|| Back || Forward || Whitney Zone || Table of Contents || Trip Home Page ||

Day 16: Wed Aug 6, 1997

Left Craig, CO in the morning and drove west on Rt 40. It was cloudy but with breaks, a bit of rain early on. As we traveled west it got more scenic. We also stopped along the side of the road and Sharleen picked some sage to put on our dash, it's been smelling really good in the car ever since. We got to the visitor center for Dinosaur National Monument, and stopped in. There was a very short nature trail which we took, it didn't really go anywhere. The visitor center was south of the monument, we drove on the road into the monument far enough to get some good views and pictures of colorful formations, then remembered that we were short on gas so went back to the main road and headed west again. The small town of Dinosaur, Co, is not far from the visitors center and we got gas there. The town has a number of abandoned buildings and as we moved on Sharleen saw some buildings she wanted to photograph so she did a U-turn, went back, and got a shot of them. We also took some pictures of folded rocks curving up over a mountain.

We soon crossed into Utah and came to the town of Jensen where we took the road into the monument, heading toward the dinosaur quarry. A shuttle bus, more like a two-car shuttle train, took us 1/2 mile up a road to the quarry. The quarry is a glassed in building covering an upturned rock layer with dinosaur bones exposed. Sharleen stood beside one bone for a picture. On another section of the rock layer was a dinosaur head with teeth grinning at the visitors. It was very interesting. We waited outside for the next shuttle and enjoyed the scenic views.

This is one of the nicest parks, isolated a bit so it is less crowded. I asked a ranger for info on back country camping and got a brochure listing all the restrictions. Water is scarce and you are supposed to carry out used toilet paper. We talked to the shuttle bus driver on the way back. We then drove toward the Split Mountain area. We passed the turn off but stopped at a parking area at the Green River. I dug out my sandals from the bottom of the trunk, and got my new walking staff out and put it together (the sections are held together by bungy cord), and went wading in the Green River to try everything out. The sandals worked well, they didn't slide around on my feet. I got them to have something to cross streams while backpacking. Found them for $10 in Denver. The walking staff worked well too. Looks like we're about set for our Whitney hike.

We went back and took the turnoff to Split Mountain. It appeared to be mostly a boat launch, but it also had a nature trail we wanted to hike, about 2 miles long. We took the walking staffs along on the walk. The trail went through a lot of good scenery, it was pretty sunny and the shady areas felt good. We saw a lot of lizards, they would watch us then scoot away. The trail made a loop. At one point from the trail we could see some smooth rocks off in the distance. We walked up on one upturned rock layer and I took some pictures of Sharleen. From the trail we could see nice scenery. On the way out of the park we saw the smooth rocks closeup.

When we got back to the car we headed west again toward Salt Lake City. But all the scenery had delayed us enough that I decided to find a place in Vernal which is just outside the monument. We drove through town, then backtracked a little and got a room at the Split Mountain Motel. Split Mountain is visible in the distance behind the motel, but the rooms do not have views of it (strange). But the motel was nice and had a good computer connection. We then went off to eat at the Golden Corral. I worked on web pages when we got back to the room, till after midnight. Caught up on all the images we had developed. Also got email letting us know that Bob had sprained his ankle enough so they would not be able to go along up Mt. Whitney with us.

|| Back || Forward || Whitney Zone || Table of Contents || Trip Home Page ||