# Red Fleet Camping + Fantasy Canyon



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Recently, I've had the urge to use some of my paid time off at work and decided to take a long weekend with the family. On Thursday, we finally agreed on a destination for an overnight campout after much deliberation.

My wife is a big fan of desert landscape (as am I), and I tend to lean toward places within close proximity to water (go fig). Trying to balance this out provided several interesting places to consider, but we ultimately chose to kill two birds with one stone by going to Red Fleet Reservoir, near Vernal.

Our time in spent in Vernal has been brief and our only exposure to Red Fleet was a quick stop to look around, last year. Ever since, we've both played with thoughts of going back and the time had come to do it.

Aside from fishing, we also had an interest to visit a place called Fantasy Canyon, where you can visit other-worldly landscapes right here on Earth.

To the road, we went and after a pretty good drive, we arrived at Red Fleet State Park to pick a tent site. After driving around the place a few times, we settled into a spot with a terrific backdrop, although not as close to the water as I'd hoped for:










The lake itself has a great layout and fills up a beautiful canyon, especially the upstream portion.




























What a place! It made me really wish we had a boat available.

After setting up camp, we decided to try our luck at catching the many species available: Rainbows, Browns, Largemouth Bass, Green Sunfish, Bluegill, and Walleye (with catch and kill regulations on walleye - no limit). We took a stroll to a secluded bay where the water got deep pretty quickly, but the fishing was very slow. Trout tactics weren't picking anything up (I figured they were deep with the warm surface temps), so I tried a bunch of different setups with no luck.

On occasion, a group of small fish would all rise at the same time, so I figured there was something bigger scaring them up. Whatever the case, we couldn't get anything to bite. Eventually, a very small LMB bit a Blue Fox, but got off right at my feet.

So the fishing wasn't treating us well, but it didn't really matter. The eye candy of our surroundings kept us content. Even better, once it got dark, there was a pretty good meteor shower that we were lucky enough to witness some of. It's nice to see so many stars again! The light from our own valley blocks out most of that, back home.

After skywatching for some time, we called it a night and went to bed.

The next morning, I was quick to suit up and get the tube ready. Before long, I was afloat.










A 5 inch largemouth tried to eat a kastmaster and it was quickly released. A few bluegill and sunfish came to hand and left me wanting deeper water, where I hoped to find a trout.










Drifting a worm about 20 feet down in open water finally remedied my troutlessness.










The pursuit continued while I floated across the lake to enjoy the vistas.



















My float took me to an interesting landmark where some fossilized dinosaur tracks apparently reside, on the slab of sandstone tilting into the water. I didn't get out of the tube to see them and I sort of wish I had.










No matter, I still enjoyed the "cave" underneath. There was enough space to park a boat under there.










While I was on the tube, my family had taken an opportunity for a refreshing dip in the water, so I'm glad they had their fun too. After our aquatic exploits, we wrapped everything up at camp and gave a farewell salute to Red Fleet Reservoir. Perhaps next time, we'll fare better with the fish.

With another first-time destination in mind for us, we set off to see the incredible landscape of Fantasy Canyon. Along the way, we noticed some pronghorn antelope that let us get pretty close for some photos.





































Pretty cool to see them up close like that.

After paying close attention to the signs along the route, we finally saw evidence that we were getting close.










Very similar to Goblin Valley to the south, Fantasy Canyon is yet another geologic feature here in Utah that time has sculpted strangely. This was our view from the parking area:










From there, it was a quick hike into the narrow washes that make up this spectacle. The place is actually pretty small, only consisting of a few hillsides. I would imagine that the entire loop is less than a mile, all easy walking.

Considering its small size, there's still plenty to ponder within its walls. My camera got a real workout here and although I left most of the images on the cutting room floor, I still kept quite a bit. I'll let those photos do the rest of the talking.

























































































































































































































The divine Architect really let their imagination go wild out here.










Overlooking from the top:










Talk about a cool place! We were all glad to get out and see these new sights in the Uintah Basin and future visits are definitely warranted. We all had a great time.

Happy Fishing, Humans.


----------



## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

Cool trip. Sorry the fishing was a bit slow. Beautiful scenery and it looks like the weather was cooperative. Fantasy Canyon looks awesome. I just wish you took a picture or two so I could see what it looked like.


----------



## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Nice photo's LOAH....LOAH in the Vernal area?? :?  

You did a fine job of navigating and googling to get to Fantasy Canyon, I've heard it usually takes a few trips to find the place. I've also heard never to spent the night there !! :shock: 

Good post and stuff.......Thanks !!


----------



## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Very nice, glad you made it out there.

Those rock formations are very impressive. 8) 

Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like you had a awesome trip thanks for the report and photos. 8)


----------



## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

We love Red Fleet. The slab of dino footprints is awesome. Next time, take you family in the car back out to the road, and drive on around to the other side of the lake. There is a trailhead, with a pretty nice and easy hike for families, that will take you to the slab of footprints. My kids loved it when we went. My youngest then was about 4, and did the hike no problem. Way fun. Also - inside that little cave where you tubed to - great fishing. We paddled the canoe into the cave and caught blue gill after blue gill inside the cave. We fished little chartreus jig heads, with a segment of night crawler, about a foot below a bobber. We'd just flip it out, as you can't cast inside the cave, and literally, every cast would produce a bluegill. Great fun with the kiddos. I've also waited out some massive rain/hail storms inside that cave. Which is actually a pretty cool place to be during a torential downpour. 

Anyway, great report. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

Awesome report. I didn't grow up in the Basin, but I live here now, and I had never heard of Fantasy Canyon until now. I think I will definately be taking a trip there. Too bad the fishing wasn't the greatest for you, redfleet is kind of hard to fish without a boat.


----------



## muysauve (Jan 7, 2008)

LOAH said:


> Recently, I've had the urge to use some of my paid time off at work and decided to take a long weekend with the family.


You actually have a real job??? I thought you fished for a living, from reading all your past post, one would have to believe that.

Thanks for shareing; I really enjoy reading your post and seeing your pictures.


----------

