Swett Ranch
The drive to the trailhead was amazing, and we took our time just taking in the sights. We even stopped along the way just to breathe it all in. It's truly beautiful country, and we knew we'd be back again. We were looking forward to getting closer to Flaming Gorge, so we pressed on.
We found the trailhead easily enough and we soon found ourselves at the crossroads and a sign noting the Swett Ranch was closed. We knew it wouldn't be open until Memorial Day and we were early, but we'd hoped that we could still wander around the grounds. It wasn't meant to be, though, with a gate across the road long before the ranch.
The scenery was gorgeous, though, so we took the leftmost spur first. We stopped at a scenic spot high above the ranch to take photos and imagine what life must have been like. We didn't stop at the other cabins.
When we got to a stand of tall, big trees we stopped for lunch. It was threatening to rain, and we wanted to be under the branches when it did. It sprinkled a little, but it didn't stop us from eating lunch in our raincoats. We hung out there for quite a while -- it was beautiful.
We went around to do the other half of the loop, but it barely went anywhere before we hit another gate. So, the trail wasn't what we thought it was going to be but we still enjoyed it. We were soon headed to our next trail right next to the dam at the southeastern end.
