Utah, Colorado and Nevada

We continued our September trip home to Yuma with a few more stops along the way. Our next stop was the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. The drive from Wyoming to Utah was one of the most remote stretches of road we've been on. The only sign of humans were the power lines and an occasional water tank for the cattle we saw. A lot of open range ranches in this area.

Dinosaur National Monument is located along the northern borders of Colorado and Utah. It is considered one of Earth's richest known dinosaur fossil beds from the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago. Many dinosaurs died during a draught near a river's edge. When rains returned, floodwaters carried the bones of over 500 dinosaurs to this area. Here is a picture of the entrance to the Utah visitor center.

In 1909 paleontologist Earl Douglass, of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum, discovered the site. In 1915, President Wilson established Dinosaur National Monument to protect the 80 acres around the Carnegie Quarry. In 1938 President Franklin Roosevelt expanded the monument to cover over 200,000 acres. 

Paleontologist Earl Douglass

The park service built an exhibit hall around one of the walls of the quarry where guests can view dinosaur fossils up close. There is even a bone you can touch. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them for a better look.

That's me touching one of the bones

The scenery outside of the exhibit hall is vast and beautiful. There is a trail that goes down among these hills where you can see more fossils. It was quite hot the day we were there, so we skipped the hike.

We drove further into the park to see some petroglyphs. The sun was very bright, so it wasn't the best conditions for getting great photos. Here are a few I was able to see.

This rock formation was called Turtle Rock.

Unfortunately, at this point in the day, the check engine light came on in our car. Kevin was able to limp it back to the visitor center where we spent the rest of the day getting it towed, finding a rental car, and lining up a hotel for the weekend. Of course, these kinds of things always seem to happen on the weekend.

The closest town to the monument was Vernal, Utah where the car was towed to a service shop for a Monday appointment. Vernal has embraced the dinosaur theme. 

On Sunday we drove to the Colorado section of Dinosaur National Monument. After a stop at their visitor center, we drove the scenic 31 mile each way road to see the canyons. There are no dinosaur bones in this area. There were a lot of free range cattle along and in the road.

Our car was fixed on Monday, and we headed to Nevada to visit Great Basin National Park. It is the 44th National Park we have visited. The name refers to a huge geographic area where waters have no outlet to the sea. It covers most of Nevada, and parts of California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. Congress set aside the park in 1986 to preserve one of these desert mountain islands, the South Snake Range. From desert and sagebrush to Wheeler Peak at 13,063 feet, the park offers streams, lakes, wildlife, alpine plants and caves.

We went to the visitor center only to find the road to Wheeler Peak was closed for construction. We could have done a cave tour, but we've toured many caves, and really weren't interested. We watched the informative movie and viewed the exhibits. They had a replica bristlecone pine tree. These trees live at elevations higher than most trees can survive, and live for thousands of years. 

The best we could do was view the mountain from the parking lot.

We continued on to Valley of Fire State Park north of Las Vegas. Our drive most of the day was through the Great Basin area of Nevada. 

We arrived at the state park around 2 pm. Temperatures had climbed throughout the day. It was 100 degrees when we got there. So, our first stop was the visitor center. Unfortunately, the movie was closed and there was no one at the information desk. We did get a brochure when we paid our $15 entry fee, so we followed the map to see the beautiful rock formations. I got out at each pull out to take pictures, but it was too hot to walk any of the trails.

The color variation on these rocks is so unique!

We pulled off onto a side road to view Arch Rock. It wasn't much of an arch, but on the way back to the main road, I spotted a big horn sheep on top of Atlatl Rock. Those of you who know me, have heard me tell of my fruitless search to see big horn sheep in the wild. For many years, we have traveled to different national parks, wild life refuges, and state parks to try to see these sheep. We've hiked into the wilderness and driven many off the beaten path roads with no luck. Finally, my dream came true!!!

I hollered at Kevin to quick pull over. My heart was racing! I jumped out to take pictures before it ran away. It felt surreal. I got back into the car all excited. As we pulled away, I took another look back. Oh my gosh, there were more of them on the back side of the rock, five in all. Quick, Kevin pull over!! Although none of them had the signature curled big horn rack, it was still an amazing discovery!!

On the way out, we stopped at the rock formations called Beehives.

We spent the night in North Las Vegas at a very nice new Super 8 Motel. The next day we finished our trip driving back to Yuma, where it was 115 degrees. In total, we spent almost a month traveling after leaving Wisconsin. We so enjoyed all of our stops along the way!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!