Where are we headed?
Target is returning to Grand Junction, CO for a renovation project and the best route appears to be HWY 191. I spy a large water playground and decided that was worth checking out for a couple of days!
Flaming Gorge here we come
HWY 191 Sunset
Breaking the drive up into 2 parts allowed us to do our Snake river kayak trip in the Grand Tetons and then drive late afternoon til we hit Rock Springs.
Headed to the local Walmart for supplies and sleep. This was our only Walmart overnight of the trip so far…one in a month is tolerable and they definitely serve a purpose even if it is buying ice cream at midnight! Next morning it was a short hop down the scenic byway to the Dam visitor center.
Not sure how road trippers plan their drive time versus site hunting, but my goal is to only go on the hunt for a camp site during daylight and make sure we have enough time to get settled in for dinner and relaxing.
It was a short 90 minutes down to Flaming Gorge dam and visitor center. Great area for a break and to get our bearings.
Research showed a couple forest roads in an area called Antelope Flats known for boondocking. Identifying potential kayak routes also indicated this area would fit the bill.
Waterfront campsite
Destination: Jug Hollow Road and the end site we landed in was 4.65 miles from HWY 191 along the pennisula. Actual GPS: 40.98494,-109.54515 and there were a few spots before and after this location. Additional locations were also found if you were to bear right at the fork.
We enjoyed most everything about discovering this peninsula area. Easy enough gravel road. Spot on the water. Privacy between spots. Verizon 3-4 bars and both T-Mobile and Google fi were 2-3 bars. The bad part was pesky flies and at dusk the biters came out. We had a screen room we setup and it allowed us some outdoor time. Beware, if clouds are moving in there may be strong winds showing up out of the blue.
Being on the water is always a joy for me and you can launch your watercraft or even a boat from here without having to go to one of the marinas. We didn’t launch our kayak from here only because we had a destination in mind that was quite a distance and choose to drive 10 minutes to Antelope Flats boat launch to get closer to where we wanted to paddle.
Wildlife
The fun part of this location was spotting the antelope from sunrise on a hill top to right at waters edge outside our back door. Waking up to have coffee with the antelope!
When we ended out kayak outing, we spotted this nest and it’s owner watching over us.
Nesting Bird at the Marina
Red Canyon
An afternoon outing took us to the southern edge of the gorge area to visit the Red Canyon. There’s a nice trail along the rim and a visitor center. Gorgeous views!
Red Canyon, Flaming Gorge
Working on Exploring 