From Vernal to Pinedale

A day to dawdle up to Pinedale on 191. There was nothing planned; it was a day to take time to cover the 210 miles and relax.

No free breakfast but that didn't matter. We just repacked the car and set off. All we had to do was to follow the 191. We headed out past the Wal-Mart we went to last night. We didn't want to use the satnav as it was just a matter of following the 191.

The scenery was red, rocky, layered and quite fascinating until we got to a town called Ballard. It occurred to me that we hadn't seen any signs for Pinedale or even Rock Springs. We pulled over and checked the sat nav. Whoops, we had headed in totally the wrong direction for 30 miles! Arrrgghhhh! It was a matter of turning around and heading back to Vernal. There wasn't any other route. Off we headed back post-haste. Off we went. About 35 minutes later we were back in Vernal. This time we went the correct way.

The scenery was equally, if not better than before. The rock formations are incredible. Upfolds, anticlines, synclines, etc. all with different colours. We passed into the Ashley National Forest and the road started to rise again. The road however, was much better than others going over mountain ranges we had encountered before but the reason became apparent a little later. There was a phosphate mining operation roads were good. Up we went even further and the scenery was wonderful particularly as it was sunny and beautifully warm. As we came down form the forest we entered the Flaming Gorge area and that was something. We saw a sign for the Flaming Gorge Dam. Nothing about this had we seen in the guide books. It had been built across the Green River one of the Colorado River tributaries. We caught a glimpse of a bridge which we soon traversed. A wonderful bridge that seemed to fit into the scenery quite naturally. A short distance got us to the dam. We stopped and had a little look. There was a visitors center and it was possible to go on a tour. We didn't go as we would have to taken off all metal objects and left them in the car. People with pacemakers were equally urged not to go.

We started off again; got up onto the I80 and off again. The next part was dull in comparison. If anything it ended up reminding us of I10, one of the most boring routes we had been on. It wasn't quite as bad but it was very samey; flat scrub land either side and the interesting bits in the distance. We made quite good time and luckily our hotel was highly visible.

Tomorrow we head off to Yellowstone!