{"id":2432,"date":"2015-12-27T08:10:07","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T15:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2019-03-16T14:03:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T20:03:06","slug":"flaming-gorge-the-little-hole-trail-by-the-green-river-spirit-lake-utah-8-26-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=2432","title":{"rendered":"Flaming Gorge, The Little Hole Trail by the Green River & Spirit Lake, Utah (8-26-15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The skies were overcast on the first morning Lupe ever spent in the state of Utah.\u00a0 They remained so all day.\u00a0 After the hot drive across NW Colorado on the way to Utah the previous day, Lupe and SPHP were glad.\u00a0\u00a0Day 18 of Lupe’s great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation\u00a0was beginning\u00a0up\u00a0in the Uinta Mountains under much more tolerable conditions.<\/p>\n

Lupe’s day started out with a visit to the Flaming Gorge<\/span><\/strong><\/a> dam on the Green River.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe\u00a0near Flaming Gorge dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"When<\/a>
When full, the Flaming Gorge Reservoir extends 91 miles N of the dam well into Wyoming, and has over 42,000 acres of surface area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This Flaming Gorge Visitor Center is located right at the W end of the dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Near the E end of the dam, there is a winding paved access road down to the Green River below the dam.\u00a0 SPHP had been there before, years ago, and taken a half day\u00a0raft trip down the Green River to Little Hole about 6 miles downstream.\u00a0 SPHP remembered the raft trip as a pleasant, easy float with only a few small rapids.\u00a0 The Green River itself had been beautiful, cool and clear as it passed through\u00a0the lower end of Red Canyon.\u00a0 Juniper-dotted red cliffs rose as much as 1,000 feet above the river.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The 502 foot high Flaming Gorge Dam was built in 1969. It is actually built across Red Canyon, not Flaming Gorge, which is farther upstream and now submerged by the reservoir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Green River below Flaming Gorge dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe wasn’t going to get to go river rafting, but SPHP thought she would enjoy the Little Hole Trail alongside the Green River.\u00a0 Things had changed since SPHP had been here before, though.\u00a0 It used to be free to just drive on down to the boat launch next to the river.\u00a0 Halfway down there is now a parking lot and a fee booth.\u00a0 It costs $5.00 to park or go down to the river.<\/p>\n

After parking the G6, Lupe and SPHP left the parking lot along the Little Hole Trail.\u00a0 The first thing Lupe came to was a big sign with a bunch of bureaucratic regulations,\u00a0a couple\u00a0of which neither Lupe nor SPHP had ever encountered anywhere else before.<\/p>\n

\"Sheesh,<\/a>
Sheesh, they sure were bureaucratic here in Utah. Not only was Lupe prohibited from throwing rocks, she couldn’t pitch people or vehicles over the cliff either!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first short section of the Little Hole Trail wound its way down the steep hillside.\u00a0 There was a lot of cactus around, so Lupe had to be careful.\u00a0 Soon Lupe was down next to the Green River.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe along the Little Hole Trail on the way down to the Green River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lupe reaches the Green River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"Lupe<\/a>Once down to the river, Lupe and SPHP followed the Little Hole Trail downstream.\u00a0 No one was rafting on the river, but there were lots of\u00a0 boats with people fly fishing from them.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the Little Hole Trail by the Green River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>\"Green<\/a>\"Lupe<\/a>Lupe didn’t follow the Little Hole Trail all the way to Little Hole.\u00a0 She only went a couple of miles downstream at most.\u00a0 SPHP thought it might be fun to take Lupe upstream to the boat launch area below Flaming Gorge Dam.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A wooden walkway allowed Lupe to head upstream far enough to reach the boat launch below Flaming Gorge dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A look up at Hwy 191 near the E end of Flaming Gorge dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe liked watching these big birds circling near the dam.\u00a0 (Click on the photo to enlarge it and see them better!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe waded in the shallow waters of the Green River\u00a0near the boat launch.\u00a0 She had a good drink.\u00a0\u00a0She watched big birds circling up in the sky near the dam.\u00a0 She watched fishermen getting ready to launch their boats.\u00a0 Then she was ready to go.<\/p>\n

Lupe seemed content with her visit to Flaming Gorge dam and the Green River below it.\u00a0 Now it was time to complete her Flaming Gorge experience by taking a look at the reservoir from the cliffs above.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP left the Little Hole Trail.\u00a0 After a picnic at a pond\u00a0called West\u00a0Green Lake, where there were ducks and a heron, Lupe arrived at\u00a0the Red Canyon Visitor Center & Lookout.\u00a0 Lupe couldn’t go in the visitor center, but she could go take a look at Flaming Gorge reservoir from the high cliffs at the lookout.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at the Red Canyon Lookout above Flaming Gorge reservoir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking upstream from the Red Canyon Lookout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking downstream.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Flaming<\/a>The views of Red Canyon and the Flaming Gorge reservoir were impressive from way up on the high cliffs.\u00a0 The cliff tops were interesting, too.\u00a0 There were big cracks and deep fissures in the rocks.\u00a0 It wasn’t hard to imagine some pretty big chunks of the cliff crashing to the bottom some day.<\/p>\n

After seeing Red Canyon from above, Lupe was ready to move on.\u00a0 Her next destination was Spirit Lake on the N side of the Uintas.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP took Hwy 44 to the Sheep Creek Geological Loop.\u00a0 At the SW corner of the loop was a turn off onto gravel\u00a0USFS Roads.\u00a0 It was a fairly long drive, somewhere close to 20 miles from the pavement, to get to Spirit Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reaches the N end of Spirit Lake in the Uinta Mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and SPHP stopped first at the N end of Spirit Lake at a pullout near the outlet stream.\u00a0 Lupe enjoyed getting out and exploring the area.\u00a0 SPHP was more relaxed about letting her enjoy herself, too.\u00a0 There weren’t any big cliffs around, just the lake, stream and the forest.<\/p>\n

The sky grew darker and the wind started blowing.\u00a0 Pretty soon it started to rain.\u00a0 The wind hadn’t bothered Lupe, but Carolina Dogs know enough to come in out of the rain.\u00a0 She hopped in the G6 and took a nap, while SPHP read.\u00a0 After about half an hour, the rain quit.\u00a0 Although the wind and rain were over, the sky was still leaden.\u00a0 Before it got too late, SPHP thought it might be a good idea to check out Spirit Lake Lodge and\u00a0the trailhead at the S end of the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Spirit<\/a>
Spirit Lake Lodge at the S end of Spirit Lake in the Uinta Mountains. This lodge is at the very end of long gravel roads to get here. It felt isolated and remote. Lupe and SPHP liked the area.\u00a0 There is also a campground and a trailhead near by.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Spirit Lake Lodge<\/a><\/span><\/strong> had a number of very rustic looking cabins.\u00a0 Each cabin had its own name taken from an early western explorer.\u00a0\u00a0Only one or two of the cabins appeared to\u00a0be rented out for the night.\u00a0 From outside, most of the cabins looked like they needed maintenance.\u00a0 \u00a0The lodge was open, though, and a sign said they were serving meals.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This cabin is named after John Wesley Powell, who gave Flaming Gorge its name after exploring it via the Green River in 1869. Other cabins were named after other explorers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe went down to check out the dock on Spirit Lake.\u00a0 There were a few small boats available for rent there.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The dock at the S end of Spirit Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way back from the dock to the\u00a0G6, a moose wandered through\u00a0between the cabins, apparently\u00a0quite at home here.\u00a0 It headed out across a field in front of the Spirit Lake Lodge.\u00a0 How cool is that?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A moose trots past Spirit Lake Lodge. This was only the 2nd moose Lupe had ever seen. She saw one once before in Canada in 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2015 Wyoming, Colorado & Utah Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The skies were overcast on the first morning Lupe ever spent in the state of Utah.\u00a0 They remained so all day.\u00a0 After the hot drive across NW Colorado on the way to Utah the previous day, Lupe and SPHP were glad.\u00a0\u00a0Day 18 of Lupe’s great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation\u00a0was beginning\u00a0up\u00a0in the Uinta Mountains under … Continue reading Flaming Gorge, The Little Hole Trail by the Green River & Spirit Lake, Utah (8-26-15)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[105,106,26,369,370,104,371,365],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-wyoming-colorado-utah","tag-american-dingo","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-flaming-gorge","tag-green-river","tag-lupe","tag-spirit-lake","tag-utah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/P1060931.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2432"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20747,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions\/20747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}