The Sunday Blast from the Past

Today's Blast will include more pics from Dinosaur National Monument. A few miles down the road from the Green River Campground, but still inside the monument, is the original homestead of Josie Bassett Morris.

Josie was an intrepid pioneering woman who spent fifty years living on her small ranch alone. She came here from Brown's Park after having been married three times.

This is her cabin which is surrounded by two box canyons. She planted a variety of trees around the cabin which are now very large and mature. She battled over water rights with a neighboring rancher. This is where I led my bird tours. The hikes into the box canyons are wonderful.

On the drive to Josie's Cabin, several petroglyphs can be seen. Small examples of petroglyphs can be found throughout the monument.

About A.D. 200 to 450, the native people here began to grow crops such as beans, corn and squash. So began the Fremont Culture. While these people inhabited the area, they produced many petroglyphs. Along the road to Island Park large panels of petroglyphs can be found on the rock outcroppings.

Some people suggest that these large decorated anthropomorphs (human-like figures) depicts the taking of trophy heads or scalps, but no one knows.

There is a trail to climb up to get a close view. Remember to bring a jug of water, as summer temps hover near 115*.

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The one thing I didn't do while at Dinosaur, was to take a white water float trip down the Green River through the monument. Many, many folks do this each summer, and usually each year there is a fatality, and the summer of 2008 was no exception. A twelve year old boy that we talked to at the visitor's center drowned when he fell out of his raft. The trips are run by private companies outside of the monument. I did such a trip with my family back in 1988, and we had a spectacular time.

This young buck was a frequent visitor to the campground. The riparian habitat surrounding the campground meant that wildlife was quite abundant there in an otherwise high desert environment.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy