Forest to desert in 30 minutes. Vernal (28 June)

We left Jackson and within minutes found that the trees were disappearing and we were climbing into a barren and arid desert. We climbed to a high plateau and could see the silouettes of mountains in the distance. Unfortunately they were obscured by a haze. We don’t know the source of the haze; we couldn’t smell smoke and there didn’t appear to have been any moisture for some time. Combined with high cloud, the haze meant that we couldn’t get any good photographs.

We could see the immediate surrounds well enough. They consisted of sage bush. The plentiful trees of just the previous day were absent. We saw the occasional small animal, possibly prairie dogs, and a few deer. There were no towns and little sign of habitation. It felt isolated and lonely and most of the sparse traffic was trucks from the mining and oil industry. We saw occasional collections of buildings, some with oil pumps and most with tanks and large machinery. We wondered whether they were engaged in fracking.

About 2/3rds of the way through our journey (at about the300 km mark) we came upon a dam at Green River. It is one of about eight dams on the Colorado River system. They are used for electricity generation and irrigation. 

Next we entered the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, our first substantial encounter with the red rocks and rough gorges and canyons of this area. We weren’t in the gorges but on a plateau looking down on them.

On reaching Vernal we visited the Unitah County Heritage Museum where they had displays native culture and settlement by Europeans. There was quite a bit about cowboys, especially those who became outlaws. Utah, Colorado and Wyoming are where many cowboy gangs of bank robbers, cattle rustlers and hold-up men operated. Butch Cassidy and his gang used to hide at the Hole in the Wall which is nearby.