Zion is not that far from Bryce Canyon, so we drove the RV through Bryce National Park to its end, Rainbow Point, about 16 miles further than the shuttle bus travels. It was a nice drive, but not too exciting - except for the brief stop we needed to make to allow the herd of antelope to cross the road (they didn't use the crosswalk, but still...). Rainbow Point was pretty, looking much like the area we hiked yesterday, which made the kids nervous. It didn't help that Phil kept saying things like, "Ready to go walk this - it's only 3 miles each way!" For some reason the kids didn't laugh.
Driving back, we stopped at Natural Bridge, which isn't, because natural bridges are formed by rushing water whereas this was formed by moving air, making it an arch. (Again, always learning!)
Then, after our 3rd visit in 3 days to the buffet (man, those country-style ribs were good!) we drove to Zion. Highway 9 (another official Scenic By-way) passes through 2 tunnels on its way into the park. The first isn't any big deal but the second one is. The Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel was built in the 1920's when cars were small & few in number. Vehicles sized 7'10" in width or 11'4" in height, or larger, are required to have an "escort" (traffic control) in order to pass through, because they are too large to stay in their lane while traveling - it's an arched tunnel. So, we paid our $15 fee & waited for the rangers to clear the tunnel. Then we were allowed to proceed. The tunnel is 1.1 miles long, with "windows" cut in periodically, but no one is allowed to stop in the tunnel, so you gotta look fast!
Within the actual park, except during the winter, only shuttle buses are allowed on the touring roads. Down along the main street where traffic is allowed, many little cafes, restaurants, galleries, etc. offer to entertain, nourish & caffeinate visitors.
We are staying at a campground about 10 miles further down the road. It is quiet, very clean, with paved roads, a concrete pad for the RV & a little patch of very soft green grass at each site. We are right next to the pool & spa area, where they had a little ice cream social last night. While listening to oldies the kids ate ice cream while Phil & I enjoyed root beer floats. Later, we put our swimsuits back on & enjoyed the pool (kids) & hot tub (grown ups) all by ourselves. The stars came out, & we laid back on the bare sandstone decking, which was still warm from the day's sunshine, & stared up into the universe. Sigh...
Friday, September 01, 2006
Day 19: Bryce Canyon, aka The Valley...of...Death!
OK, first thing: we didn't try to kill the children. I know they will tell you differently, but it was simply an honest mistake. Besides, they didn't actually die, so what are they still complaining about?
The plan was simple. Take the shuttle bus to Sunset Point, hike what we were told was an easy trail, Queen Victoria's Garden, & end up at Sunrise Point, where we could re-board the bus & continue on. Then we were told about how Wall Street, a narrow passageway between two huge canyon walls, had suffered a landslide, closing that trail. The ranger told us we could still hike down to it & see it, we would just have to re-trace our steps back to the original trail. No problem.
Except, the trail down was basically like our 4-wheel drive down the canyon wall - all steep switchbacks, which are OK going down, but really not so OK going back up, especially when it's really sunny, hot & dry.
Now that we were "warmed up", we stuck to the plan & hiked on. Except that Queen Victoria's Garden trail is the easy middle section that is connected at each end to, yup, steep canyon walls with many, many switchbacks. What we expected to be about an hour, tops, turned out to be 2 1/2 hours of mostly moderate level hiking, made more intense by the fact that it brought us into high noon in the high desert. Thankfully, I carry a Camelback, a backpack that contains a water reservior, & the kids each have a large strapped water bottle. Phil had a waist pack with water. We also had snack foods, which we ate in a shaded area.
Kimi & Shaun alternated from tears to glares by the end of it all. They made us promise not to make them hike for a few days. They threatened to sell us. It was not our family at its best.
Much later, after the yummy late-day lunch buffet, after the ice creams, we set up another campfire. It was a little earlier than when we set it up the night before. The sky was dusky, the moon shone behind the ponderosa pines, when Shaun said, "Look!" Right next to us was a herd of deer. Our site was in the very back of the campground, overlooking a huge meadow (actually, Dixie National Forest). It was quiet & very private. Apparently, the deer thought so, too! They passed along, some of them gracefully leaping, others just strolling & staring at us (What do they think when they see us humans? "Those poor weird deer, no fur, no antlers...keep moving, Honey, & don't stare! It's not polite...)
We asked Kimi & Shaun what did they think about this place - did they want to come back? Expecting their answer, we were pleasantly surprised when, without hesitation, they both said, "Yeah, we should come back". Kimi then added, "but to go to the stores, not to hike!"
The plan was simple. Take the shuttle bus to Sunset Point, hike what we were told was an easy trail, Queen Victoria's Garden, & end up at Sunrise Point, where we could re-board the bus & continue on. Then we were told about how Wall Street, a narrow passageway between two huge canyon walls, had suffered a landslide, closing that trail. The ranger told us we could still hike down to it & see it, we would just have to re-trace our steps back to the original trail. No problem.
Except, the trail down was basically like our 4-wheel drive down the canyon wall - all steep switchbacks, which are OK going down, but really not so OK going back up, especially when it's really sunny, hot & dry.
Now that we were "warmed up", we stuck to the plan & hiked on. Except that Queen Victoria's Garden trail is the easy middle section that is connected at each end to, yup, steep canyon walls with many, many switchbacks. What we expected to be about an hour, tops, turned out to be 2 1/2 hours of mostly moderate level hiking, made more intense by the fact that it brought us into high noon in the high desert. Thankfully, I carry a Camelback, a backpack that contains a water reservior, & the kids each have a large strapped water bottle. Phil had a waist pack with water. We also had snack foods, which we ate in a shaded area.
Kimi & Shaun alternated from tears to glares by the end of it all. They made us promise not to make them hike for a few days. They threatened to sell us. It was not our family at its best.
Much later, after the yummy late-day lunch buffet, after the ice creams, we set up another campfire. It was a little earlier than when we set it up the night before. The sky was dusky, the moon shone behind the ponderosa pines, when Shaun said, "Look!" Right next to us was a herd of deer. Our site was in the very back of the campground, overlooking a huge meadow (actually, Dixie National Forest). It was quiet & very private. Apparently, the deer thought so, too! They passed along, some of them gracefully leaping, others just strolling & staring at us (What do they think when they see us humans? "Those poor weird deer, no fur, no antlers...keep moving, Honey, & don't stare! It's not polite...)
We asked Kimi & Shaun what did they think about this place - did they want to come back? Expecting their answer, we were pleasantly surprised when, without hesitation, they both said, "Yeah, we should come back". Kimi then added, "but to go to the stores, not to hike!"
Day 18: Bryce Canyon
It was another travel day, first through Escalante-Staircase, then on to Bryce Canyon. Highway 12 is designated an offical Scenic By-way, & we saw some very unusual landscapes. Sometimes the stone looked more like concrete formations, very industrial looking & not at all friendly or cozy! Then the formations started to have these strange bruise-like markings, purple blotches on their rounded tops. Later, the bruises deepened & showed up as deep mulberry wine stains at the bottoms of the formations, as if they had been dipped.
When we arrived in Bryce Canyon, we discovered that Ruby's Inn & Campground was actually part of larger group of interconnected businesses. A campground, hotel, restaurant, diner, grocery store, gift shop & gas station are on one side of the road. On the other, an old-fashioned "western town center" is set up, store fronts connected by a long wooden covered porch. Inside you can do things such as buy souveniers or ice cream, or set up ATV tours. A little further down is the rodeo, which was cancelled, unfortunately, because the teens who work there all had to go back to school/college this week.
That night we bought firewood & enjoyed a campfire. The stars came out in full glory - it was much like being in the Outback of Australia again - even with the nearby electric lights & our own campfire, we could see the Milky Way.
When we arrived in Bryce Canyon, we discovered that Ruby's Inn & Campground was actually part of larger group of interconnected businesses. A campground, hotel, restaurant, diner, grocery store, gift shop & gas station are on one side of the road. On the other, an old-fashioned "western town center" is set up, store fronts connected by a long wooden covered porch. Inside you can do things such as buy souveniers or ice cream, or set up ATV tours. A little further down is the rodeo, which was cancelled, unfortunately, because the teens who work there all had to go back to school/college this week.
That night we bought firewood & enjoyed a campfire. The stars came out in full glory - it was much like being in the Outback of Australia again - even with the nearby electric lights & our own campfire, we could see the Milky Way.
Day 17: Ahh! Arches!!
What I failed to mention in the previous posting was that even though our Passport stamp for Arches says August 28th, we actually did visit it all three days. It's just that we visited too late to go to the Visitors Center. I mentioned the rainstorm that was occuring during our very first visit. Well, the next night we drove in to watch the sunset. The rock formations looked very different with the change in light conditions. Different shadows, altered contours, brighter hues. We first drove over to Delicate Arch, the iconic arch that is on all of Utah's license plates. Since it's on the east side of the park, it looks its most charming in the late afternoon. We hiked a 1 mile trail to a viewpoint near it.
Then we drove northwest (boy, the sun's glare was hard to cope with!) through areas such as Fiery Furnace, Sand Dune Arch & Devils Garden Trailhead. The late day light conditions made everything look so beautiful. The twilight-into-darkness drive all the way back through the park was so mystical. A crescent moon was following the setting sun, & some of the planets & stars were beginning to glimmer. Just magical.
The next day, the 28th, we went back into Arches, getting our Passport stamp finally! Then we drove back to areas we knew we wanted to explore more, such as Cove of Caves & Double Arch, which a very near each other, and Devils Garden Trail, which we didn't dare walk the previous early evening due to the mountain lion warnings. We were a little sad to leave the park, this time for the last time. It's impossible to fully describe Arches - it's definitely a destination that must be experienced first hand.
Then we drove northwest (boy, the sun's glare was hard to cope with!) through areas such as Fiery Furnace, Sand Dune Arch & Devils Garden Trailhead. The late day light conditions made everything look so beautiful. The twilight-into-darkness drive all the way back through the park was so mystical. A crescent moon was following the setting sun, & some of the planets & stars were beginning to glimmer. Just magical.
The next day, the 28th, we went back into Arches, getting our Passport stamp finally! Then we drove back to areas we knew we wanted to explore more, such as Cove of Caves & Double Arch, which a very near each other, and Devils Garden Trail, which we didn't dare walk the previous early evening due to the mountain lion warnings. We were a little sad to leave the park, this time for the last time. It's impossible to fully describe Arches - it's definitely a destination that must be experienced first hand.
Day 16: I Want a Jeep for Keeps!
Jeeps are fun! They’re even more fun if they are modified for serious 4-wheel driving & you take it off-road!
We woke up bright & early (well, at least early) & drove out to Canyonlands National Park, about a 45 minute drive from the campground. We visited the area known as “Island in the Sky”, a broad mesa wedged between the Green and Colorado rivers.
First stop: the Visitors Center, where we got our park stamp. The National Park service has a neat little way to record your trips to their parks. You buy a Passport book, a small spiral bound booklet about the size of an adult hand (if it were a complete rectangle) & approx. 1/2” thick. It has a thick vinyl coated cover, navy blue in color & embossed with gold writing & logos. Inside you find a clear plastic pocket that holds your US map of all the national parks plus, if you have one, which we do, your National Parks Pass, which gives you a year's worth of admittance to all of the parks. Then comes the fun part. Each geographical region of the US (i.e., North Atlantic, Southeast, etc.) has its own section in the book, with maps, park information & a listing of all the national park areas in that region. Then follows the pages with places for you to collect the series of Passport stamps which are issued each year. It also has areas where you can get your book “canceled” when you visit a national park.
Whenever you visit a park, at the visitors center you will find a station set up with an ink pad & stamp. These stamps record the name of the park and the date of your visit. There is no charge to cancel your Passport - although you do have to purchase the book – with proceeds from the sale supporting the Parks system. The Visitors Centers almost always have little squares of paper for those who want the cancellation, but don’t have a Passport.
After getting logistical information, we drove out to Whale Rock, where we spent 1 ½ hours climbing up, over & back a huge slickrock that looks like a beached whale. The view from the top was breathtaking! It was also windy, which was a welcome relief from the heat. A quick drive further down the road delivered us to a shaded picnic area where we ate our lunch eagerly!
Now it was time for some real excitement. Instead of taking the nice, smooth 2-lane highway that had brought us into the park, we decided to depart via the Shafer Trail Road, an unpaved 4-wheel drive road that starts of with a long series of steep, tight switchbacks along a canyon wall. No guide rails, sometimes just enough width for one vehicle, 1st gear all the way – what a blast! I kept thinking of my brother Steve – he used to go off-roading, until his Pathfinder was jumped by a gang of miscreant deer late one night. I think he would be out-of-his-mind in love with this place.
Eventually, we made it to the bottom of the canyon – the kids started sing “Hallelujah” – and continued alongside Dead Horse Point State Park (Kimi was not amused by this name) and Gooseneck Overlook, which was where the Colorado River makes a huge U-turn around what looks like an island. Shafer Trail gave way to Potash Road, which brought us to a salt harvesting company – huge pools of salt with the water evaporating away. At some areas, the salt looked like snow banks leading into and around the pools. Very surreal!
Potash Rd. leads to Route 279, an actual paved road that parts tall canyon walls from the Colorado. At one point, we passed petroglyphs. Then we were back in Moab. Even though the way back home was a much shorter, more direct route, it took us 3 ½ hours to complete the journey. And I was hooked! I kept trying to find ways to continue the 4-wheel driving while we still had the Jeep, but, alas, none appeared. Now I’ve been telling Phil that I want to trade in my minivan for a Jeep.
We woke up bright & early (well, at least early) & drove out to Canyonlands National Park, about a 45 minute drive from the campground. We visited the area known as “Island in the Sky”, a broad mesa wedged between the Green and Colorado rivers.
First stop: the Visitors Center, where we got our park stamp. The National Park service has a neat little way to record your trips to their parks. You buy a Passport book, a small spiral bound booklet about the size of an adult hand (if it were a complete rectangle) & approx. 1/2” thick. It has a thick vinyl coated cover, navy blue in color & embossed with gold writing & logos. Inside you find a clear plastic pocket that holds your US map of all the national parks plus, if you have one, which we do, your National Parks Pass, which gives you a year's worth of admittance to all of the parks. Then comes the fun part. Each geographical region of the US (i.e., North Atlantic, Southeast, etc.) has its own section in the book, with maps, park information & a listing of all the national park areas in that region. Then follows the pages with places for you to collect the series of Passport stamps which are issued each year. It also has areas where you can get your book “canceled” when you visit a national park.
Whenever you visit a park, at the visitors center you will find a station set up with an ink pad & stamp. These stamps record the name of the park and the date of your visit. There is no charge to cancel your Passport - although you do have to purchase the book – with proceeds from the sale supporting the Parks system. The Visitors Centers almost always have little squares of paper for those who want the cancellation, but don’t have a Passport.
After getting logistical information, we drove out to Whale Rock, where we spent 1 ½ hours climbing up, over & back a huge slickrock that looks like a beached whale. The view from the top was breathtaking! It was also windy, which was a welcome relief from the heat. A quick drive further down the road delivered us to a shaded picnic area where we ate our lunch eagerly!
Now it was time for some real excitement. Instead of taking the nice, smooth 2-lane highway that had brought us into the park, we decided to depart via the Shafer Trail Road, an unpaved 4-wheel drive road that starts of with a long series of steep, tight switchbacks along a canyon wall. No guide rails, sometimes just enough width for one vehicle, 1st gear all the way – what a blast! I kept thinking of my brother Steve – he used to go off-roading, until his Pathfinder was jumped by a gang of miscreant deer late one night. I think he would be out-of-his-mind in love with this place.
Eventually, we made it to the bottom of the canyon – the kids started sing “Hallelujah” – and continued alongside Dead Horse Point State Park (Kimi was not amused by this name) and Gooseneck Overlook, which was where the Colorado River makes a huge U-turn around what looks like an island. Shafer Trail gave way to Potash Road, which brought us to a salt harvesting company – huge pools of salt with the water evaporating away. At some areas, the salt looked like snow banks leading into and around the pools. Very surreal!
Potash Rd. leads to Route 279, an actual paved road that parts tall canyon walls from the Colorado. At one point, we passed petroglyphs. Then we were back in Moab. Even though the way back home was a much shorter, more direct route, it took us 3 ½ hours to complete the journey. And I was hooked! I kept trying to find ways to continue the 4-wheel driving while we still had the Jeep, but, alas, none appeared. Now I’ve been telling Phil that I want to trade in my minivan for a Jeep.
Day 15: August 26th, Driving to Moab
We were a little more than an hour from Moab when I noticed the thickening, darkening clouds. Traveling west on I-70, we actually had to go farther west & then exit onto US 191, heading back a bit in a southeasterly direction. This gave me plenty of time to observe the weather conditions.
Phil was dozing on the sofa with Kimi – he had driven the 1st half of the day. Shaun was up front with me, & we both kept commenting on the clouds. They were dramatically, forbodingly looming, closing in. We saw lightening streak the sky – at first occasionally, but increasing in frequency & intensity the closer we got to Moab. Sometimes the lightening would flash horizontally, cloud to cloud, although the clouds looked like one huge mass.
When the rain started, Phil, who had awakened by now, changed seats with Shaun to help navigate. The red, green & gray-white colors of the rocks intensified with their newfound wetness. It was raining steadily, but fortunately not as a torrent. The long decline into Moab was pretty, though I had to stay focused on the driving. We passed signs pointing the way towards Canyonlands National Park, and then the entrance to Arches. As the road flattened out, we crossed the Colorado River. Entering Moab is like entering any other decent resort town. First the cheaper establishments: Denny’s, Motel 6, etc. Then the nicer eateries, the fancier hotels, inns & suites. Lots of t-shirt, Indian art, jewelry shops. One sign over a doorway read “Uranium Building”. There were some cutsie-named coffee shops, breakfast cafés, & other take-out eateries.
After we checked in to the Canyonlands RV Park, we drove ½ a mile back down the road & picked up our Jeep rental at the Moab Adventure Center. It was a big orange beast of a vehical, with a heavy canvas covering the driver/passenger area & hardly at all covering the rear seats. Behind the second row, there was a cargo area, complete with a MAC-provided cooler pre-filled with ice & water bottles. The kids couldn’t resist riding back to the campground in it, despite the now sprinkling rain.
After Phil followed us back in the RV, we set up camp & prepared to head out to Arches. The kids smartly had huge beach towels with them to use as a rain shelter, but the temperature drop made the open-air ride unexpectedly chilly. Phil switched off with Shaun during one of our scenic stop-offs; then he & Kimi cuddled up under the blankets for warmth.
The rain made the Arches look soft-focused in pastel shades of pink & purple. It was misty & surreal. At an area called Balanced Rock, a man named Bill Cambell lent us the use of the top of his storage trunk in back of his big white pickup as a staging area for photos. Perched up there, I could take great “arial” shots of the rest of the family. Then Phil took a picture of the kids & me standing up there with him – he was a good sport!
We drove a bit more, but by now the kids were getting cold & hungry. Time to head back into town. That’s when it began to really pour. We found a wood-fired oven pizzeria & a parking spot nearby. Good enough! We ran into the place as thunder rumbled over our heads. As it turned out, the restaurant, Zax, did a pizza buffet that included salad & soup – such a deal! We filled our tummies while sitting out on the protected patio. More lightening, some really, really close by kept us alert during supper.
Luckily, the rain stopped just as we finished dinner. This allowed us to snoop a bit in the various touristy shops. Coming out of one, we were treated to a complete double rainbow hanging over the red rock range – just gorgeous! Welcome to Moab!!
Phil was dozing on the sofa with Kimi – he had driven the 1st half of the day. Shaun was up front with me, & we both kept commenting on the clouds. They were dramatically, forbodingly looming, closing in. We saw lightening streak the sky – at first occasionally, but increasing in frequency & intensity the closer we got to Moab. Sometimes the lightening would flash horizontally, cloud to cloud, although the clouds looked like one huge mass.
When the rain started, Phil, who had awakened by now, changed seats with Shaun to help navigate. The red, green & gray-white colors of the rocks intensified with their newfound wetness. It was raining steadily, but fortunately not as a torrent. The long decline into Moab was pretty, though I had to stay focused on the driving. We passed signs pointing the way towards Canyonlands National Park, and then the entrance to Arches. As the road flattened out, we crossed the Colorado River. Entering Moab is like entering any other decent resort town. First the cheaper establishments: Denny’s, Motel 6, etc. Then the nicer eateries, the fancier hotels, inns & suites. Lots of t-shirt, Indian art, jewelry shops. One sign over a doorway read “Uranium Building”. There were some cutsie-named coffee shops, breakfast cafés, & other take-out eateries.
After we checked in to the Canyonlands RV Park, we drove ½ a mile back down the road & picked up our Jeep rental at the Moab Adventure Center. It was a big orange beast of a vehical, with a heavy canvas covering the driver/passenger area & hardly at all covering the rear seats. Behind the second row, there was a cargo area, complete with a MAC-provided cooler pre-filled with ice & water bottles. The kids couldn’t resist riding back to the campground in it, despite the now sprinkling rain.
After Phil followed us back in the RV, we set up camp & prepared to head out to Arches. The kids smartly had huge beach towels with them to use as a rain shelter, but the temperature drop made the open-air ride unexpectedly chilly. Phil switched off with Shaun during one of our scenic stop-offs; then he & Kimi cuddled up under the blankets for warmth.
The rain made the Arches look soft-focused in pastel shades of pink & purple. It was misty & surreal. At an area called Balanced Rock, a man named Bill Cambell lent us the use of the top of his storage trunk in back of his big white pickup as a staging area for photos. Perched up there, I could take great “arial” shots of the rest of the family. Then Phil took a picture of the kids & me standing up there with him – he was a good sport!
We drove a bit more, but by now the kids were getting cold & hungry. Time to head back into town. That’s when it began to really pour. We found a wood-fired oven pizzeria & a parking spot nearby. Good enough! We ran into the place as thunder rumbled over our heads. As it turned out, the restaurant, Zax, did a pizza buffet that included salad & soup – such a deal! We filled our tummies while sitting out on the protected patio. More lightening, some really, really close by kept us alert during supper.
Luckily, the rain stopped just as we finished dinner. This allowed us to snoop a bit in the various touristy shops. Coming out of one, we were treated to a complete double rainbow hanging over the red rock range – just gorgeous! Welcome to Moab!!
Day 14: Flaming Gorge & Smokey Bear!
As we drove the Flaming Gorge-Uintas National Scenic Byway, we passed through what is considered one of the richest areas for wildlife & their fossilized ancestors in the western U.S. It is also a very rigorous road to travel – 10 switchbacks & 8 degree slopes on narrow two-lane roads makes for labored & scary experiences!
We had to pause for a herd of Bighorn Sheep as we drove the roadway leading to the Red Canyon Visitors Center. Once inside the Visitors Center, we discovered Smokey the Bear was visiting! He was there to promote forest fire education. Kimi & Shaun were treated to a personal talk about the history of Smokey the Bear & how the message the US Forest Service has promoted has changed over the years, since 1944, when Smokey made his first appearance. The kids received gift bags full of Smokey related goodies.
After a picnic lunch overlooking the gorge, & possibly Wyoming, we spent a couple of hours hiking along the gorge ridge. We witnessed the damage a beetle invasion has inflicted upon the Ponderosa Pine trees. The beetle bores into the trees & lays its eggs,which clog up the “tunnels” that pull water up into the tree; the larvae chew their way out, leaving even more holes. Eventually the trees die.
We also saw the remnants of controlled burns – purposeful fires that help reduce dangerous tinder & that help the pine trees grow. Their pinecones need the extreme heat of fire to stimulate the seeds inside to start growing. This goes back to Smokey’s change of messages – no longer to prevent all forest fires, but to prevent wild fires.
After we finished hiking, we drove to Flaming Gorge Dam (first passing a herd of…cows – no sheep – on the way out from the Visitors Center). We arrived just in time to take a tour of the facilities, which demonstrated how the dam was built plus let us see how the huge power generators turn water power into electrical power. At the end of our tour, we discoved Smokey the Bear - for some reason, he was shorter than before ; ) He gave Kimi & Shaun autographed copies of his biography this time, plus posed for pictures.
On our way back to Vernal, we stopped at Stella’s Steak, Seafood & Smokehouse. This could have turned out badly – the place really didn’t look like much, & we were the only ones in the place – but the food was quite good & we left happy & full!
We had to pause for a herd of Bighorn Sheep as we drove the roadway leading to the Red Canyon Visitors Center. Once inside the Visitors Center, we discovered Smokey the Bear was visiting! He was there to promote forest fire education. Kimi & Shaun were treated to a personal talk about the history of Smokey the Bear & how the message the US Forest Service has promoted has changed over the years, since 1944, when Smokey made his first appearance. The kids received gift bags full of Smokey related goodies.
After a picnic lunch overlooking the gorge, & possibly Wyoming, we spent a couple of hours hiking along the gorge ridge. We witnessed the damage a beetle invasion has inflicted upon the Ponderosa Pine trees. The beetle bores into the trees & lays its eggs,which clog up the “tunnels” that pull water up into the tree; the larvae chew their way out, leaving even more holes. Eventually the trees die.
We also saw the remnants of controlled burns – purposeful fires that help reduce dangerous tinder & that help the pine trees grow. Their pinecones need the extreme heat of fire to stimulate the seeds inside to start growing. This goes back to Smokey’s change of messages – no longer to prevent all forest fires, but to prevent wild fires.
After we finished hiking, we drove to Flaming Gorge Dam (first passing a herd of…cows – no sheep – on the way out from the Visitors Center). We arrived just in time to take a tour of the facilities, which demonstrated how the dam was built plus let us see how the huge power generators turn water power into electrical power. At the end of our tour, we discoved Smokey the Bear - for some reason, he was shorter than before ; ) He gave Kimi & Shaun autographed copies of his biography this time, plus posed for pictures.
On our way back to Vernal, we stopped at Stella’s Steak, Seafood & Smokehouse. This could have turned out badly – the place really didn’t look like much, & we were the only ones in the place – but the food was quite good & we left happy & full!
Day 13: Bad Luck for Dinosaur National Monument
The drive from Steamboat Springs to Dinosaur, CO, was quite pretty. We saw many herds of mule deer grazing & wandering about in the adjoining fields &, once, crossing the highway right in front of us.
When we got to the Visitors Center that marks the road leading up to Dinosaur National Monument, we received the dissappointing news that the building that houses/protects the wall of fossils had been closed indefinitely since July 12th. The building was constructed 50 years ago, with one wall being the actual stone quarry area that had been first excavated. It has been protected from change, so visitors could see a huge number of fossils sticking out of the wall. Unfortunately, the entire site sits on top of a type of soil that can absorb 5 times its weight in water, then dry back to its original state. It’s useful for certain applications, but terrible as a stable foundation for a large building. Over the years the upper walkway has sagged deeply in the center & the floor is so distorted that the rangers jokingly call it the roller coaster room. Last month, specialists declared that the building is in danger of collapsing, so much so that they were forced to close immediately.
The lack of funding to fix it is only part of the problem. The building is on the National Register of Historical Landmarks, which means that they cannot change the basic structure or the exterior appearance of the building. So any repairs or alterations are severely limited. It’s a real shame that such an amazing collection of paleontolic history is on the verge of destruction.
We were able to take a tour, by tram, that took us up to the building, where we could kind of see the wall through the windows. Our tour guide, Michelle Arsenault, formally of Leominster, MA (where we lived for 4 years & Shaun was born!), was able to tell us a lot about the geologic characteristics of the area. A long time ago, when the continental plates in the Pacific scraped up against each other, the North American plate buckled up from the pressure. That is how the Rocky Mountains were born (it’s also what happened on the other side of our continent, creating the Appalachians). In this area around Utah & Montana, when the layers of earth buckled up, they ended up tilting up at a 70 degree angle, so as you tour through the area you can see rock layers starting from the Cambrian Period, basically stuff from the center of the Earth, to the Periods called Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic (starting to sound more familiar?), Jurassic, & Cretaceous. Within these periods are Formations, each having a different color, mineral content & critter remains. In some of the times you can find remnants of ancient sea life, back during one of the 12 times in Earth’s geologic history that this area was a sea. Some of the others harbor reptiles, petrified sand dunes or forests. Others are mined for coal, gypsum, uranium, geodes lined with calcite or quartz crystals, or phosphate (processed for commercial fertilizer) or drilled for petroleum.
We also saw areas with petroglyphs (pictures carved into stone, as opposed to pictographs, which are painted onto the surface) left behind in caves by the people who lived there thousands of years ago.
As we finished our tour, we were able to see a gorge carved by the Green River through a mountain. It was amazing to see the sheared cliff walls bordering a relatively small river. The power of time & persistance!
When we got to the Visitors Center that marks the road leading up to Dinosaur National Monument, we received the dissappointing news that the building that houses/protects the wall of fossils had been closed indefinitely since July 12th. The building was constructed 50 years ago, with one wall being the actual stone quarry area that had been first excavated. It has been protected from change, so visitors could see a huge number of fossils sticking out of the wall. Unfortunately, the entire site sits on top of a type of soil that can absorb 5 times its weight in water, then dry back to its original state. It’s useful for certain applications, but terrible as a stable foundation for a large building. Over the years the upper walkway has sagged deeply in the center & the floor is so distorted that the rangers jokingly call it the roller coaster room. Last month, specialists declared that the building is in danger of collapsing, so much so that they were forced to close immediately.
The lack of funding to fix it is only part of the problem. The building is on the National Register of Historical Landmarks, which means that they cannot change the basic structure or the exterior appearance of the building. So any repairs or alterations are severely limited. It’s a real shame that such an amazing collection of paleontolic history is on the verge of destruction.
We were able to take a tour, by tram, that took us up to the building, where we could kind of see the wall through the windows. Our tour guide, Michelle Arsenault, formally of Leominster, MA (where we lived for 4 years & Shaun was born!), was able to tell us a lot about the geologic characteristics of the area. A long time ago, when the continental plates in the Pacific scraped up against each other, the North American plate buckled up from the pressure. That is how the Rocky Mountains were born (it’s also what happened on the other side of our continent, creating the Appalachians). In this area around Utah & Montana, when the layers of earth buckled up, they ended up tilting up at a 70 degree angle, so as you tour through the area you can see rock layers starting from the Cambrian Period, basically stuff from the center of the Earth, to the Periods called Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic (starting to sound more familiar?), Jurassic, & Cretaceous. Within these periods are Formations, each having a different color, mineral content & critter remains. In some of the times you can find remnants of ancient sea life, back during one of the 12 times in Earth’s geologic history that this area was a sea. Some of the others harbor reptiles, petrified sand dunes or forests. Others are mined for coal, gypsum, uranium, geodes lined with calcite or quartz crystals, or phosphate (processed for commercial fertilizer) or drilled for petroleum.
We also saw areas with petroglyphs (pictures carved into stone, as opposed to pictographs, which are painted onto the surface) left behind in caves by the people who lived there thousands of years ago.
As we finished our tour, we were able to see a gorge carved by the Green River through a mountain. It was amazing to see the sheared cliff walls bordering a relatively small river. The power of time & persistance!
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