Utah's high country and a Moose sighting

March 2013 vacation: part 9 - we are still taking a more scenic route to home. After leaving Hanksville, Utah we took hwy 24 to connect with I-70. We then went north on Hwy 6/191. Just north of Price, Utah we took hwy 191 north. The pass toward Duchesne is awesome, very steep up and very steep down - beautiful area! We then headed west on hwy 40. In the Duchesne area there were many oil pumps as well as lots of dead Mule deer all along the road, and a hwy truck was stacking them on a flatbed. Bizarre! There were no "Caution deer crossing" signs posted. We joked that maybe the Duchesne auto repair stores didn't want any signs posted. Just west of Duchesne was a wonderful rest area. The Pinion Ridge rest area has a nice paved walking path around it with picnic/BBQ sites along it.

We really enjoyed Utah's high country. 

We were surprised to see Strawberry lake completely frozen over since it was so large.

A good time to get out and stretch our legs and snap a few pictures.

click on the panorama to enlarge it

Just after going over Daniels summit on a hill side we spotted a Moose. 

click to enlarge

Just north of Park City, Utah we connected with Hwy 189/I-80 and decided to just pop in and out of Wyoming just for fun. As we were passing the entering Wyoming sign I noted that we hadn't seen any Antelope on this vacation at all, no sooner had the words come out of my lips my husband said look up, and there was a large herd of them. Too funny!

On to hwy 89 north and back into Utah! We decided to take hwy 16 and connect with Bear lake on hwy 30. This is a huge lake that is in both Utah and Idaho.

next post heading north via hwy 89 into Idaho....

Hwy 261 Utah's thrilling drive!

March 2013 vacation: part 8 - We left Flagstaff in the afternoon of Apr. 3, we chose to drive through Sunset Crater National Monument and then towards Monument Valley. We got there as the sun was beginning to set so I was glad we could get some drive by pics.

We were driving on Hwy 163 and drove by Mexican Hat. 

This is the Location that we put in our rafts for our San Juan river rafting trip in 2007.

We then proceeded to take the turn towards Hwy 261, we had been on this stretch of road when it was daylight only once. It was on our return shuttle from the end of the San Juan rafting trip. Well...it was awesome. It was gravel and very steep and curvy for about 3 miles at a 10% grade. I found a blog with pics and descriptions of the road and you can read it HERE if you'd like. 

I also found a couple YouTube videos. Part one shows the road really well, part two shows more of the scenery and may make you a bit motion sick. 

Part one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?=Ri9zMQ6RvW8&list=FL61fQh9zquTrW0_aS4AiX5g

Part two - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqFuJ5pXcwg&list=FL61fQh9zquTrW0_aS4AiX5g

this time we unfortunately did it in the dark and going uphill. No lights but our own headlights. Luckily we didn't meet any cars. I was SO glad when we arrived at the top. 

We drove what seemed like forever in an endless night and finally found the town of Hanksville for a much needed nights sleep.

next post Utah & beyond....