Thanks for the tips. A buddy and I drove along the Flaming Gorge on a road trip from Missouri to Idaho Falls, ID right after I graduated from Mizzou. We unfortunately didn’t time it very well and drove along the Flaming Gorge after dark! Oops. I do remember it being the most desolate place I had ever seen. We could get out of the car and look 360 degrees and not see a single light anywhere. Dead silence. Nothing but stars. For a kid who was raised in upstate NY and Missouri that was really something.
One of the things I liked about the Flaming Gorge was the signage that gave you insight into what you were looking at in terms of the area’s geology. Another “don’t miss” in that part of the country is the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad. The trip up the Animas River valley to Silverton, CO, is nothing short of spectacular.