Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and Utah, Fall 2022

Blog Resurrection ...

I haven't updated this Blog in seven years, and we have been to so many NEW places in these past years that it seems prudent to do so now.

We started our 2022-2023 trip in Lewes, Delaware at Cape Henlopen State Park with family. However, since it was really a family vacation, I am not posting any photos here. Cape Henlopen is a lovely park bordered by Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean with beaches, fishing, cycling, etc. Following our week here, we were supposed to visit friends Mike and Julie in the mountains of North Carolina, then visit friends Barbara and Wayne in Central Florida, however Hurricane Ian changed all of that and we decided to make a run for Colorado since it was still only the end of September. We haven't been to Dinosaur National Monument (which sits on the border of Utah and Colorado) since 2012 and have always wanted to return. And so we did ...

	We found excellent boondocking just off of Harper's Corner Road, on Blue Mountain Road with a view of the valley below us and mountains south of us.  It doesn't get much better than this!
Split Mountain Area
	At the Split Mountain boat launch on the Green River.  This is a typical take-out point for rafters.
	The Cub Creek Petroglyphs on the road to the Josie Morris Cabin.
	The Josie Morris Cabin which she built and lived in from 1905-1964 until about age 90! She had a garden, fruit trees and some livestock. She dug her own irrigation trenches in this harsh environment.
Island Park
	The Island Park area is spectacular. The small primitive campground, Rainbow Park, is on the Green River and suitable for tents, car camping, and vans. The road is accessible by most vehicles in good weather. This photo is taken from the Island Park Overlook, just past the campground.
	Another view from the Island Park Overlook. The cottonwoods and aspens are almost in full fall foliage.
	The Green River is popular with rafters. I suspect these rafters put in at the Gates of Lodore in the very north of the park, and will take out at Split Mountain.
	The abandoned Ruple Ranch on the Green River.
Yampa Bench Road and Echo Park
	The Yampa Bench Road provides sweeping views of the Green River and vertical cliffs that tower above it. 4x4 is recommended.
	At the western end of Yampa Bench Road is Echo Park and this feature called Steamboat Rock. There is a primitive campground here at Echo Park for small vans, cars and tents, although 4x4 is necessary to navigate the roads here.
Gates of Lodore and Loop Drive
	Getting to the Gates of Lodore in the northern-most section of the park takes almost 2 hours from the town of Dinosaur, CO, but it is worth it. Here is a group of rafters who had just put in at the Gates of Lodore Campground, which would accommodate RVs up to about 30'.
	Just north of the Gates of Lodore is Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge. Due to the time of year (early October), we didn't see many fowl, but the drive through the park on Wildlife Drive was really nice.
	From the northwest end of Wildlife Drive, we took the Swinging Bridge across the Green River, and followed Crouse Creek Road. The bridge is VERY narrow. Our truck had mere inches to spare on either side. Here I am on Crouse Creek Road.  Google Maps has marked a spot on this road as a Hideout for Butch Cassidy, but we didn't see the cave which is apparently high up on the canyon wall.
	Crouse Creek Road ended at Jones Hole Road, which we drove to the Fish Hatchery. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we hiked just a bit of the trail at the end of parking lot. This, I assume, is Jones Hole Creek. What a beautiful spot.
Fantasy Canyon
	Fantasy Canyon isn't far from Dinosaur National Monument, and just south of the town of Vernal, so we take a day trip there from our campsite. It is a protected area of weathered grey sandstone in the midst of oil and gas drilling.
	The stange shapes created by erosion show many weird faces!
	We roam the area for hours. There are picnic tables and a porta-potty on-site, but no overnight camping allowed.
Flaming Gorge
	In the Fall of 2012, we visited the Flaming Gorge, but were just passing through on a cloudy day, so photos were rather blah. So we take a day trip north to this reservoir on the Green River to see it in its spendor. This is Red Canyon, 1,700 feet deep and 4,000 feet across (518m x 1,200m).
	Cart Creek Bridge on Highway 191.
	The Green River below the Flaming Gorge Dam. There is a boat launch behind where I am standing to take this photo.

We are so glad we were able to return to Dinosaur National Monument after 10 years!  We spent two full weeks exploring the park and the area.  Thankfully, we had excellent weather for the duration.  We didn't go back to the Quarry Exhibit Hall this time, although I highly recommend it.  This park does NOT disappoint, and we don't understand why it isn't a national park.

No Dinosaurs Here (now)

Dinosaur National Monument is a fairly large park which staddles the Utah/Colorado border.  The wall of bones is located on the Utah side, and we're curious to know what is in the Colorado part of the park.  Even though the Visitors Center is closed, we decide to drive the 32 mile road that ends in a mile-and-a-half hike along a ridge above the Green River.  We are here so we might as well discover this park.

The Green River cutting through the canyon

The drive climbs up with several rest areas to view the valley below and are less than spectacular at first.  Near the end of the drive though, the views of the red canyon towards the east are stunning.  We drive to the end and hike out onto a narrow ridge which ends with views of the Green River some 2,700 feet below us.  Here the Green River converges with the Yampa River and later joins the Colorado River.  The rock formations are typical of the southwest - orange, red and yellow layers of sandstone.

Marilyn overlooking the convergence of the Green & Yampa Rivers

We view a road down in the canyon and decide to drive down.  At first, the road - a bumpy dirt road called Echo Park Road - is a series of steep switchbacks that descend quickly.  At several points, the canyon walls are only about 40 feet apart, with us in the middle.  The orange sandstone walls rise over 1,000 feet above us - an imposing force.  The road ends at the Green River where there is a very primitive campground.  It would be a great place to camp, but we would never get our trailer in here.  Tents only.  We left our trailer at the Visitors Center.

Echo Park Road cuts through a steep, narrow canyon

Marilyn where the Green and Yampa Rivers meet

Along Echo Park Road is an abandoned ranch that was once home to a family for several generations.  The raised cattle and sheep here in this harsh land, but had the luxury of a flowing creek beside the house.  I can't imagine what the soaring summer temperatures would have been like or the brutal, snowy winters.  Credit to all pioneers who braved conditions we wouldn't even consider these days.  They were a hearty, brave bunch!

Abandoned Ranch on Echo Park Road

The river is clear and cool but there is not enough time for Brad to have a swim.  We pass a cave and stop to go inside.  It is only about 6 feet deep and perhaps 70 feet long, but the truly amazing feature is straight up.  There is the outside wall of rock, then a 12-inch gap, another piece of rock, another 12-inch gap and the back wall.  The middle rock, about 2 feet thick, seems suspended in space.  We can't see any light in the gaps when looking straight up, so the ridges must all be joined towards the top.  It's a strange feeling, and standing with my head in one of the gaps is claustrophobic.  What if the slab falls on us?  Well, that's ridiculous of course.  It's probably been like this for many thousands of years, and will be for many thousands more.

Marilyn inside the fin-like cavern

Marilyn and truck at the entrance to the cave - note the sheer wall!

We expected to take two to three hours to take the drive and hike and already it has been six hours!  The drive back takes over an hour.  We have spent an entire day exploring this eastern side of the park which we weren't even planning to visit.  What a great surprise.  we love days that turn out like this, expecting nothing and gaining an experience we'll both never forget.

Dinosaurs

Camping on BLM near Dinosaur Trackway

On the way to Colorado, we pass through the northeastern corner of Utah (the Beehive State), a state that never disappoints us.  We decide to camp on federal land along Donkey Flat Road near Red Fleet State Park.  Our view is spectacular, with red rock mountains rising from the high desert floor.  It's like looking at a painting when we look out our windows.  We hike a trail called Dinosaur Trackway which takes us through the rock canyons down to the Red Fleet Reservoir across from the State Park.  Here a 25 degree sloping (I'm just guessing) shale rock face reveals hundreds of dinosaur tracks.  A single foot imprint is a track, more than one footprint from the same dinosaur is a trackway, and there are several trackways.  They are not always easy to find, but a map identifying their locations helps us.  It is amazing to see this evidence of a long-extinct monster that roamed this area millions of years ago.

My foot beside a dinosaur track at Red Fleet State Park

Marilyn standing on top of the rock imprinted with dino tracks - cool cave

Brad swimming in the cave formed by the overhanging rock

The water in the reservoir is cool and very clear.  Brad decides to go for a swim.  He strips down to his underwear and dives into the water.  I simply can't do that - swimming in unfamiliar water is, for me, frightening.  A school of bass follow him into a cave created by the overhanging rock where we find the dino tracks (in the photo above, I am walking on this overhanging rock cliff that creates the cave).  Brad is in his element, but his hair is ruined for the rest of the day.

The next morning it's raining - our first rain during the day since we left home.  The surrounding mountain tops are shrouded in mist and the clouds are very dark, but start to lift just before noon, so we head southeast to Dinosaur National Monument which straddles the Utah/Colorado border.  We visit the Dinosaur Quarry in the western area of the Monument, still in Utah.  Here a building houses an almost vertical wall of hundreds of inarticulated petrified dinosaur bones.  The effect of this preserved jumble of skeletons is extraordinary.  Paleontologists estimate that these dinosaurs (about 500 different individuals from 6 different species) died within a few years of each other.  Their bones were buried in a lake bed that eventually became a river and the bones were washed down the mountain.  As it (the mountain) eroded during the next several million years, the fossils were exposed.  They were originally discovered in 1909 and thousands of bones were excavated.  This large section, about 75 feet long by 25 feet high, was left intact to display to the public.  Nothing has been changed, reinforced or replicated.  Even the scrape marks from chisels are apparent in the rock, and the metal "plugs and feathers" used to separate the solid rock into chunks are still embedded.  A building was built around the stone wall in 1958, but within a few years cracks began to form because of the unstable and shifting clay base.  By 2006, the building was deemed unsafe and was closed for a 5-year renovation.  This new housing was opened just last year, so we feel lucky to be able to see this.  It is unimaginable by us that these huge creatures once roamed the earth, but here they are, entombed in the sandstone revealing clues about our planet's dynamic past.

A dinosaur spine and head petrified in the rock wall

Marilyn in front of the bone wall at Dinosaur National Monument, UT

We stop for the night at an Historic Marker along Highway 40 and during the night, Grady catches and kills yet another mouse - his third on this trip.  He wakes Brad with it because he brings it to our bed again and runs across Brad's head in the chase.  These mice must be getting in through some very tiny crack, but we don't believe there is a family living in the trailer.  We're pretty sure that each individual comes in because it either senses the warmth (nights are cold) or smells food.  Grady is finally fulfilling his duty as a cat.

Hey, I've been forgetting to note each state's nickname as we travel along.  Iowa, The Hawkeye State.  South Dakota, The Mount Rushmore State, although I prefer their license plate which states "Great Faces, Great Places".  Wyoming, The Cowboy State - you can say that again!  Utah, The Beehive State - I have no idea!  Colorado, The Centennial State or The Mile-High State - I get the latter but I'm not so sure about the former.  Our next stop, The Mile-High State, which will mean Grady will have visited 20 of the 50 States; me 37 and Brad 36.  That's one well-traveled cat!