06/21/01:
They've dammed the Green River near Vernal in northern Utah. The result is the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and National Recreation Area. This backed the reservoir up 91 miles into Wyoming. Most of the boating access appears to be on the Utah end with the Wyoming end being mostly wilderness.
After arriving at Flaming Gorge National Recreation area in Utah I got a rude shock. I had expected Flaming Gorge to be similar to Amistad ($4) and Glen Cove ($6) National Recreation Areas for camping. Instead I choked when I stopped at Mustang Ridge and it was $15. I found a free spot a little farther on.
06/22/01 Paddling :
I was so excited to be paddling today I had trouble sleeping last night. At 7am I was on the water in 60 degree temperatures at 6000 feet. I got off to a rocky start by dropping the camera in the water while launching but things picked up after that. I turned east into the bright sun and slight wind. Cliffs rose up out of the water with 10 feet of gray limestone underneath 15-20 feet of red limestone or sandstone. I paddled close to the east shore trying to stay in the shade while it lasted. I knew there'd be plenty of sun later on.
Lots of swallow type birds were building mud nests underneath an overhang on the cliffs. A couple of osprey took off as I neared also. A paddled down to the Flaming Gorge dam in one direction and a couple of dead ends in another. Coming back from the dead ends I saw a bridge and figuring that was river headed towards it.
Before the bridge, the shore eased up to forested hills and mountains. Past the bridge 100-200 foot cliffs and rose up with mostly pines on the east side and juniper and bushes on the west. Then I saw a very large hawk or a small golden eagle fly across the river. It landed on a rock and proceeded to hop around a little. Then a smaller, lighter colored bird did the same. I guess they were a pair and were trying to lure me away from a nest. That's great stuff. I also think it's a possibility they were red-tailed hawks but don't know for sure. They just seemed smaller than the golden eagles I had seen before. Maybe just a young pair.
Dozens of swallow type birds were busy building mud nests under overhangs, in horizontal cracks and holes in the cliffs. They would fly off to a mud bank, land, flap their wings for a few seconds, presumably stuffing their bills with mud and then flying back to the nests. I also scared up a pair of osprey.
Disappointingly, the river ended a little further on where a couple of cold springs entered into it. Many large, dead, blue crayfish littered the bottom. I found a nice spot to bathe (bio-degradable soap) and was soon joined by a half dozen large carp. Hundreds of giant 1.5 inch horseflies were struggling in the water. I dunno if they were tuckered out from breeding or what.
Back on the main water I paddled in the other direction for a couple of miles and then called it a day.
06/23/01: Hiking Red Canyon Rim Trail:
After yesterday's paddle I drove around checking other things out and came away disappointed. I had planned on spending two weeks at Flaming Gorge paddling and hiking. The paddling spots I checked out were mostly surrounded by flatlands which I generally find unattractive. The exception being the left part of the Antelope Flats put in.
The Red Canyon would be an excellent paddle but there are no access points in a reasonable distance. When I decide to do some touring I'll be back for another looksee.
So today, instead, I hiked the 5-6 mile (round trip) Red Canyon Rim Trail. It's 1700 feet deep with sheer, red sandstone walls much of the way. Big horn sheep, Peregrine falcons, osprey, golden eagles and even bald eagles in the winter can be found here but all I saw was a turkey vulture.
06/24/01: Hiking Little Hole Trail:
The Little Hole Trail runs 7.2 miles from the Flaming Gorge Spillway to Little Hole. I wasn't going to try to do 15.5 miles round trip but figured I'd go 4 miles from one end and then come back and then repeat the process from the other end tomorrow.
This easy trail follows the Green River the entire way. I started from Little Hole and went upstream. Very pretty. The river itself is about 150 feet wide and 2-3 feet deep most of the way. Its very fast with lots of riffles and class II rapids. I had vague hopes of paddling up it but that faded quickly.
Red sandstone cliffs up to and over 500 feet line both sides of the river. And I've never seen so many trout. I must have passed close to a hundred of them close to shore, all of them in the 12-14-16 inch range. That must be the size they release them at from the hatcheries because the only ones I saw that may have been less than a foot were a couple of rainbows. The rest of them were brown speckled trout of some sort.
The trail was enjoyable and I got to watch a fly fisherman catch fish for the first time ever. I dunno if I'm going to do the other end or not. I got socked $2 for a parking fee my Golden Eagle card didn't cover.
06/25/01 Paddling Sheep Creek Bay:
While trying to decide where to go after leaving Flaming Gorge I happened to see a boat ramp in the DeLorme Atlas for Utah about 20 miles away but still within the National Recreation Area. Looking a little closer I noticed several contour lines indicating nearby mountains.
I drove up last night to check things out and they looked promising. Except for the boat ramp. They're charging $7 for people to stay overnight in a parking lot and then charging them to launch their boats. I found a spot a half mile down the road with free camping right on the water. There was no shade at all so I headed back to the Ashley National Forest where I'd seen stands of Ponderosa pine. It was also 2000+ feet higher in elevation.
Dark clouds moved in and there were a lot of boomers but I didn't see any lightning. We got enough rain to get things wet but that was about it.
This morning I was back at Sheep Creek that feeds into the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. I got to talking to a couple of locals camped out. They told me about the big horn sheep wandering about the area, especially a couple of big rams. They also indicated they thought the sheep weren't doing too well because of the mountain lions. They said black bear are being seen in the area again too.
I launched off a 3 foot bank into Sheep Creek and tried to paddle out. At the mouth I ran into a sand bar and had to pull the kayak over. It wasn't long before I saw a dozen or more half grown Canadian geese escorted by a couple of adults.
The temperature stayed in the 70's all day with a 5-10 mph wind blowing in my face as I paddled north. 1000+ red sandstone cliffs and slopes are stacked on top of each other on one side of the reservoir here. The other side is green hills and slopes rising to about the same height.
I kept scanning the cliffs and slopes for sight of a big horn ram but didn't see anything. After four miles I came to Horseshoe Canyon. It's got limestone walls rising up several hundred feet on both side. I paddled into the canyon for a mile or so but felt a strong wind on my back so turned back.
Continuing up Sheep Creek Bay I came to a narrow channel. Now I was paddling into the wind and was getting tired so I turned back. The wind pushed me along for a while but then shifted and was coming out of the south, right in my face at 10-15 mph. And it didn't stop the whole four miles back to the put in. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
06/27/01 Paddling Red Canyon:
A cold front moved in yesterday with thick, black clouds and heavy winds. I decided to go into Vernal to do laundry, food shopping, etc., hoping I'd miss any storms and have a nice day today. Wrong!
Heavy winds rocked the truck last night and the sky was half black and half bright blue this morning with temperatures in the 50's. I put in at Sheep Creek again and was able to get over the sandbar without getting out of the kayak.
I stopped to get the watch out of the dry box to see what time it was. The kayak made a half turn and when I looked up I saw three big horn mountain sheep. It looked like a mom and two mostly grown kids at the water's edge. I don't know if I disturbed them or they were done drinking but when I saw them they were all walking towards the woods. They were 200-300 feet away, too far for a picture. All I would have gotten would have been butt anyway. That was a good way to start the day. I never really expected to see any big horn sheep anywhere.
1.5 miles brought me to the entrance to Hideout Canyon. There ought to be a good story behind that name but I don't know it. Limestone cliffs and slopes lined both sides of the Green River. Actually they aren't gray limestone but red sandstone with some kind of thin coating from the river. The cliffs rose several hundred feet and the partially forested slopes almost 1000 feet.
Another .5 miles and a channel went off to the left to go around Kingfisher Island. I went right, up the Green River, through Hideout Canyon to Red Canyon. The Green River narrows after 5-6 miles and the canyon walls become steeper. I also started paddling into a 5mph wind. Carter Creek branched off to the right and a little further on Eagle Creek did the same. Both looked like they'd be worth exploring. Just past Eagle Creek I could see the Red Canyon Visitor Center roof poking above the 1700 foot cliff.
Red Canyon is only a mile or so long but has those great sandstone cliffs towering above for 1700 feet. I had just gotten to the end of the canyon which was as far as I intended to go. The GPS said about 7 miles and with all the twists and turns it was probably 9 real miles.
The wind picked up and the skies darkened as I started back. Long, rolling thunder became continuous and then I saw a bolt of lightning ahead. That scared me. Big drops of rain started plopping in the water. I grabbed the Gortex jacket I just happened to bring along today and I managed to squiggle into the spray skirt. By this time the rain was torrential and small hailstones were bouncing off the foredeck.
The wind had shifted and I was paddling head down into it when a huge thunder clap broke right overhead. It sounded like God slamming the door on the rest of my life. That was enough for me and I headed for shore. I pulled the kayak up and turned it over. I was in a small rock garden with nowhere much to go. Large boulders were at either end so I just scrunched down in the middle as far from them as I could get.
Small hailstones continued to bounce off of me as I huddled there for 15-20 minutes while the lightning flashed, the thunder boomed and the rain made lots of splashes on the river. Eventually the thunder stopped, followed by the rain. I got up to launch the kayak and the sun came out. A 5+mph wind pushed me along quite nicely.
A mile from the put in the clouds moved back in and the rain came down for another 5 minutes. I was worried about what the rain would do the dirt road and the field I drove across to the put in. As it turns out, it didn't rain a drop at the put in.
06/28/01 Paddling Kingfisher Island:
High winds kept me awake much of the night so I was pretty tired when I got to the Sheep Creek put in, The sun was aggravatingly bright and constantly in my face no matter which way I looked. It also glared up from the water make things even more difficult.
I didn't see any big horn sheep as I approached the mouth of Sheep Creek. I don't know if the water level had changed or if I just got off track but I had to get out and pull the kayak over the sandbars.
30 minutes brought me to the entrance to Hideout Canyon and the fork to Kingfisher Island. This is one big piece of rock approximately .5X1.0 miles and it took me an hour to get around it. The front part of the island is rolling hills but the back side and the ends are steep limestone cliffs 100-200 feet tall.
I was really tired and called it a day after 3 hours. A deer and I exchanged glances as I paddled back up Sheep Creek.
06/29/01 Paddling Horseshoe Canyon:
I put in at Sheep Creek for the final time this morning at 7:30am. Temperature in the 60's and a 5mph wind blowing in my face. The sun wasn't too bad, probably because the ripples on the water kept the glare down.
I got to Horseshoe Canyon about 8:45am. Limestone cliffs rose straight up 100-500 feet on one side and partially forested cliffs and slopes rose the same distance on the other. An hour of leisurely paddling brought me to the end of the canyon and I was back on Sheep Creek Bay.
This whole area has been very, very clean. I presume some volunteer group had just been through because there's lots of fishermen here everyday. With nowhere much to go I turned around and went back through the canyon. It's always different going the other way. I hadn't seen any boats on the way up but four of them followed me back into the canyon. One of them was a clunker with a smoking motor who putt putted in front of me for a half mile. Nothing like noxious fumes in a canyon and no where to go. No wildlife except a deer on Kingfisher Island.
06/30/01 Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Scenic Drive:
I expected the boats to be out in force today, Saturday. I've done most of the paddling I want to do here and am just hanging out. I had seen a sign for the Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Scenic Drive so off I went.
Five miles of bad road brought me to the scenic drive part. This is another five miles through Sheep Creek Canyon. Limestone and sandstone walls rise 500+ feet in the air with some interesting formations. The road turned into a washer board so rather than rattle and loosen every nut in the truck I turned back.
A sign pointed to Death Valley so that's where I headed next. It turned out to be a very rough dirt road leading up and over some hills in the distance. I've only got one truck and didn't want to risk those rough roads so gave up on it.
The dirt road to Dowd Mountain was much better. Four miles brought me to a scenic overlook of Sheep Creek Bay, Hideout Canyon and distant mountains. Great stuff.