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*..
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 duck hunters must check in each morning of the hunt before they head for their favorite spots. They are a dedicated bunch, as they arrive on the refuge at four in the morning to check in. So, by about ten o'clock many of them are ready to leave, and they are certainly hungry. The Friends provide the chili as an outreach activity.
They are all dressed in cammo, and this young man spent a lot of time fixing his face! I was happy to see so many young folks enjoying the out of doors.
Of course, it was the older, more experienced hunters that brought in their limit of ducks for the day. ;)
Not the usual visitor's entering the refuge. :) Ranchers lease certain areas of the refuge for grazing, and periodically have a cattle drive to move the herds from area to area. The cattle keep the marsh under control and fertilize as well. There are no bulls in this group, and the cows will give birth out on the marsh in the next month or two.
As you can expect, I found a few of my feathered friends willing to pose. This is a neo-tropical cormorant. Cormorants dive for their dinner and must spend quite a bit of time each day drying out their feathers.
This is a snowy egret. How do I know?....
Just look at those yellow dancing shoes he has on....a distinguishing feature.
Today was the first time I have seen a wood stork on this refuge. I have seen them in Florida and at Laguna Atascosa NWR, but this was a first for me at Anahuac. I was able to watch one stork feeding. They put their beak down to the water and then swish the water with one of their feet to stir things up....a cool adaptation.
I headed back to the moist soil units of the Skillern Tract and found an abundance of black-necked stilts working the shallow flats.
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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