Utah - travel back in time
What a wonderful day we had today!
We wake up early, have a big breakfast, pack up and head out. We are ready to start our hike shortly before 8 AM, when the thermometer registers a mere 74F. It's cool and slightly overcast, perfect weather for our great plan. We hike 1.2 miles (one way) to the Red Fleet Lake. What is truly impressive is how the landscape continually changes; we walk on sand, limestone and petrified sand dunes, through patches of juniper trees, cacti and sagebrush, or over bare rocks. We see beautiful petrified clay formations, white rocks and red bizarre sculptures created by erosion.
It's not hot yet, but I push the water and the sun block, because I know what can happen. And before we know it, we are at the lake.
Here, the quest begins: dinosaur foot prints. And we find them. The first one is about 12 inches long, a three toed giant (maybe an Allosaurus) that walked the sand dunes of millions of years ago and left his print for us to see.
We're looking for the other tracks, but they are hard to find, I feel discouraged and almost ready to give up. Then I spot something, yes, it is, another one, there should be 8 more in this area, Mikey finds two more, and then I take a look into the water, and right there, at the edge, three more prints, fully visible and wonderful as if the dinosaur had just walked out of the water onto the rocks and headed towards the juniper trees.
We are both excited and keep looking and find several more tracks and prints. This is amazing and I am loving it, but the paleontologist in training has lost interest. He wants to play in the lake, and since I didn't bring swimming trunks for him, I let him strip to his underwear and play. Soon another family join us with a little girl about Mikey's age, and of course they make friends. I sit down, chit chat with the grown ups, and watch two kids and a dog play in a lake surrounded by dinosaur tracks. Life can't get better than this!
After about one hour we start the hike back. The clouds have gone away and the sun shines brightly on us. It's almost 11 and way hotter than when we got here. We push a little, hold hands, take breaks in the little shade available, and drink and drink and drink water until I don't want to see the water bottles anymore. Mikey is tired by now but I am impressed by the way he handles it, he pushes through the hike and we are finally at the car. It's only 87F but it definitely feels hotter. We are both excited about this little adventure and hope that one day we will come back for more.
Now it's time for indoor adventures, so we head back to Vernal to the Utah Field House of Natural History. We spend another hour there, learn more about the geology of this area, and the multitude of dinosaurs and pre historic mammals that once roamed these lands. And Mikey gets a dinosaur hunting permit as well, so now all we have to do is go hunting!
After the museum, we head out for lunch, then start the second leg of our trip. Destination: Green River.
It takes us about 4 hours to get there. Again, the ride is absolutely amazing as we drive south on 191 through mountains, hills, forests, plains and canyons. For the most part the different layers of soil are completely exposed and in some places we see over 15 layers formed at different times. Sometimes they are parallel to the ground, some other times oblique and almost perpendicular. Some lower layers have eroded faster than the top layers, leaving them hanging and looking like some fantastic structures built by a clumsy giant. Some are white, some darker, some red, some yellow, and together they tell a story.
Mikey and I are like little children looking at the pictures in a book without fully understanding it, but I know there are people out there who can actually read the whole story in this great Book of Time. But just seeing it and experiencing so many millions, if not billions of years, is absolutely fantastic. Everything is beautiful to see from the comfort of the air conditioned car, but I know that this land can be harsh and unforgiving. There are few traces of human life through most of our ride, and I can understand why this area is so sparsely populated.
We make it to Green River late in the afternoon, and the heat (it's now over 90F) hits us as soon as we leave the car. We are too tired to do more hiking today, so we eat dinner and head to the pool. The boy is again splashing and laughing those happy little boy laughs, and we wrap up the evening with cartoons and treats. Tomorrow is another day, with more adventures, and we got to get some rest now!
July 19, 2017
We wake up early, have a big breakfast, pack up and head out. We are ready to start our hike shortly before 8 AM, when the thermometer registers a mere 74F. It's cool and slightly overcast, perfect weather for our great plan. We hike 1.2 miles (one way) to the Red Fleet Lake. What is truly impressive is how the landscape continually changes; we walk on sand, limestone and petrified sand dunes, through patches of juniper trees, cacti and sagebrush, or over bare rocks. We see beautiful petrified clay formations, white rocks and red bizarre sculptures created by erosion.
Here, the quest begins: dinosaur foot prints. And we find them. The first one is about 12 inches long, a three toed giant (maybe an Allosaurus) that walked the sand dunes of millions of years ago and left his print for us to see.
We're looking for the other tracks, but they are hard to find, I feel discouraged and almost ready to give up. Then I spot something, yes, it is, another one, there should be 8 more in this area, Mikey finds two more, and then I take a look into the water, and right there, at the edge, three more prints, fully visible and wonderful as if the dinosaur had just walked out of the water onto the rocks and headed towards the juniper trees.
We are both excited and keep looking and find several more tracks and prints. This is amazing and I am loving it, but the paleontologist in training has lost interest. He wants to play in the lake, and since I didn't bring swimming trunks for him, I let him strip to his underwear and play. Soon another family join us with a little girl about Mikey's age, and of course they make friends. I sit down, chit chat with the grown ups, and watch two kids and a dog play in a lake surrounded by dinosaur tracks. Life can't get better than this!
After about one hour we start the hike back. The clouds have gone away and the sun shines brightly on us. It's almost 11 and way hotter than when we got here. We push a little, hold hands, take breaks in the little shade available, and drink and drink and drink water until I don't want to see the water bottles anymore. Mikey is tired by now but I am impressed by the way he handles it, he pushes through the hike and we are finally at the car. It's only 87F but it definitely feels hotter. We are both excited about this little adventure and hope that one day we will come back for more.
Now it's time for indoor adventures, so we head back to Vernal to the Utah Field House of Natural History. We spend another hour there, learn more about the geology of this area, and the multitude of dinosaurs and pre historic mammals that once roamed these lands. And Mikey gets a dinosaur hunting permit as well, so now all we have to do is go hunting!
After the museum, we head out for lunch, then start the second leg of our trip. Destination: Green River.
It takes us about 4 hours to get there. Again, the ride is absolutely amazing as we drive south on 191 through mountains, hills, forests, plains and canyons. For the most part the different layers of soil are completely exposed and in some places we see over 15 layers formed at different times. Sometimes they are parallel to the ground, some other times oblique and almost perpendicular. Some lower layers have eroded faster than the top layers, leaving them hanging and looking like some fantastic structures built by a clumsy giant. Some are white, some darker, some red, some yellow, and together they tell a story.
We make it to Green River late in the afternoon, and the heat (it's now over 90F) hits us as soon as we leave the car. We are too tired to do more hiking today, so we eat dinner and head to the pool. The boy is again splashing and laughing those happy little boy laughs, and we wrap up the evening with cartoons and treats. Tomorrow is another day, with more adventures, and we got to get some rest now!
July 19, 2017
Comments
Post a Comment