Crossing the Sierra Madre Range

We were getting close to home when we entered Colorado last Wednesday, but decided we weren’t quite ready to stay.  So, we headed north into Wyoming on Friday.  We have been noticing that when we meet people now, many are from our neck of the woods.  When they ask where we are from, we can tell them that we’re from Estes Park, not Colorado, and they know where that is.

We stopped in Baggs, Wyoming, for lunch and a trip down memory lane for Tim.  Tim used to pass through Baggs when he worked in Wyoming, and he wanted to see what had become of the town.  The town has grown a bit, but has otherwise changed very little.  Baggs was once frequented by Butch Cassidy and his outlaw “Wild Bunch,” and a cabin that was one of his hangouts is open to the public.

First State Bank of Baggs

Gaddis-Matthews Cabin

Tim wanted to cross the Sierra Madre Range in southern Wyoming on Highway 70, a road that was paved only recently.  The road was dirt when he worked in the area, and he was impressed with how easy the drive had become.  Roads in the mountains always seem to be a work in progress because of the extreme conditions, however, and we had to detour around a slide that had taken out a section of new pavement.

Foothills of the Sierra Madre Range

What Happened to the Road?

This beautiful mountain road climbs to 9,955 feet at Battle Pass, named for a nearby conflict that took place in 1841, and it is here that the road crosses the Continental Divide.  We were surprised to see the lack of snow, even at this elevation, and guessed that it must have been a very mild winter.  Thomas Edison camped near the road in 1878 while on a fishing trip, and it was here that he realized that the fiber from his bamboo fishing pole would make a suitable filament for his incandescent electric lamp.

The View from Battle Pass

View toward Battle Mountain

What Happened to the Snow?

Thomas Edison Camped Near Here

What was especially shocking as we drove through the Medicine Bow National Forest was seeing the effects of the pine bark and mountain beetle infestation that has killed approximately two-thirds of the trees.  The hillsides are mostly gray now, not the beautiful green we love to see.  Although we are all too familiar with the pine bark beetle infestation, we had not witnessed its effect since we left Estes Park last year.  It is so heartbreaking to see what has happened to our majestic forests.

Canyon Country

As we learned last Wednesday, there is much more to Dinosaur National Monument than dinosaur bones.  At least half of the park is the canyon country of the Green and Yampa Rivers.  In order to access canyon country, we took the thirty-one mile drive to Harpers Corner on the Colorado side of the park the next day.  This part of the park is not as well-known as the area containing the dinosaur quarry.  In fact, there are no dinosaurs here.  Tim and I have both traveled extensively in this part of the west, and neither one of us had been to this part of Colorado.  I’m so glad we decided to take this drive.

I would hate to guess how many times I’ve used the words “spectacular,” “amazing,” “awesome” or “stunning” to describe what we’ve seen on this trip.  Despite their overuse, the canyons we saw today can only be described that way.  From a series of overlooks and trails, we looked down at the labyrinth canyons that had been cut deeply into the rocks.  Sheer cliffs, great faults and rainbow-hued rocks only added drama to the scene.    

Plug Hat Butte

The Beginning of Canyon Country

A Road Leading Down into the Canyon

Labyrinth Canyons

An unexpected treat was seeing the wildflowers that bloom in the spring at these high elevations.  A profusion of yellow, red and blue blossoms seemed to flourish in the arid environment.  These delicate flowers were such a stark contrast to the wildness of the canyons.

A Profustion of Wildflowers

Globemallow

Butterfly on the Scarlet Gilia

When we reached the end of the road, we hiked to the end of Harpers Corner to take in the most dramatic view of all, the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers.  We climbed through pinyon pine and juniper forests on our way to the tip of a promontory overlooking the canyons.  It’s hard to describe just how rugged these canyons appear from above.  I don’t know how high we were above the rivers, but the rafts we spotted floating down the Green River appeared no larger than small dots.  The view from this spot was one that I will not easily forget.

The End of the Trail

Yampa River Canyon

Green River Canyon

Tim and Sarah at Canyon Country

We retraced our steps and left Dinosaur National Monument.  We drove eastward across a lonely stretch of northwestern Colorado and camped for the night at Yampa River State Park.  It was a long, but good day.

Dinosaurland

We’re home!  I’ll write more about our homecoming in the coming week, but for now I’ll just catch up on the posts from our last week on the road.  Most likely, I’ll post one “catch-up” per day, so stay tuned.  Then I plan to do a series of wrap-up posts.  After that, who knows?  We’ll just have to see.

The town of Vernal Utah, and surrounding Uintah County capitalize on their proximity to Dinosaur National Monument and the quantity of fossils found in the region.  The area even refers to itself as Dinosaurland, and a pink dinosaur welcomes visitors to the town.

Dinosaur National Monument takes its name from an incredible deposit of dinosaur fossils that were first discovered in 1909.  The quarry here is one of the best late-Jurassic Period dinosaur finds in the world.  This quarry yielded the remains of more than 500 dinosaurs, and more than ten species of dinosaurs were discovered.  Twenty complete skeletons were unearthed.

We visited Dinosaur National Monument last Wednesday and were able to explore the original quarry and even touch dinosaur bones.  The Quarry Exhibit Hall is actually built over and into the side of the quarry, and what remains of the quarry wall is exposed inside the building.  Looking up, or down, at a two-story high wall filled with more than 1,500 dinosaur bones was an amazing experience.  Most of the bones appeared randomly, but there were several sections of articulated skeletons as well.

Tim Walks Along the Quarry Wall Inside the Quarry Exhibit Hall

One of the More Impressive Dinosaur Fossils in the Quarry Wall

Exposed Dinosaur Bones

What a Amazing Sight

Tim Had to Be Convinced It Was Legal to Touch the Dinosaur Bones

The Exhibit Hall Also Contains Several Impressive Exhibits

The original Quarry Exhibit Hall was built in 1957 as a part of the National Park Service Mission 66 program and was an outstanding example of modernist architecture.  Unfortunately, the building’s foundation was never stable, and long-standing structural problems forced the National Park Service to close the building in 2006.  Luckily, I was able to see the building from the exterior when I visited the park in 2007, although like every other visitor, I could not see the quarry wall inside.  Rangers we spoke with said the hardest part of their job was telling people that the quarry wall was closed.  Some of the visitors had come from half-way around the world and were simply devastated.  There was no access to the quarry wall for five years.

The Newly Opened Quarry Exhibit Hall

The current building opened just last year and is a beautiful piece of architecture.  It is billed as a rehabilitation of the original building, but it really is a reconstruction.  Virtually none of the original structure remains, although the new building does maintain much of the original design.  I’m happy the timing of our visit was such that we were able to go inside and see the quarry wall.

Landscape Adjacent to the Quarry Exhibit Hall

Colorful Cliffs

We found that there is much more to see at Dinosaur National Monument than just dinosaur bones.  The deep and colorful canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers are preserved here, as are the historic remnants of ancient cultures, settlers and homesteaders.  We took the Tour of the Tilted Rocks to discover some of these features.  Along this route we were able to view some of the finest-quality petroglyphs I’ve ever seen.  This rock art was made about 1,000 years ago by the people of the Fremont Culture, and some of the images are enormous in size.  Petroglyphs like the lizard likely took months to complete.

An Outstanding Collection of Petroglyphs

Intricate Images

The Lizard Is a Favorite Figure

We also visited the restored cabin built by Josephine Bassett in 1935 on land she homesteaded in 1914.  Josie was an independent woman who lived alone here on her own terms.  It is hard to imagine the challenges she faced in this isolated and rugged, but beautiful land.

Josie Bassett Cabin

We followed the Green River for a while and learned how the river was responsible for creating a host of amazing geological features.  The rugged ridge of Split Mountain, which the Green River split in half, for example, loomed alongside of us for much of the way.  Colorful cliffs and unusual rock formations only added to the spectacular scenery.

The Green River Winds Its Way through the Park

Split Mountain

Cliffs Along the Green River

We drove to Dinosaur, Colorado, so we could visit the Colorado section of Dinosaur National Monument tomorrow.  For the first time on this trip, we were unable to find a campground.  The one where we had planned to stay was virtually abandoned.  We didn’t have a good feeling about the place, so we dumped our tanks and left.  We never did see anyone there.  Thus began a search for a place to camp in an area where there simply were no campgrounds.

By this time it was 6:00 pm, and we realized we would have to find a place to boondock, in other words, park off of a main road in an area with no facilities.  We turned onto a county road and then found a dirt road managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  There was a nice open space to park, and that’s where we camped for the night.  I can’t believe our first experience with boondocking took place the last week of our trip. 

Our Boondocking Site

 

Almost Home

For the last few days we have had either no internet access, or a very weak signal. Consequently I have been unable to post any of our adventures for what seems like a very long time.  We have now arrived in Fort Morgan at Tim’s sister’s house, and we’ll head to Estes Park tomorrow.  We’re going to enjoy our visit while we’re here, and I’ll catch up on the posts when we return home.  Thanks for your patience.  I promise I won’t leave you dangling!  There are a lot more fun things to tell you about.

Flaming Gorge

We took the day off yesterday and hung out at our campground overlooking Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  It was very hot, with the temperature reaching 93°, and there was very little shade to shield us from the scorching sun.  We learned that several cities in eastern Utah actually broke temperature records yesterday.  We still had a good day and enjoyed watching the pronghorn that frequent the campground.  Our camp host informed us that it is the pronghorn that own the campground.  They graciously allow us to camp there.  How nice of them.

Just Make Yourself at Home

Are You Coming to See Me?

Kitty didn’t seem to mind the heat, and Tim discovered a great brushing station.  The new grill stand seems to have been placed at the campsite just for that purpose.  Tim got a few strange looks, but several dog owners wanted to book an appointment with him.

This Is the Life!

We awoke this morning to another hot day.  On top of that high wind warnings were posted throughout eastern Utah.  We coped with winds of 25-40 miles per hour and wind gusts of 55-65 miles per hour for most of the day.  We tried, but could not escape the wind or the heat.

Although we didn’t feel like spending much time outside, we were lucky enough to be driving the Flaming Gorge-Uintas National Scenic Byway the entire day.  What a spectacular drive.  The theme of the byway is “Wildlife Through the Ages” since the route travels through one of the richest areas for wildlife and fossils in the west.  Markers along the entire length of the byway identify the various geologic formations, the time periods and the types of animals and plants that were discovered.

Geological Markers Along the Byway

Color Along the Scenic Byway

As we left the desert-like area near our campground, we climbed high into the eastern flank of the Uinta Mountains at over 8,000 feet in elevation.  Along the way we marveled at unique geologic features, deep multi-colored canyons, breathtaking scenic vistas and dark green forest landscapes.  Talk about “eye candy.”  I think this drive may make my “top ten” list.

Sheep Creek Bay Sits along the Scenic Byway

The Colors of the Cliffs Are Amazing

The Vista from Sheep Creek Overlook Took My Breath Away

Much of the drive passes through Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, and we now understand how this gorge received its name.  Flaming Gorge has to be one of the most aptly named landscapes in the country.  The colors of the cliffs and canyons are indeed “flaming.” 

Flaming Gorge seems to be one of the lesser known of all the west’s national recreation areas.  Today we had the area almost to ourselves, and we understand that it never gets too busy, even in the height of the summer.

We made a detour to reach one of the most photogenic sections of the gorge, Red Canyon, which was carved by the mighty Green River.  We walked along the Red Canyon Rim Trail and looked down 1,400 feet into Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  The contrast between the red of the cliffs, the blue of the water and the green of the trees was simply breathtaking.

The View into Red Canyon Is Stunning

The Red Canyon Rim Trail Provides Awesome Views

After leaving Flaming Gorge we traveled down through countless geologic layers of time on our way to the Uintah Basin of Utah.  This section of the road is infamous for its steep descent and series of nine tortuous switchbacks.  Although the views were spectacular, the wind made for extremely dangerous driving for high profile vehicles.  We were shocked to see a tractor trailer that had rolled over along one of the curves.  Hopefully the driver escaped with few injuries. 

What a Scary Sight!

Descending into the Uintah Basin

Tim on the other hand did a masterful job of controlling the RV, and we arrived safely at Steinaker Lake State Park near Vernal, Utah.

Along the Water at Steinaker State Park

Another Waterfront Site