The Sunday Blast from the Past

The third week of September, 2008, I finished my stint at Dinosaur National Monument and headed on down the road toward Albuquerque. My first stop along the way was...

Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.
I didn't hike any of the long trails this visit as I had in 1988. I also didn't take very good notes on the names of the arches I did see, so I'll just include a few pics.

I think this formation may have been called the three sisters, but don't quote me on that. :(
One of the trails that I did take went right through several large slabs,

in order to get to the arch.

I stayed at a private campground near Moab for a few days while I was there. The campground in the National Park is twenty-five miles into the park and does not have hook-ups. It was booked solid while I was there, so I didn't have a chance to experience camping there.

Before I left, I made sure to have reservations for the next stop on my journey...Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

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

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

The Sunday Blast from the Past

In June, 2008, I finally arrived at Dinosaur National Monument to begin a three month volunteer assignment. Three days a week, I worked in the outside visitor's center, and on Saturdays I lead bird tours.

I was working on the Utah side of the monument which is a high desert environment. The Green River flows through the monument, and the public campground is located amongst those cottonwood trees along the river. There are three full hook-up volunteer sites there. The rest of the sites do not have any hookups.

This was the view out the front windows of the RV from my campsite. Even though it is considered desert, because of the river and spring flooding, the mosquitoes were voracious.

People from around the world come here to see the famous wall of dinosaur bones. The original visitor's center was located here in a building built around the bones to protect them from the elements.
The only problem is that when the structure was built, the footers were not sunk down to bedrock. So over the years, the building started moving away from the wall of bones, and a few years back the building was condemned. So, when visitors come, they can no longer view the wall. That is why the visitor's center was located outside while I was there. This gig was a lesson on how to deal with upset visitors. Many of them didn't know the quarry was closed, and had traveled great distances to get to the monument. We did offer a hike in the mountains led by the rangers to see some dinosaur bones, but some people could not go on it since it involved a trail that is not paved and temperatures were commonly near 115*.

I decided to put out a hummingbird feeder to see if any birds would come. I was astounded at the numbers that came to the feeder. I even bought a second feeder, put that out, and really had to work to keep them filled. I went through about a half gallon of sugar water a day!

Daily, I could count up to forty birds at a time buzzing around the feeders. Hummingbirds move so fast, it was a real challenge to try to count them. :)

I wish I could take credit for this shot of a male rufous hummingbird, but I can't. There was a young man camping along the river that asked if he could spend an afternoon at my site photographing the birds at the feeders. I told him he could if he emailed me a picture, and he did.

There was plenty to see and do at Dinosaur Nat'l Monument and the surrounding area, so I think I'll use this location for the next two Sunday Blasts. I don't want the posts to be too long. :)

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

The Sunday Blast from the Past

After I left Page, AZ, in May of 2008, I headed for Zion National Park in Utah. I camped at a Passport America Park about 40 miles from the Visitor's Center. I didn't want to camp inside the park since there is a one mile long tunnel that I didn't want to drive the rig through. With a rig the size of mine, it would have taken a special escort through the tunnel (with an appropriate fee). The drive into the park was interesting enough just with the car!

Once you are at the visitor's center, further travel in the park must be done by shuttle bus. I got there early in the morning and took the shuttle out to the ranch area near the Virgin River.

You will spend most of your time in Zion looking up at the magnificent mesas.

The views are astounding.

The second day I was there, I took a ranger led bus tour that was very informative about invasive species (plants) and the geology of the area. The tour began at 9:00, so I had to get up quite early to make the one hour drive there in time to find a parking space at the visitor's center.

That was the day I decided to live on the wild side....and not make my bed before I left. ;) It was the first time in about thirty years that I hadn't made my bed. I guess it's just the freedom of the road that took over my sensibilities that morning...LOL.

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