Crossing the Great Divide

Left Vernal today and I think Dinosaur NM is worth a return visit.  I would like to see the Gates of Lodore on the northern end of the park.  Drove across Colorado to Rocky Mountain NP.

Note the lack of snow in the Never Summer Mountains.  The snowmelt from this range feeds the Colorado River. Conditions are the same throughout the Rockies.  I realize it is August, but it's been this way for months and this does not bode well for the water supply for cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix or Los Angeles, or for irrigation agriculture.

Never Summer Mountains from Kawunechee Valley

Never Summer Mountains from Fairview Curve

Below is the Mummy Range looking eastward.  This valley is part of the Missouri-Mississippi drainage basin.

Mummy Range

Longs Peak, 14259 ft.

Alas, I say goodbye to the Rockies.  Tomorrow I head east from Cheyenne, so this will probably be my last post for a while.

Dinosaurs

Interesting drive from Moab to Vernal.  Driving through rural areas there are all these signs that say "Open Range" but I never see Robert Duvall or Kevin Costner (that's a joke, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316356/).  But as I was driving up Rt 191 towards Duchesne, I did see two cowboys and a dog running a cow and calf across the the highway.  Unfortunately they were moving too fast to get a photo.

I made it to Vernal, and went to the quarry at Dinosaur NM.  Saw the bone bed in the Morrison.

Part of the bone bed

Apatosaurus femur

After leaving the quarry I drove to the other entrance to the park to see the canyon carved by the Yampa River on its way to the confluence with the Green River.

Yampa Canyon

Busy day around Moab

First stop today was the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail where fossil bones are well-exposed with information signs posted along the trail.

Sauropod Vertebrae

Next stop was Canyonlands-Island in the Sky NP.  The sky was clear and the sun was brutal.

Looking East from Grand View, Canyonlands NP.

Looking north from Grand View, Canyonlands NP

Shaefer Canyon, Canyonlands NP

Bucks Canyon, Canyonlands NP

Later went back to Arches and traveled up the dirt road going up the Salt Valley Wash before hiking up the trail through the Devil's Garden.  At the end of the day I went back to Delicate Arch but didn't have the strength to make the climb up to the arch.  I went to one of the viewpoints to get photos of Delicate Arch at sunset.

Balanced Rock, Arches NP

Delicate Arch at sunset, Arches NP

LaSal Mtns from Arches NP

Landscape Arch, Arches NP

Park Avenue, Arches NP

A Capitol Day! (Capitol Reef that is)

Drove to Capitol Reef NP today.  The rocks are primarily Triassic and Jurassic that were bent into a monocline called the Waterpocket Fold.  Formations exposed in the park are, from oldest to youngest, Moenkopi Formation, Chinle Formation, Wingate Sandstone, Kayenta Formation, and Navajo Sandstone.  Cross-bedding is particularly prominent in the Wingate and Navajo.

Navajo Sandstone

Cross-bedding in the Navajo

Formations exposed from oldest (bottom) to youngest (top): Moenkopi, Chinle, Wingate.  The pyramid peak in the background is  Navajo.

Cross-bedding in the Wingate.

After leaving Capitol Reef, I went to Arches NP to try and get a sunset photo of Delicate Arch.  No luck as the clouds closed in about an hour before sunset.

Delicate Arch

Tomorrow I'm heading to Canyonlands and Arches again.

Plateau Country

Today I drove through Colorado National Monument.  The landforms there are formed primarily by differential weathering and stream erosion of the Triassic and Jurassic Chinle, Wingate, Kayenta, Entrada, Wanaakh, and Morrison formations.

"Coke Ovens"

Independence Monument

Monocline

Wildlife was strangely absent in many parts of the park.  At some stops, the silence was "deafening".  However, one skink was accommodating enough to pose for a photo.

Skink

After leaving Colorado NM, I headed towards Moab, where I got this shot of the collapsed core of the Salt Valley Anticline.

Salt Valley Anticline

Tomorrow I will hit some of the parks around Moab, probably Capitol Reef and try to get back to Arches for sunset.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate, there is a chance of rain :-(

Altitude is Attitude

I'm now a mile high or so and, being a lowlander, I feel every inch of it.  This morning I went to Boulder to kill some time before heading west, and I went to Chatauqua Park to get some photos of the Flatirons.  After a short hike up the trail, about 1/4 mile, I was puffing hard.

Later, I went to Mt. Evans and climbed to the summit at 14,264 feet, and I thought I was going to die!  OK, I actually drove up the mountain, but I climbed the last 300-400 yards up about 130 feet in elevation and the air is really thin there.  At the summit area I saw a couple of raggedy bighorn sheep and a group of mountain goats.  Apparently these animals are used to getting fed, because they walked right up to my  car with an expectant look on their faces, and then went away in disgust when all they got was a photo.

Leaving Mt. Evans, I drove I-70 across Colorado to Grand Junction.  That stretch of road has to have some of the most spectacular scenery in the country.  Today was the first time I've seen Glenwood Canyon coming from the east, and you can really see how impressive it is.

Once in Grand Junction I made a quick reconnaissance of Colorado National Monument before dark.  I plan to go there before heading to Moab tomorrow.

Boulder Flatirons

Looking east towards Denver from Mt, Evans summit

Raggedy Bighorn

Mountain Goats

Glenwood Canyon and Colorado River

Fruita Canyon

Across the Plains

I crossed the plains today, from St. Louis to the feet of the Rockies.  Kansas is a long-ass state!  As I was driving across the plains today I thought about the emigrants in the mid 1800s making the 2000 mile trek to California and Oregon essentially on foot. 

Those plains are so open and empty...what must it have felt like to be walking across them.  For those settlers heading west, just making 20 miles was considered a very good day.  It took them the better part of 2 months to get from the Missouri River to the Rockies, a trip I made today in about 9 hours.

Today, you can see windmill farms across parts of the prairie.

As I entered Colorado, I could see a storm in the distance with sunlight shining down through the clouds and rain making triangular patterns.  Unfortunately, the storms prevented me from seeing the Rockies until I was almost to Denver.

Kansas Prairie

Sun and Rain

Windmills

Tomorrow I'm heading to Grand Junction, but I haven't decided whether its via Rocky Mountain NP or Mt. Evans.

The Road Warrior

I'm heading back to Colorado and Utah.  Not much to report today, drove 850 miles in ~12.5 hours to St. Charles, MO.  I did notice some severely distressed looking corn in southern Illinois and part of Indiana, from the drought I  suppose.  Looks like burgers are going to cost more in the near future.

Tomorrow I'm driving another 800+ miles to Boulder, CO.  I will be sleeping in the shadow of the Rockies tomorrow night.  YAY!!!

Might have a photo or two in tomorrow's post.