In order to get from Moab to Flaming Gorge we had to go into Colorado and catch highway 139 north past Dinosaur National Monument. A quick stop on the way should get us another stamp or two for our National Parks Passport! or so we thought.
I only took Utah 128 out of Moab because I didn’t want to backtrack the way I had come to get back to the Interstate to CO. My GPS, Google, and MS Streets and Trips all routed around it cause it would add 1/2 hr despite being much shorter. Stupid GPS, I’m going this way anyway!
Unfreaking believable! The first 15 miles of this are the most outstanding riding ever, 11 out of 10, too bad its not longer. It twists through steep walled canyons along the side of a wide river with rafters, through the Canyonlands and Arches rock formations. Unreal! They have markers in many places where the rocks overhang the road for cages and trailers, extremely narrow. What a hidden gem. Ignore whatever Garmin says and go the other way 😉
Others photos, it was just too much fun to stop, not to mention nowhere to pull over to dig out the camera.
We got to Fuita Colorado by lunch time and stopped to take a break and get some ice cream at Wendy’s. There was a Dinosaur Museum right across the street and we were tempted to check it out. The place was small and we decided to just skip it so we could get to the National Monument before things closed, besides a quick look at the map showed that we had totally missed our turn a ways back and would have to backtrack 20 miles.
Oh yeah, that map? The AAA Western States Map shows highway 139 (Douglas Pass Highway) as an arrow straight back-country road. Another hidden gem, the map couldn’t be further from the truth there’s not a single mile of straight road in the entire 70 miles. Or any signs of humans ever being there except for the thin road you’re on. Out in the middle of nowhere, people haul ass! I’m not used to every 4 wheeler being way faster through the twisties than I am dragging boards and all, I guess you’d have to be if you need to travel this road as a local.
Some pics of the real CO 139.
The tiny town of Dinosaur, CO is not much except for a visitors center where we picked up a new map during a much needed bathroom break. You can pass right through in the blink of an eye but how cool would it be to say you lived in Dinosaur 😉
We thought we had plenty of time so we took our time and got to Dinosaur NP at 4:40. Turns out they close the visitors centers at 4:30, WTF? Every place else closed at 6. Bastards.. Well at least we got a picture of the sign, but no Park Stamp for my book for the Iron Butt Association’s National Park challenge. At least we got a picture to say we’ve been there.
A Sinclair Gas Station outside the other entrance of the park back in Utah. We had to get a picture for the little Dino statue for our buddy Dino back in Texas.
Other entrance was closed too, oh well it was worth a try. I guess they don’t like staying open too late out in the middle of nowhere on the off chance that someones traveled a few thousand miles to get there after 4pm.
It was fun place to go. I enjoyed it anyway.