Though my wife and I have traveled extensively throughout the Western U.S., a visit to Flaming Gorge, on the Wyoming-Utah border, has eluded us. Over the next few days, we plan to remedy that deficiency.
This afternoon, we'll head west on Interstate 70, climbing to the Continental Divide, dipping through the Blue River Valley, winding across Vail Pass and eventually merging with the Colorado River to snake through Glenwood Canyon.
After a night in Glenwood Springs, we'll leave Interstate 70 at Rifle, angling northwest across the Roan Plateau of northwest Colorado and the Uinta Plateau of northeast Utah, both of which are topped by Eocene sediments of the Green River Formation (see Green River Lakes). From Vernal, Utah, we'll head north to Flaming Gorge, sculpted by the Green River over the past 30 million years and flooded by Flaming Gorge Lake since 1964; more on the Gorge tomorrow.
