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!

Grand Tetons and Flaming Gorge

As we leave Yellowstone, we drive through the Grand Teton National Park.  The two parks are essentially joined and this is probably the most scenic route south to our next destination.  We decide not to stay in Grand Teton because of forest fire smoke, which is limiting visibility of the views.

Marilyn overlooking the smoke-filled Grand Tetons

We lunch at Cathedral View or Turnout or Cathedral something.  Here is a view of the Teton range including Grand Teton itself at over 13,700 feet.  We can see glaciers on some of these mountains.  But the smoke is causing such a haze, it is difficult to see anything clearly.  At least the drive is easy, through the valley with the Tetons to the west.  There are also many lakes, and we drive alongside Jenny Lake which reflects the mountains as blurs on the rippled water.  I can imagine how beautiful it must be here in the spring before forest fires develop and disturb the clarity of the sky and air.

We continue south down Highway 191 towards Flaming Gorge.  We decide to stop overnight at a wildlife marker overlooking the Big Sandy River (we see no wildlife at the river), but what a lovely view.  The sign posting tells us that 40,000 to 60,000 Pronghorn Antelope migrate through here every year, trekking from the Tetons north of us to Rock Springs, WY just to our south.  We do see many antelope in the lands east and west of the highway.  This is called the "high desert" meaning we are at a high elevation, but the landscape is desert-like with only grasslands and brush.  It's hard to believe wildlife can exist out here, but numerous animals do like the antelope as well as mule deer, and coyotes, and in more desolate areas, mountain lions and bears.  There are also interesting birds like magpies and mountain bluebirds everywhere.

In the morning, I awake to find a dead mouse laying on the living room carpet.  Grady has finally earned his keep.  There must have been a battle with this creature as he has spilled his water.  Neither Brad nor I heard the commotion in the night as we wear earplugs to sleep when we are near a roadway.  At least Grady didn't bring this one to bed with us, but while I get up and find this poor dead creature, Grady is still in bed, under the covers, sleeping after his late-night hunt!

At the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, we find the campground on the east side of the Gorge closed, so we spend a couple of days camped in the adjacent boat launch parking area, beside the gorge.  Here there are trees, picnic tables and firerings.  The landscape here is phenominal with dry, rocky hills rising from the water, dotted with sage brush and the odd small green bush.  There are a pair of Grebes floating in the bay, and Brad disturbs a sleeping coyote on a walk along the "beach".  The silence here is deafening, with only the twitter of birds, the woosh of their wings and the buzzing of a few insects to disturb our thoughts.

Reservoir at Firehole Canyon in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

Many boaters come and go as it is the weekend.  We use this time to rest before heading further south to the Flaming Gorge Dam.  This lake is a reservoir, dammed for power in the early 1900s.  We drop the trailer in the parking lot of the Visitors Center at the dam, and drive up the mountains to see Red Canyon and the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, a drive that takes several hours.

Red Canyon is exactly as it name predicts.  From the viewpoints overlooking the lake, the opposite cliffs are bright red, rising about 500 feet from the clear water.  This is a boater's paradise, and we can see many fishermen skimming the surface.  It is very unfortunate that the day is cloudy because this mutes the colours, so we are determined to return in subsequent years.

Red Canyon in the Flaming Gorge NRA, Utah

Aspens turning gold, Flaming Gorge NRA, Utah

The drive along the Sheep Creek Geological Loop takes us through an incredible canyon with yellow and red sandstone towering above us.  The feeling is one of timelessness and we come to realize that we are just a brief blemish on the face of this ever-changing, ancient planet.  We can see that some of the rock cliffs have been pushed into vertical faces, others are at a 45 degree angle to the ground, and others are bent into curves around an imaginery sphere, making us appreciate the forces at work underground.  The effect of the contours and colours is awe-inspiring.  I wish I could draw or write a song, or something artistic that could capture the spirit of this place better than a photo and these brief, inadequate words.

Uplifted rock along the Sheep Creek Geological Loop Road