WY-530 and UT-44: Green River to Flaming Gorge Dam

The Route at a Glance

The upper Green was Shoshone country, and Ute country toward the Uinta Mountains, long before John Wesley Powell's party pushed off from Green River City at half past one on May 24, 1869. They floated south for two days through open sagebrush before the river ran into the mountains. This drive follows the same stretch of the Green, though the river is mostly gone from it. From Expedition Island in the town of Green River, WY-530 runs south down the west side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which backs up some ninety-one miles from the dam almost to the edge of town. The road crosses into Utah just before Manila, climbs onto UT-44 through the pine country at the eastern end of the Uintas, and joins US-191 for the last miles to the dam. It is about eighty-two miles and two hours of driving.

The Wyoming miles are high desert, sage flats and buttes with side roads down to campgrounds and boat ramps on the water. A few miles east of Manila, Henrys Fork comes in from the west, and near its mouth on the state line stood Linwood, a farm and ranch town settled in the 1890s, with a post office from 1903. Its school was built in 1904 squarely across the boundary, half in Wyoming and half in Utah. The federal government bought the town out in the late 1950s, its buildings were razed or hauled away, and when the dam was closed in November 1962 the rising water covered the site. Nothing of it is left to see.

Just below Henrys Fork, where the Powell party arrived on May 26, the river entered the mountains through a canyon Powell named for its red rock burning in the sun. Below it, in quick succession, came Horseshoe and Kingfisher canyons, Beehive Point and then Red Canyon, the first rough water of the trip. The reservoir now fills the floors of all but the last, and their walls stand above it. The stream Powell called Kingfisher Creek is today's Sheep Creek, and the Sheep Creek Canyon loop leaves UT-44 south of Manila for a slow side trip through its tilted rock. Back on the highway, the road climbs to the rim above Red Canyon, the deepest part of the Flaming Gorge country.

The first power from the dam went on line in 1963, and President Lyndon Johnson dedicated it on August 17, 1964. Flaming Gorge Dam carries US-191 across its crest. Below it the Green comes out cold and clear into Red Canyon, the stretch where a prospector named Hook drowned in 1869 trying to follow Powell down the river.

All three highways are paved. Manila and Dutch John, near the dam, have fuel and food; the Wyoming stretch has almost none.

The Drive, Stop by Stop

4 stops along the route, in driving order from Green River, Wyoming to Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah. One of them sits off the road itself — the distance is noted on each.

1. 1

   Expedition Island

   Green River

   The city park on the Green where Powell's boats were readied in 1869; the drive starts here.

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2. 2

   Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Loop

   Manila

   5.5 miles off the route

   Powell's Kingfisher Creek; a side loop off UT-44 south of Manila.

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3. 3

   Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

   Manila

   The rim above Red Canyon, the deepest part of the recreation area.

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4. 4

   Flaming Gorge Dam

   Dutch John

   Closed in November 1962; US-191 crosses its crest.

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That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let WY-530 and UT-44: Green River to Flaming Gorge Dam do what it does best.