Flaming gorge
things to do
Things to Do at Flaming Gorge –
Pick a day and go.
Flaming Gorge sits about halfway between Yellowstone and Canyonlands, where the Uinta Mountains fall away into a 91-mile reservoir with more than 350 miles of shoreline. Nearly all of it is public land and very little of it is crowded. There are over 600 camping and picnic sites and more than 100 miles of trail, and on a Tuesday in June you can still have an overlook to yourself.
Red Canyon Lodge has been the base camp for this country since 1930. We are two miles from the Red Canyon Visitor Center, nine from Cedar Springs Marina and fourteen from the dam. What follows is what we would tell you if you asked at the front desk — the obvious things, and the ones most visitors drive straight past.
At Red Canyon Lodge
Fish our private lake
East Green’s Lake is stocked with rainbow, tiger and brook trout, and lodge guests fish it free with no Utah license required. Catch and release, artificial flies and lures only. West Green’s Lake has a fully accessible fishing pier, and there is a separate pond reserved for children under 12. Fishing at Flaming Gorge
Ride a horse
Guided trail rides leave from the lodge and take ground no car can reach, through the ponderosa pines and out along the rim. The sunset ride finishes at a campfire with gourmet s’mores. Horseback rides
Take a bike out
Adult mountain bikes rent by the day with helmets included, in sizes extra small through extra large. The Canyon Rim Trail starts within riding distance of the cabins and runs along the edge of the canyon. Mountain biking
Walk before breakfast
The Blue Diamond Trail circles the lake a few steps from the cabins — flat, shaded and short enough for young children. The sunrises over the water are the reason guests set alarms on holiday. Hiking trails
Eat well, then do nothing
Our seasonal restaurant does chicken fried steak, smash burgers and herb-crusted salmon in a room with picture windows onto the front lawn, where the wildlife turns up uninvited. Hummingbirds are so prolific in summer that the Forest Service comes to band them. The restaurant
Get on the water
Canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, row boats and pedal boats are on the dock by the hour or the day, life jackets included. Quiet water, no ramp and no trailer — walk down from the cabin and push off. Boat and kayak rentals
The Reservoir & the Green River
Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Ninety-one miles long with more than 350 miles of shoreline, straddling the Utah–Wyoming line. It is one of the premier trophy lake trout waters in the country, with fish that have topped 50 pounds, plus smallmouth bass, kokanee salmon and rainbow trout. Boating, water skiing, swimming, even scuba diving.
The marinas
Cedar Springs Marina is nine miles from us and the closest ramp to the dam. Lucerne Valley Marina sits on the broad water east of Manila, and Buckboard is over the Wyoming side. All three rent boats and sell the tackle you forgot.
Flaming Gorge Dam
Fourteen miles away. The dam rises 502 feet and spans 1,285 feet, and it changed this whole canyon when it was finished in the early 1960s. Self-guided and guided tours run in summer, and the visitor center explains how the thing works. The Dam Point fishing pier is a short walk.
Float Section A
Seven miles from the dam down to Little Hole, through towering red cliffs and ponderosa pine on glassy clear water, with Class I and II riffles. It is the classic day on the Green — rafts, drift boats and kayaks all do it, and outfitters in Dutch John will shuttle you.
Little Hole Trail
A seven-mile National Recreation Trail along the north bank of the Green below the dam. It is the best walk-and-wade access to the tailwater anywhere, and one of the darkest, quietest places to stand and look up after sunset.
The river camps
Below Little Hole, Section B runs to Browns Park with seventeen river campsites reachable only by boat or on foot. The limited access is deliberate — it protects the brown trout and buys you real solitude. Sites are reserved through recreation.gov, and a recreation use pass is required.
Overlooks, Backways & Geology
Red Canyon Overlook
Two miles from our door, at the end of a paved road, with the water 1,400 feet below and red rock, green pine and blue lake stacked on top of each other. The visitor center has exhibits on the ecology and the human history. Bighorn sheep turn up on the cliffs. Do this one first.
Sheep Creek Geologic Loop
Ten miles from the lodge and about a 10-mile loop, cutting straight through the Uinta Crest Fault where the rock has been folded, tilted and stood on end — close to 800 million years of it. Watch for Tower Rock, a Weber sandstone monolith, and for bighorn sheep. Typically closed once the snow arrives.
Sheep Creek Overlook
A paved pullout on Highway 44 about 11 miles south of Manila, looking down on Sheep Creek Bay and the red sandstone above it. No hiking, no effort, and one of the best sunrise and sunset spots in the whole recreation area.
Dowd Mountain Overlook
Twelve miles south of Manila, then eight miles of improved gravel on Forest Road 094. From the top you can see the Uinta foothills on one side and the Wyoming high desert on the other. An 11-mile mix of single and double track runs from here — the local intermediate ride.
Spirit Lake Backway
Seventeen miles of forest and meadow climbing off Highway 44 into the eastern High Uintas, past Browne Lake and Sheep Creek Lake to Spirit Lake, where there is a rustic lodge. Daggett, Wyman and Teepee Lakes are all short hikes from the road and you will rarely meet anyone.
Drive Through the Ages
The Flaming Gorge-Uintas National Scenic Byway between Manila and Vernal is signed as a geology lesson — each pullout marks a different rock formation and a different era. Sagebrush desert at one end, alpine meadow at the other, in about forty miles. Scenic drives
History & Hidden Corners
Ute Mountain Fire Tower
Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937, listed on the National Register in 1980 and fully restored in 2013–14. It is one of the last standing fire lookouts of its kind in Utah, and the walk in is about four miles round trip for a very long view over Ashley National Forest.
The kokanee run
From mid-August into October, kokanee salmon leave the reservoir and push up Sheep Creek to spawn, turning a startling scarlet as they go. There is a viewing area south of Manila with paved parking. It is one of the strangest, most vivid things that happens here, and almost nobody outside the county knows about it.
John Jarvie Historic Site
Out in Browns Park, where John Jarvie ran a ferry, a store and a post office from 1880. The valley was an outlaw hideout — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Matt Warner, Isom Dart and Ann Bassett, the “Queen of the Rustlers”, all passed through. The BLM keeps several original structures. It is a long drive on dirt, and worth it.
Swett Ranch
Oscar Swett started homesteading here at sixteen — too young to file, so his widowed mother filed for him. He and Emma arrived in 1913 to a one-room cabin and finished with 397 acres, eighteen buildings and nine children. The Forest Service bought it in 1972 and restored three of the houses with the family’s own furniture. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day, Thursday to Monday; signed off Highway 191 just north of the Highway 44 junction.
Henry's Fork Wetlands
Three miles from Manila on the Utah–Wyoming line, 378 acres of ponds, shallow wetland and riparian habitat built as a waterfowl project, with a nature trail and interpretive signs. If anyone in your group carries binoculars, this is where they will want to spend the morning.
Stars, and a lot of them
Essentially zero light pollution and very low humidity. Little Hole is the local favourite for astrophotography; the Sheep Creek overlook and anywhere along the rim will do. Ashley National Forest runs a dark sky viewing party or two each year. Some anglers skate mouse flies on the Green after dark, which is its own kind of madness.
Know Before You Go
You need a recreation use pass. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area charges for day use and camping. Passes are sold at the visitor centers and local vendors, and the drives themselves are free once you have one.
Cell service is unreliable and often absent. Download your maps before you leave the highway, and tell someone at the front desk where you are headed if you are going deep.
Fuel up in Manila, Vernal or Dutch John. There is a lot of country between petrol stations out here, and the gaps are longer than they look on a map.
Dress for the altitude. Mornings stay cold well into June and afternoon thunderstorms build quickly in July and August. Bring a layer even in high summer.
Some roads close with the snow, including the Sheep Creek Geologic Loop. Our restaurant runs on a seasonal schedule too, so confirm hours if you are counting on dinner. Restaurant hours
How far we are from everything: Red Canyon Visitor Center 2 miles · Cedar Springs Marina 9 · Sheep Creek Geologic Loop 10 · Dutch John 13 · Flaming Gorge Dam 14 · Manila 25 · Vernal 40. See the cabins · FAQs
Worth the Drive
Dinosaur National Monument — past Vernal, roughly two hours out. The Quarry Exhibit Hall is built over a wall of rock holding around 1,500 dinosaur bones, left exactly where they were found. You can put your hand on them.
Red Fleet State Park — a 2.5-mile hike leads to a sloping sandstone shore stamped with dinosaur trackways, right at the water’s edge.
Vernal — 40 miles. Groceries, fuel, the Utah Field House of Natural History, and the start of the Dinosaur Diamond scenic byway.
Antelope Flat — north of Dutch John, open sage country and the most reliable wildlife viewing near the reservoir.
Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge — Green River bottomland and wetlands out past Jarvie’s place, heavy with birds in spring and autumn.
Manila 25 miles · Rock Springs, Wyoming 78 miles · Salt Lake City airport about 3.5 hours · Denver airport 6 to 7 hours.
Cozy Cabins at Red Canyon Lodge
SLEEPS 5-8
UINTA DELUXE CABINS
SWEETHEARTS PACKAGE
ALPINE KING SUITE
SLEEPS 4
ALPINE QUEEN
WATERFRONT BEAUTY
PONDEROSA DUPLEX
cabin life forever
