We left SLC heading east towards Park City, but turned further east into the Uinta National Forest along route 150. We camped in the mountains along this road with Allan and the kids a couple of years ago when we found River, the lost Great White Pyrenees. This time we picked a campsite a little further north in the forest along the Hayden Fork River.

The next day we crossed into Wyoming and traveled along the back roads in the southwestern corner of the state. You can see the dirt road we crossed through this beautiful country. Why travel on pavement when there is so much better stuff to see in the back-country?

We passed the ghost town of Piedmont, WY along the dirt road, where the 30-foot stone ovens that turned 30 cords of wood into charcoal still stand today. The charcoal was used to power ore smelting to the south in SLC and blacksmithing to the north in Wyoming over 100 years ago. When the railroad line was re-routed, Piedmont slowly died until there were only the unused ovens left.

We continued east to Flaming Gorge, where the Green River was damned in the 1960s to provide farming water, recreation, and power to the local Wyoming-Utah border area.

There were a lot of dispersed camping sites in the woods around the gorge so we found a nice spot for the night next to an interesting layered 20-foot rock formation.

Heading north trough Rock Springs, WY we made our way to Farson, WY and had to stop for ice cream once we saw the sign. We both had maple walnut cones that were huge and delicious.

We made our way to FR 300 through the Shoshone National Forest and to the Fiddler Lake CG. There were a couple of beaver dams visible from out campsite, but the beavers were gone. The camp host told of the duel they had last year where he would break open their dams in the morning only to find then fixed the next morning. He thinks the Forest Service trapped them to work another area that needed some dams in another part of the state.

The full moon came up over the lake that night.

On the way out of the forest we drove through Sinks Canyon State Park, where the Popo Agie River runs into a rock cave and reappears ½ mile away out of the ground further down the canyon.

The fish swim upstream and get to where the river reappears, but can’t continue. There were some nice fish in there, but no fishing is allowed in the pool next to the opening because it would not be fair. It would be like fishing at a hatchery.

We then continued north to visit some friends in Wyoming and Idaho.