The Green River cut this gorge through the Uinta mountains and exposed high cliffs that show geologic formations dating back 300 million years. They have signs along the road that say dinosaurs lived here, coal was found here, Jurassic period, crustaceous period……They seem pretty serious about their geology around here. There is a geology drive and there are a number of fossil digs in this general area too. It does seem pretty amazing to be standing next to rock that formed so long ago. It is beautiful too. There is lots of color and wild looking erosion formations. It has been a good stop but we are heading on tomorrow to one of those fossil digs, Dinosaur National Monument.

We were canyon gazing this afternoon along a wide high section called the Red Canyon. It is 4000ft + across to grassy plateaus on the other rim. We spotted what we thought was an elk herd and it was confirmed as the unmistakable sound of the bugle of a bull elk floated across the canyon. That fellow has a healthy set of pipes.

Just as we were settling in there was a knock at the door. “Just wanted to let you know, we have an aggressive bear in the area.” Wonderful! We are pretty careful about keeping camp clean anyway so no big deal but a bit of a surprise since we thought we were actually out of bear country after all the high desert we drove through.
Turns out the west side of the gorge here in Utah is very mountainous hence, bear. We never heard any more and never saw the bear.
Our animal sightings did include more pronghorn, elk, a cow moose and her calf (chowing down in a marshy spot pretty close so great to watch), osprey, mule deer, hawks, kokanee salmon (that bright red with a green face spawning coloration) but no big horn sheep. They reintroduced them and claim to have quite a few but we just couldn’t spot them.

There are a couple herds of wild horses on BLM land around Flaming gorge. We were just getting into the canyon area when one group appeared petty close to the road. Kent got a great picture of what is our first wild horse sighting. It was exciting for me.

A long drive through sagebrush dotted prairie. We are moving on to Flaming Gorge Utah. Our route follows the Green River valley just like the Pronghorn route to their winter range. Some 60,000 of these clown-face painted creatures make the trek starting about now through October. It is supposedly the largest/longest land mammal migration in North America and second in the world only to some on the Serengeti. We saw lots of little clusters of the guys along the way. We also encountered at least a half dozen road construction areas where they are actively building underpasses for the Pronghorn. They are putting in high, continuous fences to keep them off the road but that really messes with their movement. Route 191 is a busy people corridor right through theirs (sort of unfair-they have been making that trek for hundreds of years). Anyway, hope the underpasses work.

Tetons Park and the Rockefellers are tightly intertwined. This Preserve was supposedly the family’s retreat and was the last bit of land given to the park. It is a quiet little lake, Phelps Lake, and the surrounding ridges. It was a very pretty walk along the lakeshore through big pines. As we neared the end of the walk, just as I was bemoaning not seeing any wildlife, a snake slithered right under my feet. I have no idea what kind it was. They all make me dance! On the drive back to camp we saw the bison and elk again and a pair of sand hill cranes. They apparently stage here to migrate and the first of them are just now beginning to arrive.
Checked out the animated geology exhibit at the visitor center. It is a time lapse ( a couple hundred million years in one minute) computer generated image of the plate tectonics and fault line activity that formed this range. It was pretty cool. They didn’t incorporate the Yellowstone “Hot Spot” theory though.

The sky was a bright clear blue with a few dots of fluffy clouds. We drove up Signal mountain to take in the view of the Tetons and the whole of Jackson Hole valley. The view was magnificent. The broad valley seems to go on forever and the mountains just appear above the plains. When I stepped to the edge for that perfect view, the rising thermals brushed against my face carrying the sweet herbal smell of sage praire and the lodgepole pine covered slopes beneath us. The some of the senses froze that image. I hope to be able to summon it for many years to come. I love those time-stands-still moments.