Exploring the Flaming Gorge – and Lucerne Campground

The Flaming Gorge

The Adventure Continues! After leaving the familiar turf of Saratoga, Wyoming (I can’t believe I’ve visited Saratoga so often that it now seems like a “home away from home” – whatever THAT is when you full time in a RV!), I traveled west to Rock Springs – mostly to find a decent restaurant (a challenge in Rock Springs) and a well-stocked grocery store (yep, Rock Springs has it!).

The best place to stay in Rock Springs is the Sweetwater Fairgrounds. For $25/night (including tax) you get full hookups and a safe place to stay for the night. One night is about all you’ll need in Rock Springs before moving on… and that leads me to the subject of this first of 3 videos I’d like to share with you.

As always, enjoy it and I do welcome your feedback!

My goal? The Flaming Gorge. Know this… distance is not a major factor in this travel. The campground I ended up spending several nights at is only about 55 miles from Sweetwater Fairgrounds, so my goal was not to cover lots of miles, but to reach some place spectacular!

Just to share, and its consistent with my explorations of Montana last autumn (Click HERE for those posts) – I strive to find waterfront sites that still offer internet connectivity and (of course) spectacular scenery. Last year, I found some true gems near Helena, Montana and West Yellowstone! This autumn I’m exploring (mostly) Utah – and so far as I write this, Utah does not disappoint!

The Flaming Gorge – heavily billed in the Rock Springs/Green River area would be a bust (in my eyes) were it not for what I saw from the Lucerne Campground and the road south that leads from Manila, Utah to Vernal (got a great story or two about Vernal as well… but that’s for another post!)

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Lucerne Campground

Run by the National Forest Service, it seems expensive to pay $28/night for electric only, but hey, its a great location and after all, I guess, our government needs the money! Located at the end of a “peninsula” that straddles the Utah/Wyoming border. There are lots of opportunities for boating, kayaking, fishing, and sunbathing.

My stay was 4 nights and even though most of the campground loops were closed, attaining a waterfront site was easy. The water was comfortably warm and when the wind abated (mostly early in the day and towards the evening) the kayaking was superb! I do wish there was less of a drop between the water and the campsite. Perhaps I was spoiled by my experiences in Montana last year, but time will tell.

Another factor I always consider when thinking about a campsite is connectivity (phone service). For me, phone service = internet access. While at Lucerne (and the surrounding region), I noted my phone service was fine (I have Verizon), but it showed “extended network” which means I was gaining my service from non-Verizon towers. My Verizon plan allows me to use the “extended network” as if it was Verizon’s own network, but increasing numbers of Verizon users DO NOT have extended network access (this includes month to month plans and “3rd party” plans such as Straight Talk). It appears that this entire region – from Lucerne to Vernal (and now farther west to Duchesne) is served by towers OTHER than Verizon. Be aware of these facts if you have Verizon and know whether you have full “extended network” access.

Enjoy this video – and as I noted in the first video, I use All Stays as a interface (frequently) to locate campgrounds and their details (rates, seasons, etc.)

Pretty cool place, eh? I did go to Brownings for a quick lunch once and I was impressed for a “local dive”. Manila itself has little to offer. It is a sleepy little town of 300 or so, but it does have a general store, and it is within an easy 10 minute drive from Lucerne Campground.

Flaming Gorge – and the Uinta Mountains (south of Lucerne)

The MOST spectacular portion of the Flaming Gorge, hands down, is south of Manila on the road to Vernal. Vernal is about 62 miles from Manila, but some of the most spectacular scenery I’ve seen ANYWHERE lies in between. In this next video, you’ll see a 1500 ft overlook that virtually no one drives to; a “geologic loop” that covers hundreds of millions of years of earth’s history in rock layers; signs of autumn (and winter); and the road to Spirit Lake. (Video 3 is below the photo slideshow farther down the page.)

Hey, while you’re here… please DO review some additional posts here on RV Across America. Note the layout of the home page – 9 tiles, each of which address a different aspect of RV’ing (along with a few banners that highlight products and services I believe in and promote to help cover costs.)

Also – enjoy these photos! They were taken in the same area as all the videos. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to connect by subscribing by entering your email above!

And *finally* Video 3…