearance, as were a whole flock of magpies, a dozen or more.

 Love seeing these black and white beauties throughout the west. 

 The Visitor's Center at the Dam is still closed, but we are able to wander around the area.  It is a huge reservoir - even has an island called Osprey Island.

 Lots of flowers too, including these thistles.

 We continue around the southern end of the gorge and stop at 1700 ft deep Red Canyon.  After sniffing the Ponderosa Pines (they smell of vanilla), and clambering around the rocky precipice, we speak briefly to the folks at the visitor's center.  It is closed, but a few volunteers are outside to answer questions. (Masks in place.) Though rather empty when we arrived, it begins to get busy as we leave. We try to do most activities early in the day and have largely avoided any crowds.

That's a speedboat down there!

Another pretty stop next to a bridge elicited this warning.

Geologists would love this place which was covered by tropical seas millions of years ago. Lots of history written in the layers, types of stone, angles of repose, fossils, etc.

  You can see why the early explorers called it Flaming Gorge!

Last stop : Dowd Mountain Overlook, back a 4 mile dirt road but worth it.  One other couple is finishing a picnic there and we decide it's a good place for lunch at a small pavilion.

Now we leave Flaming Gorge and head north to Bear Lake, which straddles the border of Utah and Idaho.  We will drive for a few hours and look for a camping spot in the National Forests next to Bear Lake.  

The land becomes quite arid as we move away from the Green River.  There are still hills but now they become mesas and buttes, covered only with rocks, sagebrush and scrub brush. We have visited  a wild horse range not too far from here but take a different route today.

 Long drive, rather boring until we spot a sign for Fossil Butte National Monument.  We can use a diversion and a chance to stretch our legs...and to our surprise, the Visitor's Center is OPEN!  Only one other visitor and two employees.  Interesting displays, all of fossils found in this area. I've never seen a snake fossil before!

This area was under water 52 million years ago and they have found and continue to find some amazing fossils here.  We watch John Collins as he demonstrates how they remove fossils from the surrounding materials.  Very painstaking work, moving from coarse to very fine scribes and sand blasters.  With this fish fossil they begin with the head and tail and then work the details in between.

 The young woman working there points out a butte not too far away where commercial excavating is being done.

There is a little more activity as we approach Lake City and Bear Lake. Apparently it is quite a water recreational area.  We finally find a road leading into the Cache National Forest, and after a dozen or so miles we are back into forests and come upon the small St. Charles campground.  Only 6 sites but it is completely empty!  Our site backs up to a sizable stream and after a while we notice a couple of trout fishermen wander through the campground.  

 These are our near neighbors but a cattleguard keeps them out of the campground.

Greg starts a nice fire, but it begins to rain even as the sun is shining.  If we weren't surrounded by mountains and tall trees we would look for a rainbow!  Instead we eat dinner and look at maps and roughly plan the next few days in Idaho.