Travelogue 8: Spectacular Flaming Gorge in Utah
Some of man's greatest historic feats of engineering involve our simple need for water! Are there any of these feats more impressive than the concrete arc dams built in recent history? Not only do these engineering marvels help solve water problems, but they are also massive sources of generation of hydroelectric power!
Photo: Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah
One such place is the awesome Flaming Gorge Dam and its 91 miles (146 km) long reservoir, in Northeastern Utah, with much of the reservoir in Southwestern Wyoming. This area is high desert country, with annual rainfall a paltry average of 1.2 inches (~ 3 cm) per year!
Both the history and natural beauty of this area have resulted in it being named the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Here is a excellent description of it:
Flaming Gorge is the kind of place you'd think would be overrun, but it's not. Limitless recreation opportunities with a side of solitude.
[emphasis added mine]
On the "road less traveled" in life, this post covers another one of @roleerob's examples of a wonderfully out-of-the-way place you have to want to drive to and experience it. Why? It is not on the way to anywhere else! 😉
Before taking a closer look, here are a couple of maps of the area visited:
Map of Area Covered in this Post
Here is a brief look at each of the highlight points illustrated above, with links to more information, if you are interested in learning more about it:
- The Edge Of The Rim View Point and the Red Canyon Visitor Center provide "must see" views, as well as an informative nature trail.
- Overlook of the area settled by the earliest homesteaders, including the Swett Ranch Historical Homestead.
- Stopped to see the Cart Creek Bridge and its picturesque little arm of the reservoir.
- Visited and took pictures around the closed (due to COVID-19) Flaming Gorge Dam Visitor Center.
- Visited and took pictures from the access area provided below the dam.
- Visited and took pictures from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir overlook just before the town of Dutch John.
Let's take a closer look ... 🧐
Flaming Gorge of the Green River
In the largely arid western United States, by far the most important river is the Colorado River. The Green River is the major tributary of the Colorado, originating as the collection of all of the streams flowing down from the western slope of the incomparable Wind River Range of Wyoming.
As part of the Colorado River Storage Project, the Flaming Gorge Dam provides hydroelectric power, flood control and water storage.
Source: Wikipedia's Colorado River Storage Project webpage.
Flowing down through the high desert of Wyoming, the Green River enters Red Canyon, just ahead of it cutting through the eastern edge of the highest mountain range in Utah - the Uintah Mountains. Here the conditions were excellent for putting in this amazing dam.
Photos: Red Canyon Info Signs
Reading the history of the men who originally navigated down through these canyons is fascinating, for those who enjoy true stories of adventure and man being pushed to his limits of endurance to survive.
In 1869, one of them, Major John Wesley Powell, named this portion of the Green River "Flaming Gorge" after describing it as:
"a flaring, brilliant, red gorge that may be seen from the north a score of miles away,”
Source: WyoHistory.org's Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir webpage
These canyons were deep and resulting underwater structures provide some incredible habitat for fish. Fishing on this lake has produced world-class catches, like this record 53-pound, 15-ounce lake trout (+ 24 kg) caught on August 5th!
Continuing on with my visit here in August 2020, here are the highlights of getting to once again experience this spectacular part of the western United States. The following subsections correspond to the map above, if interested in locating it for your own visit in the future!
1 - Edge Of The Rim View Point
A short distance off the highway, one finds the Red Canyon Visitor Center with this wonderful overlook, along with an informative nature trail.
Photos: Up and Down the Gorge from the View Point
The views from this point are in the "must see" category, as even on a poor visibility day (like we experienced), they are still well worth it. They give you just a hint of the massive size of this reservoir on the Green River.
In the upper view, you see the ridge in the background of the highest mountains in Utah - the Uintah Mountains.
In the lower view, you can just make out the little speck of water in the upper center of the picture, which is where Flaming Gorge Dam is located. On a clearer day, with a good pair of binoculars, you can make it out easily.
2 - Area Settled by Earliest Homesteaders
In the early 1900s, 3 hardy families settled in the mountains above Flaming Gorge, one of them being the Swett Ranch Homestead.
Photo: High Plateau of the Swett Ranch Homestead
In that era, these families were carving out a hard living at 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,400 m) in elevation, on this north slope of the Uintah Mountains. Horses were their primary mode of transportation. And the nearest supplies were a long way off, as none of the highways today were in existence. And the gorge below this plateau was very deep, as noted above!
3 - Cart Creek Bridge
A well-known bridge, not far from the dam is Cart Creek Bridge. It was one of the first parts of the dam site built, given how deep this canyon once was below it.
Photos: Cart Creek Bridge Arm of Flaming Gorge Reservoir
It was vital for good transportation to and from the dam construction site. Today, it provides some nice recreational activities, including great fishing!
4 - Flaming Gorge Dam Visitor Center
Although tours were closed due to COVID-19, the Flaming Gorge Dam Visitor Center is normally well worth a visit.
Photos: Flaming Gorge Dam and Visitor Center
Due to it being closed, I could not get past all of the fencing with sober warnings about constant surveillance of anyone who might think of trying to get over it anyway. My objective? To take photos of looking down over the side of the dam to the river below. While I have done that many times, it was not to be on this trip ... 😌
The primary memory I had hoped to relive was going down into the interior of the dam to see the hydroelectric generators and powerplant at work. The dam's three Francis turbine generators, powered by water dropping down over 400 feet (~ 122 m) through three 10-foot (3.0 m) diameter penstocks, have a nameplate annual generating capacity of ...
+ 500,000,000 kilowatt-hours
enough to power over
50,000 households!
enough to power over
Fortunately I have experienced it before, although it was many years ago. Sad that I couldn't see it again, but ... Perhaps another time ...
5 - Access Below the Dam
Once crossing the dam on State Highway 191, a short distance later, there is a nice access road switch-backing down the side of the mountain to the base of the dam and to its release of water into the Green River below it.
Photos: Flaming Gorge Dam and Access to Green River Below
For scale, the first photo shows a vehicle parked down by the fence where visitors can see into the remarkably clear pool below the dam. On a previous visit, we saw some of the largest trout we'd ever seen in there. Our guide calmly told us their "secret." Some of their "cousins" did not fare so well making it through the penstocks, so ... They were eating the remains of them! 😲
In no prior visit to this area, do I recall seeing any reference to what you see above - dam movement! What? 😳 1,000,000 cubic yards (750,000 cubic meters) of concrete anchored to the canyon walls and bedrock can move?! Who knew? 🤷♂
Well, apparently someone who wrote a journal paper about it entitled - Deformation Measurements of Flaming Gorge Dam! This paper references a "downstream movement of 0.86 in. (2.2 cm)" Yeah, well, "color me" skeptical ... 🤷♂ 😉
The beautiful river flowing out of the bottom of the dam is one of the finest stretches of river for trout fishing in the western United States. Boating (non-motorized ...) and rafting is also very popular, as we can see. There are some very rugged sections of this river further on downstream from this photo.
6 - Flaming Gorge Reservoir Overlook
The last opportunity to see the dam and reservoir, if heading out and on in to Wyoming on State Highway 191, is this nice overlook, just a short distance from the little town of Dutch John.
Photos: Flaming Gorge Reservoir Overlook
The combination of the impressive history of this area, the engineering prowess behind building this dam, and the natural beauty around this remarkable dam and reservoir make it a very desirable place to visit. I hope my brief introduction to it, dear reader, has raised your interest in some day experiencing it for yourself! 🙂
Beautiful Photos of Others
As I mention in closing (below), the conditions for this visit were far from ideal. So ... Up until now, you have seen my own pictures. Here are a couple of photos from others, to give you more perspective on the great natural beauty of this area:
)
Source 1: Photo Gallery of Utah.com's Flaming Gorge webpage.
Source 2: Photo on Wikipedia's Flaming Gorge webpage.
Source 3: Photo on Travel Wyoming's Flaming Gorge webpage.
Good lighting makes a world of difference! 🙂
Closing
This area is an "old friend," as I have traveled through here off and on since I was a child. Sadly, seeing it for the first time in many years, this visit was marred by - 1) Smoke from the fires in California (seriously ...) and rarely seen rain obscuring the spectacular views and 2) The Visitor Center dam tour being closed "temporarily" due to COVID-19.
Other than that, it was perfect ... 😏
If your interest has (hopefully!) still been piqued, in addition to the ones I have already provided for you, dear reader, I would highly recommend looking up links to the many web sites providing more information, pictures, and videos. The variety of the sightseeing and recreational opportunities around this lake and in the nearby mountains are hard to beat!
I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.
Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Hive Communities and add increasing value to our Hive blockchain! 👍 😊
Respectfully,
Blogger @roleerob
Hive "Dolphin" 🐬, Man Cave "Dragon" 🐉, & LeoFinance "Whale" 🐋
🐝 🍯 🐝
P.S. Unless otherwise noted, all images are pictures taken by my smartphone - a Samsung Galaxy S9+.
🌲 No trees were harmed in the publishing of this post! 🌲
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Scratching my head tring to figure out how I've never been here. I was stationed in Denver and then in New Mexico whenI was in the Air Force. Have driven through southern Utah coming up from Arizona also. How did I miss this?? It's a stunningly beautiful place!
Yes, it is an impressive dam and the surrounding countryside has much to offer one who takes the time to visit @scubahead.
From your description, it sounds like you may have experienced the next major dam "downstream" - the incredible Glen Canyon dam. Have you ever been there? Or on Lake Powell?
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Thank you for the virtual tour around such a fascinating dam @roleerob! It's really quite difficult to grasp the scale of this had you not mentioned the length of the reservoir, and the elevation that I noticed from the sign. When people say meal portions are large in America, I think that can be easily applied to landscape as well!!
Yes, my friend ...
... the length of it is greater than the width of Taiwan @livinguktaiwan! 😉
These great vistas are, from my experience, best expected out in the American West. Having been many times back East, the experience there is very different. There are far more trees and the landscape comparatively flat. Put them both together and you cannot typically see very far ... 😉
Thanks for stopping by and adding value to this post!
P.S. For a little Pinmapple fun, take a look at where I pinned this post. The nearest pin to it is another one I created from a wonderful trip with my children into the Uintahs. Otherwise, there is not another pin within 200 miles!
All 5 of these pins are linked to my posts, so ... I am doing my small part to fill in some of the "void" ... 🙂
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how beautiful, your photos are fine, The whole tour has been impressive, it definitely shows the majestic hand of God and the hand of man taking advantage of resources, achieving this beautiful view.
How are you and your family? greetings and blessings my dear friend.
Yes, we are always far more drawn to be outdoors and experiencing the handiwork of God, rather than being in cities and experiencing the handiwork of man. In this case, we got to experience a bit of both!
Health-wise, we are well @blessed-girl. Like others all over the world, however, the impact of the actions taken to "protect" us from COVID-19 are having a considerable negative impact. On several members of our family ...
How are you and your loved ones?
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Such a huge reservoir of water. Amazing photography!
Wow, @roleerob, Do you and your wife travel by car?
Seeing that huge land that is several times the size of the Korean Peninsula, I was overwhelmed.
If I say this, you will laugh, but if you go through such a wasteland, you will meet beasts, criminals, and ghosts.
You don't have any fear when i see you travel by car through that vast land without people.
I see why Americans love big cars. A fearless American like you would need a tank-like car to drive around the continent.
I would see why the Japanese feared the enormity of the American continent.
This is because fearless Americans like you live in the vast, rich and heartless continent of North America.
Rocky Mountain man @roleerob knows no fear.
The Rocky Mountains are the backbone of the United States. There are fearless Americans living there.
Thank you for your beautiful photos. I'm sorry I can't vote on your post because I'm late.
No @silvergrifin007 ...
... I'll just smile! 😉 Very interesting to read your perception, coming from your view of the world in Korea.
Thank you for your kind answer! I am kidding you!
However, there are certainly many dangerous entities in the vast wilderness of America. You may have an accident while traveling alone in the wasteland. America is beautiful, vast and prosperous, but danger always lurks.
@valued-customer said he hunts for deer by pursuing 40 kilometers a day. It is interesting that Americans always hunt and survive training in the wilderness. Because Americans themselves must protect their lives and property.
It is surprising that only 490,000 people live in Iowa. You must instinctively distinguish whether the person you encounter in the wasteland is a friend or an enemy to survive.
Perhaps you have succeeded as a manager because of your good ability to distinguish between enemies and friends.
A translation issue, I am sure, but the only place where this might still apply would be Alaska. In the mainland portion of America, we have designated "Wilderness" areas, protected by the Federal government, from any sort of man-made development. The goal is simple: Protect these places as they have always been ...
A perception problem, as well as inaccurate. Iowa has over 3 million people and is hardly a wasteland. It is one of the most productive agricultural states in the country.
It depends on your definition of "wasteland" I suppose. There are certainly many places in the American West, where you can look out a long way and not see much in the way of any population centers. Where you do find them, they are smaller towns, not huge cities. But ...
As far as determining whether the people there are "friends" or "enemies," to "survive" the thought never enters our minds. I think you may have this perception from watching movies about the settling of the American West in the 1800s? Just guessing ...
I succeeded because I was good at my job. Company "politics" is always a part of any human enterprise and life, whether here in America, there in Korea, or anywhere else. As long as there are people "in there," we can rest assured there will be problems ...
It has a small population compared to the vast territory of the United States. Wyoming is larger than the Korean Peninsula, but has only 490,000 people. So I thought that the counties around the Rocky Mountains were all low-population wastelands.
Like your expression, "Wilderness" areas, not wasteland, are correct.
I misrepresented the "Wilderness" areas, as wasteland.
You are right! I misunderstood Wyoming as Iowa.
Your guess is correct. I understood the small towns from the western movies as wasteland.
I've been told that Americans are trained to instinctively determine if the other person has a gun. Haven't you learned how to fight opponents with guns? Since the United States is free to own firearms, I thought it would be trained to distinguish between enemies and friends.
I agree with you!
No, I have never received any training on how to fight against an opponent with a gun. I was never in the military. Nor a policeman ...
No, I cannot "instinctively determine" whether another person has a gun. I would most likely know the same as you would - if they told me, then pulled one out and threatened me with it ... 😉
Sorry to disappoint you! 😬
Amazing photos and absolutely gorgeous landscape. As a non-American, I have to thank you for converting everything to metric, that made the reading experience perfect. Wish you well @roleerob!