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Published: June 17th 2019
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May 31st
We awoke this morning ready to get going to Flaming Gorge. I must admit that both David and I were ready for a longer stay so we can just rest. The dogs were able to romp in the dog park this morning and I got coffee on. Breakfast was a quick breakfast burrito. Red is still having stomach issues so we are keeping an eye on him.
We all loaded up and pulled out of our spot and turned north again heading 64 miles to Flaming Gorge’s Lucerne Valley Campground. Shortly after we started and not yet out of town we hit road construction and thankfully it was very short but they’d slowed us down going up our first hill. The road north out of Vernal passes through similar geological formations and hills as Dinosaurs National Monument. There were lots of roadside geological signs which we enjoyed and learned from. Approximately 10 miles out of town we saw our first warning of what was to come. The sign read: steep grades with 10 switchbacks next 4 miles! OMG, I thought not again! Yes I’m still having nightmares from our experience on Boulder Mountain. While the
ensuing 4 miles was slow, the switchback climb was fine. It was like following a cow trail up the mountain, slow steady but at least not straight up! We did fine through the 4 miles as we climbed we noted a strip mine operation on one side of us. As we rose to what we thought was the summit the landscape leveled out in a pine forest. We drove for a few miles before we found ourselves climbing again. The summit finally arrived and we had reached 8424 ft! Once again Red had an urgent need just as we reached the summit. We enjoyed our brief stop at the top in the midst of the pine forest. Snow was still visible in the trees and it was cold.
As we started down we continued through the pines but occasionally we would get a glimpse of the landscape beyond and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. As we descended the landscape changed to the more sagebrush climate that is Wyoming. It was very clear why Flaming Gorge is named that because the colors of the mountains have a bright red hue mixed with the green spring grasses and shrubs. As
we continued on down the reservoirreservoir came into clear view and oh it was beautiful.
Before long our campground turn came into sight, Lucerne Valley Campground. This campground has 140 spots well spaced to give lots of privacy. The antelope, Pronghorn, we’re doing their part to keep the grounds well manicured and fertilized. The campground only offers electricity at each campsite, 50 amp for ours. Water is available near the RV dump. There is a charge for the dump. We had added additional water in Vernal today 50% but thought we’d better get more to be comfortable for 4 nights camping. I mean it would be simply horrible to not use my dishwasher!!! LOL. We’ve never needed more than that but we added water to 76% before moving on over to our spot. That’s about 750 gallons of water and very heavy. Our spot, D-10, was a back in and online said it was 60 feet long. Well let’s just say not as advertised. It was a beautiful spot that put the trailer door facing the lake and the evening sunsets. There was a beautiful concrete patio and metal cabana overhead with a fence to block the
winds for the picnic table found there. A concrete fire pit sat nearby and a table to set a portable grill on. The only problem is that that patio took 20 feet of that 60ft to park the RV. This meant that our trailer barely fit and the bikes on the back were nearly over the fire pit. Oh but it was so nice it was hard to complain. The truck had to be pulled in tight next to the trailer to get it into our spot and out of the road. All settled in, 4 nights of rest looking at the boats going by, people fishing and the backdrop of the mountains in all the flaming colors just beyond. This place just might be heaven!
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