More in the Aethelflaed Chronicles

I had an adventure yesterday. I drove round Flaming Gorge, which is on the Green River (the river, not the town). The loop goes south from Green River, down into Utah and the Uinta Mountains, across Flaming Gorge Dam, and back up onto the high plains and to Rock Springs. I was gone about 8 hours. I think I could have done it in 4 if I had just drove, but what's the point in adventure if you don't stop once in awhile to have one? It really is incredible country...it quite literally took my breath away, and then made me laugh and laugh, out of sheer awe, not knowing what else to do. It's called Flaming Gorge because of the bright red sand and rock formations down there, and the red rock, combined with blue sky, and green pine trees (and a very little bit of green grass!) and the grey of sage...it's just incredible. My first stop was by the Navajo Cliffs to eat my lunch of doritos, tortillas and hummus. There's a road that offshoots from the main loop called the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, so I took that. They had most of it blocked off, but I got probably 10 miles through the canyon before I had to turn. I parked at a picnic spot where the road was blocked off, and walked aways along the creek, then, spying a relatively decent looking peak nearby, decided to climb it. And realized a quarter of the way up that I'm either in worse shape than I thought I was, or it really wasn't such a decent peak at all, or that I'm not at all used to the altitude! But once you set out to climb a mountain, you really can't stop halfway up...because than why did you go through all the trouble to exhaust yourself, only to get halfway? So, with trembling legs, and trepidations as to whether I would be able to make it back down without rolling (!), I continued. Being on top was interesting. There was no panoramic vista of mountain upon mountain stretching out into the distance, just another, higher peak in front of me. Don't get me wrong, the view was spectacular. But it's a rather curious sensation for a prarie girl to stand on top of a mountain and just look. It's like gazing into the face of someone who's thoughts you know you can never fathom. You ponder it for awhile, but you can't do it forever, because we are, after all, tangible creatures, and we can't dwell in the intangible always, only visit.
Halfway back down the mountain, after noticing a strange lifting of my spirits, I came to the conclusion that God must have purposely made mountain tops to be cold, windy, desolate places, as well as majestic, to remind us that we weren't made to live on the heights...the hills, the valleys, the slopes of mountains are fine, but the tops are reserved for real majesty, such as humans aren't likely to achieve. Anyway, whatever you think of it, you should definitely try climbing in the mountains sometime, if you haven't. It's a humbling experience.
Driving back out of the valley, I met up with the namesake of the creek...a small herd of wild sheep were there grazing just on the opposite side of the road. I probably could have walked right up to them, but I'm not keen on getting attacked by wild sheep. They may look harmless, but I know better. Ever looked at a sheep or goat's eyes before? There's something slightly creepy there! Anyway, we stared at each other for awhile with equal amounts of curiousity, then went back to our respective endeavors...me to adventuring, the sheep to getting fat after a skinny winter. Passed an old homestead, with the dugout house still jutting out from the side of a hill, and the grave of the homesteader, who, the plaque said, was shot in self defense by an associate. It really is a "wild and woolly" place.
Drove around the rest of the Gorge, trying really hard not to stop every 5 minutes to take pictures, and only stopping every 10. I was attempting to get back before dark. Next time I'm just camping down there. Drove across the Dam, which is immense. Gavins Point Dam back home is impressive enough, but this...I can't imagine the force of the water that it's holding back.
On the east side of the Gorge, driving back up to Rock Springs, you get out of the Uintas and into the Red Creek Basin, which is RED, and up into the high plains. I understand better now what the term "high plains" means. It's strange having grasslands that are a couple thousand feet higher than the river bed...not mountains, but plains! plains broken by canyons, creeks, ridges, and ancient sand dunes, but plains nonetheless. I felt at home again. I love the mountains, but the plains are like coming home, even hundreds of miles away from my birthplace. It's funny, even in England I felt quite at home once I got away from the cities, and out into the farm country, the rolling hills and the grass.
I drove for a good hour through an area that had regularly posted signs reading "Open Range: Loose Stock." Meaning that you've been given fair warning, and if you hit a cow, it's your own fault, and you will be compensating it's owner. I saw more signs than I did stock. It's big country, they could have been hiding anywhere!
Made it back to Rock Springs by 7:30, almost sundown, then the short trip back to my temporary home in Green River. And that concludes this episode of the Aethelflaed Chronicles.