Red Canyon and Flaming Gorge. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 5

Exploring the Dinosaur National Park and hiking to see the rivers meet at the end was the perfect end of the first day of the trip - Where the rivers meet each other. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 4.

 

The next morning we woke up in Vernal, Utah and checked the forecast. Unlike our last visit to the area, the weather looked good so we decided to go and see Red Canyon. Last time we tried, the fog was so thick, we couldn't see much except fog - click here to check it out - Muted Flaming Gorge

  

We started the same way we tried before - from the visitor center.

This time we were able to see an amazing view of the slopes of the northern part of the canyon. Green river there is really green and creates a great contrast with the red rocks of the surroundings...

Taking a short hike seemed like a good idea, so we walked a couple of miles along the rim, looking back and forth and really enjoying what we saw.

The Canyon Rim Trail runs along the canyon for several miles and it was incredibly exciting to take a turn and see more of the river. Next to the visitor center, the canyon is about 700 feet wide (really narrow) and twice as deep (very impressive) but gets wider as you walk along the rim.

A couple more turns and the river looked more like a lake, so open and wide the body of water there. And there were a couple more lakes further away! But soon we realized that these weren't some lakes, but just the river that meandered between the hills and you couldn't see it all at once, but just pieces that looked like lakes... Interesting!

At some point, it seemed to us that we had gone far enough, it became hotter and we had something else to see, so we turned around and soon were back on the road.

Our next destination was Flaming Gorge, and soon we stopped the car and admired this breathtaking view up to the river...

We stopped at the best place to look around - Sheep Creek Overlook. The overlook is the highest point on the road, right before the road makes a couple of sharp turns and descends so quickly that driving is more like skiing.

Everything there looked absolutely astonishing. The colors were vibrant and unimaginable (even though our timing wasn't good, sunrise or sunset would have been much better)...

By the way, Flaming Gorge is the original name, given to this area by John Wesley Powell during his exploration of Green River in 1869.

  

Interested to see what we explored next? Click here - Sheep Creek Geological Area. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 6

Pictures were taken on May 26, 2019.