On the road: Canyons, Fossils, Petroglyphs

October 12, 2021

Although it has only been four days since my last posting, inclement weather has us keeping warm and dry in a motel for two days with time (and internet) to publish an update.

Two days at Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction was slow-paced and relaxing. We did miles of hiking there when we visited in 2010 as part of our conditioning to prepare for the BIG HIKE to the bottom of Grand Canyon (and back up!) so we contented ourselves with the scenic drive, stopping at overlooks, watching a sunset between rain showers. Of course, we had to pay a visit to "Mike, the Headless Chicken" in the town of Fruita (interesting story about Mike, if you care to google it.) From the campground on the mesa, we could see the lights of the two cities below as we did in 1980 . . . they cover a much wider area these days!

The early morning light was not good for photographing Independence Monument from Otto's Trail.

Info sign about Independence Monument

View of the Coke Ovens

Ute Canyon, we hiked down there 11 years ago

Sunset Point, Colorado NM

We took the scenic route from Loma to Rangely, CO and crossed Douglas Pass. We passed through the town of Dinosaur and took a few photos to send to our dino-loving grandkids.

Then, it was on to Utah! As you may know, we are on a quest to find geocaches in as many U.S. counties as we can. It all started when we completed the Texas Counties Geocaching Challenge in 2010 - all 254 counties! We had only two more counties in Utah to complete so we headed up to Dinosaur National Monument for one of them, then took a trip up to Flaming Gorge Reservoir for the last one. We have now found caches in every county in 36 states. We are still finding unique and interesting sites along the way.

The Quarry Exhibit - no longer being excavated as it was when we first visited 40 years ago.

One of the fossils you are allowed to touch

After viewing the Quarry, we drove out past our campsite on the Green River to see some petroglyphs and other cool rock formations.

Green River

"Elephant Toes"

Today, we had time to explore the historic mining town of Helper, Utah:

outdoor exhibit of old coal mining equipjment

On the side of a building in Helper - cool to see

While parked in front of the public library where we found "Big John", a woman knocked on my window and gave me a pamphlet and information sheets about a nearby Backroads Byway that leads to world-renowned petroglyphs. I keep a notebook with notes about places I want to visit someday and I had already made a note about this place referred to as "the world's longest art gallery." Even though the weather forecast predicted "wintry mix" precipitation, we had the whole day ahead of us and decided to see how far we could get. After 12 miles and sleet/snow covering the road, we decided to turn around. That location will remain on my bucket list until someday in the future.