Manila is a very small town in the north-east corner of Utah, a few hundred people strung along a highway beside a high desert reservoir, and it is the sort of place where a stop for fuel and a sandwich becomes a conversation with the person at the counter. Check your tank before you arrive: in a town this size, supplies are limited, and the next big town is a long way off.
What brings people here is Flaming Gorge. The Green River was dammed in the early 1960s at the Flaming Gorge Dam, and the reservoir stretches back for ninety miles or so into Wyoming, a long blue ribbon between sagebrush hills and red sandstone walls. John Wesley Powell named the canyon during his 1869 river expedition, for the glowing red cliffs he saw at sunrise. The water is extremely clear and cold, the fishing for trout and kokanee is famous, and the whole reservoir is part of a national recreation area.
Behind the lake rise the Uinta Mountains, one of the few major ranges in the United States that run east to west, and the highest in Utah, topped by Kings Peak at over thirteen thousand feet. The scenic byway climbs from the reservoir into the forested slopes, with pine, aspen and some big switchback views. Riding here is relaxed and fast, with broad curves, good tarmac and light traffic outside summer weekends. Watch for deer at dusk and for cattle on open range. Weather is changeable: even in July, the high sections can be cold and wet, and the passes close with snow for the winter.
A short ride from the town is Sheep Creek Geological Loop, a side road through a canyon where tilted layers of rock show a billion years of Earth's history in colourful bands. The surrounding country, Browns Park, was once a hideout for outlaws, including Butch Cassidy's crew, because the state borders met nearby and lawmen were slow to follow. In autumn, aspen turn gold across the Uintas, and the air is crisp and clear. The best months are late May to early October.