The Flaming Gorge National Recreation area in Utah. That is where the red cliffs are located. The flaming gorge was originally named in 1869 by the one armed explorer John Wesley Powell, after he and his men saw from the water the sun reflecting off of the red rocks. The flaming gorge recreation area was established by Congress October 1, 1968. This area envelopes 207,363 acres of water and land equally divided between Utah and Wyoming. The gorge is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Most of the lake lies in Wyoming but the river has been flooded for 91 miles above the dam.

The flaming gorge dam was implemented in 1964 after six years of construction and can be visited free of charge. Only primitive roads were accessible at the time the dam was built, but when the dam was  finished so was the recreation area and highway. The flaming gorge reservoir is one of the most popular spots. First of all, it is huge with excellent boating, fishing, water skiing, and jet skiing. They have five full service marinas with launching, storage and maintenance facilities. The water surface is cool in summer, therefore it is a great place for trout, and a soothing landing for water skiers. Flaming gorge has trophy winning trout a number of thirty plus pounders are caught each year. The record for the area is a fifty one pound eight ounce  but there could be a bigger one yet. The fishing also holds rainbow, brown kokanee salmon and small mouth bass.