Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The Many Faces of Wyoming on Moving Day (mostly travel pictures)

Location: Bear Lake State Park (el. 6,000 ft); Garden City, Utah

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

From Rawlins, there were several different routes to Yellowstone from which to choose. The weather around Yellowstone is due to change for the better in a couple of days so I chose a round-a-bout way of going. While in the Salt Lake City area a few weeks ago, I heard about a pretty blue lake on the border of Utah/Idaho/Wyoming. Of course I needed to see it for myself to compare it to some of the other blue waters that I've seen. So, from Rawlins, I headed due west to just past the town of Little America then headed northwest to Bear Lake. It was a 240 mile, sometimes rainy, trip with a gas and rest area stop along the way. I was surprised by how much the landscape and geology changed in just those couple hundred miles. 

The pictures are in the order they taken so you can see the changes. It was a nice trip.

I got an earlier start than usual. This
was taken around 9:00 am just west
of Rawlins.

About 1 1/2 hours later, the landscape
changed to this.

This is just few minutes from the
picture above and is a few minutes
before going thru the tunnel

I hate going through tunnels. Liberty is 12 ft 4 ins high and I always duck my head when entering while hoping the clearance that is marked is correct. 

This is 2 minutes after exiting the
tunnel. Nice change.

30 minutes later it changes to open
high desert again.

4 minutes after the picture above

15 minutes later, getting into some
rolling hills

same time as the picture above.
It was an isolated homestead with the
nearest neighbor 10's of miles away.

15 minutes past the homestead, the rolling hills are more common with the road finding its way through the valleys between them. This is about 15 minutes from the Utah border.


6 minutes after the picture above, it is
back in to some drier, rougher hills.
The picture didn't pick it up too good,
but there is green grass beginning
to come up on the hill on the right.

Turned off the U.S. Highway and
headed west. It is about 15 minutes
after the picture above and the Utah
state line is in sight. It was a 2 lane,
chip seal road the rest of the way.

It's 10 minutes later and beginning the
climb up the hills. They were higher
than I expected but were still not
a problem for Freedom.



5 minutes later, it is time to go down the other side. The downgrade was a couple miles of 7% grade with two-20 mph curves on that downgrade thrown in for good measure. Runaway Truck Ramps are always a sign to pay attention and maybe put the camera down for a while.

I've been in a lot of pull-thru's
lately so I opted for a back in site.
You can see the lake in the
back ground. 

Home for 2 days 

There are only 4 other RV's in
the campground. I like it.

T
The lake is a pretty blue color but not as pretty as Lake Huron or Crater Lake, but it was still worth the visit.

This is the beach area just a short walk from the campsite. The lake level is down several feet, but they say it should rise in the next several weeks

I took this one this morning as I opened my door to greet the day. The clouds are clearing and even though a few "pop-corn" showers are predicted, it should be a nice day.
One of the more mundane reasons I chose this campground is the paved campsite. I need to slide under Liberty to lubricate the slide and it is always better on pavement than in rocks or dirt. 

I'll leave here tomorrow and should be camped in the town of West Yellowstone tomorrow night. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.

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