Approaches

From East A mile or two north of Dutch John, Ut44 crosses the Flaming Gorge Dam. Soon after that the road crosses a picturesque bridge over a small part of the lake. This point serves as anchor to the views for the coming climb. You could start the profile lower, at the natural level of the Green River below the dam. This would include the spillway road from the dam, or even better the paved decent to Little Hole from Dutch John, a historic spot turned parking lot for fishermen.

Back to Ut44. For the next 5 miles verdant green vegetation surrounds all those currently closed camping grounds. In  the summer this must be quite the busy spot. Maybe this area appears to passers-by like the last chance to recreate in greenery, because north of here the mountains and dales of Wyoming show off a starker side of the landscape.

After the jct with US191, the road keeps on climbing ever so gently to finally reach a high point at 8085ft. There is an elevation sign at the  location without a designation or name.

From West. (described downwards). The rocks are returning, as the road quickly descends through what is still a lush shallow canyon. Past the upper jct with Sheep Creek Rd, the views become more memorable. One more fin of a cliff to be traversed, and the landscape gives way to the upcoming switchbacks towards Flaming Gorge reservoir. A viewpoint has been constructed a short distance past the start of the actual decent to take in Sheep Creek Canyon as well as the reservoir-scape below. All this is on a monumental multi lane road with nary a variation is slope. This is in sharp contrast to the climb up Sheep Creek Canyon, which is the perfect complimentary companion to this decent. Contrary to the obvious guess, the end point of the profile is the lowest point on the way to Manila. Without inspecting contour lines more closely, it may seem that Manila is closer to a valley floor. It is not.

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