Top left: A Triceratops at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs. Above left: A T-Rex at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis. Right: Big teeth and tiny arms greeted me at the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal.
You can make a big loop up into Wyoming and back down the east side, but I plan to escape Utah that way tomorrow, so I stop in Manila just shy of the state border. Refueled with a tasty burger, fries, and a banana milkshake, I retrace my way back down SR- 44. It’ s a casual day, so I follow a forest side road up and through a massive aspen grove, where I find a clearing just begging for a silent, contemplative rest stop.
The next morning it is time to leave Vernal, even though I am leaving some sites untouched such as the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, which I can at least report has some great dinosaur statues all around the building. This time I stay on U. S.
Route 191, following the eastern side of Flaming Gorge over the towering dam and onward. Somewhat less scenic but still twisty in spots and with excellent pavement, U. S. 191 winds north into Wyoming, where the land flattens out and the highway eventually merges for a bit with Interstate 80. I jump off in Rock Springs for both lunch and a quick run through the halls of Western Wyoming Community College. That might not be your normal idea of grand sightseeing but doing my homework I learned that it has five life- sized dinosaurs on display, including a Tyrannosaurus that watches you eat at the T- Rex Grill.
Fed and informed, I move on, back to U. S. 191 north for another 45 minutes until I turn east on Wyoming Route 28. If you like solitude, SR- 28 will do the job for you. It’ s 70 miles of quiet with very few turns and even fewer signs of nature other than grassland. There were signs for South Pass City, an 1868 frontier town, but I keep going to join up with U. S. Route 287 and head north to Lander, where I stop for gas and a heat respite, the sun bearing down unrelentingly.
Turning right on to Wyoming Route 789 takes me through farm country for 45 miles until the turn north on U. S. Route 20. This goes to the east side of Boysen Reservoir and finally to Wind River Canyon. Motorcyclists search out topographical names like that, and this one doesn’ t disappoint. I have to watch for bighorn sheep and big- butt RVs, but the setting sun lights up the steep canyon walls. A perfect ending to a long day’ s ride.
RIDERMAGAZINE. COM / JULY 2026 / 25