FOSSILS, TIRES AND GLYPHS…

We bid farewell to Yellowstone and head south down Hwy 191.  The air quality is probably the worst we’ve encountered so far. The smoke is so thick, that we can hardly see the Tetons as we pass Jackson Lake.  Once we’re past Jackson, the air gets clearer with each passing mile.   It seems that wildlife isn’t just limited to the National parks… In the meadows along the road we pass a herd of buffalo, deer and lots and lots of antelope… and the “Home on the Range” earworm strikes with a vengeance! BUT… the sky’s ARE cloudy… darkening, with billowing thunderclouds. We stop just south of Pinedale, WY at the Wind River View Campground.  This is an older place, but it’s right off the highway and perfect for a quick overnight stop.  It rains on and off through the night.

The next morning, with thunderclouds still darkening the horizon, we continue our journey south.  We are treated intermittently to thunder, lightning, rain and hail.  The views through flaming gorge are spectacular.  We stop at the Flaming Gorge Dam Visitor Center hoping to take a tour, but tours have been suspended due to the lightning. (Seems that dams are big lightning rods.)  We continue on to Vernal, UT and check into the Fossil Valley RV Park.  Again this is an older park with a high percentage of permanent residents. But it’s clean, the staff friendly and WIFI enabled.

Embedded Fossil

Lizard

 We are here to visit the Dinosaur National Monument. We stop first at the visitor center and take a shuttle up to the Quarry exhibit hall.  The hall is built around a steep hillside containing approximately 1,500 dinosaur bones in their final resting place. Most of the bones are from the Camarasaurus, (love that name… were they paparazzi dino’s?)  Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus are also represented. The sheer volume of the preserved past is mindboggling.  We opt to hike back to the visitor center (rather than taking the shuttle.)  Along the Fossil Discovery Trail, we see some large unexcavated bone fossils peeking out from the rocks, tiny fossils of clams and fish scales, and current inhabitants lizards, chipmunks, ground squirrels and prairie dogs.

Fremont Petroglyphs

Green River

After leaving the center we drive the Auto Tour of the Tilted Rocks.  It’s just under 12 miles with 15 points of interest that include: one of the oldest known sites of human occupation dating back approximately 7,000 years, two sets of 1,000 year old pictographs from the Fremont Culture, stunning geologic features including the split mountain (cut by the Green River) and the colorful layers of the Morrison Formation and ending at the homestead cabin of the notorious Josie Bassett.  From the end of this tour we continued on the dirt road up Blue Mountain.  The views are incredible but it begins to rain and the return down the steep road becomes slick and slippery. 

On the way to Blue Mountain

Back at our home base, the penny in the tread check confirms that Dave needs new tires.  The stock tires that came with him are really not aggressive enough for our needs and now is the time to upgrade.  Since Vernal is a larger city with multiple tire vendors, Chris calls around and arranges to have 4 new Cooper Discovery AT3s installed.

Aspens

After the installation we hit the road… back roads actually: The Red Cloud Loop Scenic Byway. We start in town and drive over 70 miles (about half on unpaved roads) up and around parts of the Unitas Mountains traveling through Lodgepole Pine and Aspen forests, meadows and canyons. The fall colors are spectacular.  We see lots of deer, chipmunks and squirrels. Ten miles before the finish, we turn off to the Sadie McConkie Ranch to check out one of the best sites for Fremont Culture petroglyphs in the area.  We hike both the Main trail and the Three Kings Trail and are blown away by the quality and quantity of these ancient art works.

Three Kings Panel

So that’s about it for Vernal and the Dinosaur National Monument.  There is a lot more in this area but like they say in The Game of Thrones… “Winter is coming!” and we need to head south… next stop – Moab, UT.

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