Retirement Travels: Dinosaur National Monument

Friday, Sept 16

We started slowly this morning, getting the wash done while at the campground. Around 11:30 we started West again and within a few miles saw a big sign for a museum, so we stopped.

It turned out to be a fascinating place with a lot of historical artifacts that one man had collected over 50 years. Lou Worley from near Craig, Colorado had collected artifacts from the area for over 50 years and displayed them, along with donated items of every description.

An old tractor

The museum's creator, Lou Worley

A young sheep herder with her pet sheep

Sheep wagon - a early version of the RV

Mimi talks with a young sheep herder

For anyone who has ever seen Calvin Hall's collection in Spruce Pine, you get an idea of what Lou has collected, plus a lot more. It was beautifully displayed in a relatively new steel building. When we got there they were setting up for a big weekend of sheep herding demonstrations, displaying all sorts of things related to the history of sheep herding, including an impressive display of sheep herding wagons.

The sheep herding wagons are the precursor to the modern RV, with a stove for heat and cooking, sleeping berths, and a table. (I guess they used the out-of-doors for the bathroom).

We spent a couple of interesting hours touring the artifacts and buildings.

Then we drove through some of the most desolate terrain we have ever seen. We went over 40 miles and never saw a house. I'd sure hate to have a breakdown out there.

We had not thought we would be going to Utah, but the campground we want to stay at in Dinosaur National Monument is in Utah.

We finally arrived at Dinosaur National Monument. We didn't expect much and aren't especially interested in dinosaurs, but think it might be interesting.

Each place we go, we think the scenery can not get any more spectacular, but once again, this scenery and the vistas are beyond description. Some places you can see for miles and miles.

Hiking in Dinosaur National Monument

Mid day Moon over Dinosaur National Monument

Big rock looks like it's going to fall

Green River Campground, Dinosaur National Monument

Mimi enjoys her swing at Green River CG

And here at the Green River Campground, we are sitting in a spectacular setting beside a river looking up at the “tilted rocks”.

The Green River

Saturday, Sept 17

It rained off and on all night (I think) but stopped early morning. I guess it does rain in the desert. I've heard this area described as the “high desert”.

We were going on a ranger led hike, but the rain put that on hold.

Instead, we spent the whole day at a Country Music Show (the first annual Vernal Country Explosion) at a fairgrounds near Vernal, Utah. The music ranged from fair to good, but it was a good way to take a break and enjoy some local “culture”. (It's just like music back in NC, without the bluegrass).

Sunday, Sept 18

For the first time, I have begun to comprehend ever so slightly the incredible geologic and natural forces that have shaped our earth.

The Tilted Rock Mountains

Today's adventures have been educational and inspirational.

We started the day with a ranger led hike into an area of the Dinosaur National Monument where the remains of dinosaur remains washed into a turn in a river over 150 million years ago.

Today, due to the incredible tectonic forces millions of years ago, these remains are in the sides of “tilted” rocks. It is difficult to comprehend the geologic forces that made this area over many millions of years become part of oceans and then part of a high, arid desert over 5000 feet above see level.

Dinosaur bones from 150 million years ago

Tail bones of a dinosaur

These dinosaur remains were created along river beds, which have become sheer cliff on mountain sides today.

This evening I took a short hike along the Green River (we are staying at Green River Campground). This hike, and the views of the rivers and the rocks that I walked over began to make me realize the forces of nature that have shaped our earth.

Several hundred feet from and high above the river, there are rocks that have been washed over by rivers eons ago. These rocks are smooth rounded river rocks just like you would see in a river bed. And yet they are hundreds of feet from the river. This very same river flowed over these rocks many years ago and smoothed them and left them where I was walking.

Basically, I came away with a feeling that there is little man can do, or has done, that has any affect on nature. The natural forces of nature will prevail.

After our morning journey to the remains of dinosaurs, we took a hike up a canyon trail called the Sound of Silence. Not only was it silent, but it was beautiful.

Pictogrpahs painted on these rocks 1000 years ago by the Fremont People

Mimi setting on a rock resting

The Sound of Silence Hiking Trail

We came across a group of river rafters who were completing a 5 day excursion down the Green River from Colorado.

Later we went to the homestead of a pioneering woman, Josie Baseett Morris, who lived to 90 years in a peaceful, hard, setting, passing away due to breaking a hip in 1974 .

Her home was a log cabin with dirt floors. Her corner of the world existed without modern amenities. She kept her cattle and sheep in box canyons, where it only required a fence across the entrance to the canyon.