Day 15 - Colter Bay, Grand Teton National Park, WY to Red Canyon, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT

After a beautiful sunset


I went back to camp, not in time for the weasel or moose ranger programs, but just in time for a good night's sleep.

I awoke to clouds and cold, packed up, and left early, per the usual. Here was today's route:


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The sun poked through the clouds to illuminate the east face of the Tetons, so I chose to drive the route through the park that circles closer to the mountains.

This road is in the running for most beautiful highway in America.



Then it was south through Wyoming on my way to Flaming Gorge. In La Barge, WY I encountered a couple of detours. First, the highway was detoured through town because of a fund-raiser car show on the main drag. Second, I was pulled over by La Barge's finest for not having a front license plate on my truck. "Pulled over" is not 100% accurate, since I was already parked on the side of the road, fussing with my driver's side door (which doesn't like to close properly) and preparing to walk through town for the car show. Suddenly there were flashing lights behind me. After the usual questions of "where are you going?" and "how long will you be in town?"--some day I will reply "none of your business" and "as long as I want to"--I was issued a warning ticket, which is all I could be issued, and even that is specious, because New Mexico, the state in which the truck is licensed, does not require front license plates.

On a positive note, the detour off the highway through this little podunk town revealed some roadside treasure.

All the way across Wyoming, I was chasing a storm.

But as I approached Utah, I found the tail edge of the storm and the sun filtered through the clouds to create some very nice atmosphere.

The storm even dropped some snow in the high country.

I'm glad I decided to go through Flaming Gorge. What a beautiful canyon area.

And, yes, that is the color of that stream. In fact, it may have been even more red in person. You'll see where it gets that color in the coming pics.





This is Flaming Gorge Reservoir, and the rock formations here are the Flaming Gorge itself.

Enlarge the photo and read the sign.


I camped with the view below.


All in all, a nice day's drive with some great scenery. It was chilly all day though, with the temperature never exceeding 55.

Tomorrow, on to Steamboat Springs, CO.