Dinosaur National Monument spans both Utah and Colorado, a vast site that includes mountains, desert and canyons flowing through the Green and Yampa Rivers.
We entered the National Monument on the Utah side on a sunny and hot day. We had some immediate respite from the heat in the Quarry Visitor Center, the main visitor center where we learned about the dinosaur fossils along with a busload of school kids on a field trip. The centerpiece of the Visitor Center was the logjam of over 500 dinosaurs, all jumbled together in the span of a big room. Apparently, during a drought many dinosaurs died near the river's edge, and when the rains returned, these floodwaters carried the dinosaur bones together, and eventually cast them into stone. There were literally hundreds of bones tightly concentrated in one area, representing at least 10 species. The Camarasaurus is the most prevalent dinosaur species that has been found in the area, but there are also bones of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and many others.
Since it was very hot, we decided to drive around the Utah side to marvel at the incredible landscape, which was dotted with colorful rock formations in tones of vermillion, mustard, whitish-grey and green. There are some short walks to check out petroglyphs, and a drive down a narrow road (just enough to fit us and one other vehicle, provided nobody sped around the corner), to Josie Morris Cabin, a lady who was associated with Butch Cassidy, and built this modest cabin at age 40, where she spent the rest of her days until her death in 1964. The rooms are now empty and it's a dirt floor, but it's easy to see that it's still possible to imagine how simply she left the latter part of her life here, tending to her chicken coop and cattle ranch. Surrounding the cabin are some short trails, where we encountered a flock of turkeys ambling around.
Colorado Side of Dinosaur National Monuement
The heat discouraged us from going on a hike under the beating sun, so after a lunch sitting in the picnic area, we drove to the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument, a fairly decent hour or so away. Over 90 percent of the park is managed as wilderness, and the Colorado side doesn't have any fossils and is definitely more rugged. However, as we drove, we noticed that our RV struggled to ascend the steep road and battle the wind simultaneously, so we decided to head back to Utah (stopping briefly to take a photo to take in the view, and have an ice cream sandwich)!
Vernal for Exceptional RV Service!
Not far from Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah side is the city of Vernal, the largest in the county with over 10,000 people. It seemed like a popular stop for truck drivers, with countless gas stations, oil & lube shops, auto & truck repair shops, and accommodation--as well as fast food chains, dine-in restaurants, grocery stores, and everything else you'd expect from a city. Vernal also plays up to its proximity to Dinosaur National Monument, as it seemed that every business--from a Thai restaurant to a law firm--had a dinosaur statue of some sort in front of it!
Michael had been planning to get an oil change for a while, so we decided to drop into a couple of places to see if we could get this done before they closed for the day. I found a place on Google Maps but accidentally went to a different store (because there are indeed so many vehicle shops), called Commercial Tire, which doesn't do oil changes, but checked out our tires for free (free!) and found that the inside of the front tire was wearing down--basically one of the smalls part that helps the steering system of a vehicle work smoothly had started to wear out, which was affecting the suspension and steering (for those who know--the issue was bushing on the pit man arm). The folks here were really friendly and helpful, and did I mention they checked for free?! Since we didn't pay anything, we were more than happy to give the friendly mechanic our last ice cream sandwich on this sweltering day!
We drove a few minutes down the road to another mechanic, the Rocky Mountain Lube & Muffler. Since it was 10 minutes until their closing time, we figured we'd at least ask about making an appointment in the morning to get the oil changed. When Michael approached the store, there were two workers sitting out in front, who instantly responded that they could do the oil change now, since it was still a few minutes until 5pm! What?! Again, service was incredible, and shocking to us, accustomed to San Francisco (we definitely would have had to make an appointment for another day).
What seemed like seconds later, we were ushered into the garage, where one person was guiding us, and two other people were already below, ready to drain our existing oil to do the oil change. The instant we'd parked, a fourth person sprayed our front windscreen to clean it (much appreciated, because the screen was filthy, and we're pretty sure it had bugs that splattered and died on impact on it). Lisette let Sheila out of the RV so she could have her dinner, and she was offered a dog treat, petted and fawned over, and within minutes, the oil change was complete and Michael was selecting a Little Trees free air freshener scent as he paid for the service. We could not believe how exceptional the service was at both auto places--10/10!
Dinosaur Tracks into the Forest
Driving away from Vernal, we stumbled upon a sign for dinosaur tracks, and set off on what we hoped was a short hike on the Dinosaur Trackway Trailhead. It was after 7pm and it was still sunny, but we soon abandoned our mission as we were wearing flip flops (thongs in Aussie speak), and wanted to drive on a bit more before dusk. We were on Highway 191 snaking up to the north of Utah, headed up toward Ashley National Forest. The scenery was great as we ascended the road, but there were a lot of switchbacks, and the wind continued to pick up as we scaled higher. Eventually, we found a quiet clearing surrounded by trees and with a bright, round, yellow moon shining over us, making for a beautiful setting as we slept in the forest.
[…] last day at Boise was an errands day. When we were in Vernal, Utah, we'd learned that we needed to have our RV realigned, so we took it in to get it fixed so that […]