Flaming Gorge

We stopped at the visitors’ center in Utah. We explained that we were looking for campgrounds at Flaming Gorge. There were not many on the map. The nice lady explained that there were lots, but they were closed for the season.  The nice place was Dripping Springs, which she said we would really enjoy.

It was raining constantly. Hard, soft, in between. We looked hopefully for some break in the clouds, and saw what looked like a break in the direction we were going.

The roads twisted and wound, but nothing like the sphincter-clenching drop-offs of Colorado. After one missed turn, we finally arrived at the Dripping Springs campground. The place looked like Mordor from the LOTR movies. There had been a fire some time ago, and every tree had burned, leaving a charred carcass. The rolling hills of the campground were surrounded by the more forbidding sharp upslopes of the area, and they were enveloped in mist. The wind was 20-30. This did not look like fun to us, so we abandoned the campground with regret. Flaming Gorge is truly an extraordinary place, and must have been a delightful sight before the fire.

We popped for another motel, in Evanston WY. All of the great camping we envisioned in Utah and Idaho looks like we’d collide with early season storms. So we are likely to go west from Salt Lake City and see what northern Nevada has to offer.

So far, through rain, wind, missed turns, and disappointments, we have had about 10 minutes of being grumpy with each other. That seems remarkable to me. We flow really smoothly as a team, and setting up and breaking camp has become fairly easy. We marvel at how well we work together, and look forward to finding ways to help other couples enjoy the teamwork that makes this journey so much fun.