from Rock Springs, WY
During our 7 days in Rock Springs, WY we took two short road trips: The Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Tour and The Flaming Gorge Dam Scenic Byway.
The Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop was suppose to offer the best chance to see wild horses. The loop was a 24-mile, self-guided tour between Rock Springs and Green River.
As we drove along, we watched for piles of horse poop. I read that A dominant stallion stud will mark his territory repeatedly in this way, clearly advising intruders “this is my home and—my bathroom”. We spotted the piles of poop, but, we did not see one horse. Supposedly, there are 1500 Wild Horses in the area. I can’t believe that we did not see one horse. No horses, but, several Pronghorn Sheep.
Even though we didn’t see any horses, the landscape was beautiful!
Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway
Even though we drove across the Flaming Gorge Dam on our way to Rock Springs, we wanted to see more of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
We started our drive from Rock Springs on highway 191 and finished in Green River. We made stops at several pullouts to enjoy the views. The Red Canyon overlook was spectacular! We walked a trail back to the overlook and had a fantastic view of the canyon. On our walk back to the Jeep, we spotted several long, deep, cracks in the rock surface where we were walking. We were sure glad that we were watching where we were walking!
Flaming Gorge Reservoir is 91 miles long and spans the states of Wyoming and Utah. It was named because of it’s ”flaming, brilliant red color”. The Green River is also there and is separated from the reservoir by the towering wall of the Flaming Gorge Dam.
We were fortunate to have such a beautiful day to enjoy the drive.