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The cats loved Karl the RV, too |
We left the red sandstone and canyons of Utah behind,
heading through Colorado to duck back into the very top of the state to
Dinosaur National Monument.
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The landscape changed dramatically, with the contrast of the green of newly-leafed-out cottonwoods |
I had no idea what to expect. The landscape changed from desert and red
sandstone to greys and beiges. We drove
up and up, the trees getting barer and patches of snow appearing. Over the top of the pass it began to snow! We plunked down into Rangely, where we ate at
a tiny Chinese take-out place (not bad) and headed to the campground 14 miles
away.
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There's dinosaur bones buried out there! |
The cottonwoods were just beginning to leaf out, and the dry
landscape harbored the Green River, Canadian geese honking through the
skies. But no showers, no hook-ups, no
laundry—and we were dirty. So we headed for
the Outlaw RV Campground back at the entrance to Dinosaur. How great it feels to get clean!!
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We were sad that we had not planned a float down this enchanting river |
The next morning early we returned to the campground to
claim our site, then set out for the Dinosaur Quarry. Discovered in 1909 by paleontologist Earl Douglass, the hillside was once the confluence of two large rivers, washing the
bones of multiple species of dinosaurs downstream to a bottleneck, where they
were subsequently buried for 150 million years, through upheaval and erosion.
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150-million-year-old dino bones you can touch! |
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Scary Camarasaurus |
Many nearly-complete fossilized skeletons were removed from
the site, but many more were left in place, covered by a structure that lets
you see clearly how archaeologists work, in painstaking detail. There were exposed bones you could touch, and
multiple exhibits explaining what bones were whose.
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Those creatures were huge! |
We marveled at the size of the bones, and the age, and the
astounding fact that we were allowed to touch something so old. But I still could not convince Tia and Sasha
to consider archaeology as a profession.
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Running away from a career in paleontology |
We returned to our starkly beautiful campground on the banks
of the Green River, and walked alongside it up the trail to Split
Mountain. The geese were honking, the
river gurgling in full flood, and the sun setting on a gorgeous if rocky and
barren landscape, the green of the river and its budding cottonwoods the only
relief from the dry greys and beiges.
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Lonely beauty |
We headed out the next day for the Grand Tetons, our next
stop. We’d planned to stay at the Flaming Gorge
Reservoir, in one of their campgrounds, but the only one along our route turned
out to be a gravelly dry portion of the reservoir, scummy green algae growing
along the dock. We continued on.
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Pretty from afar |
It got colder and snowier.
I called several RV campgrounds, only to find out that they had not yet
opened for the season—too much snow, still!
We finally landed at the KOA Snake River campground just outside of
Jackson, Wyoming. Expensive but pretty,
and with a nice military discount, we took what we could get.
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Suddenly in snow country again |
Winter still had its grip on Jackson Hole. Our plans to hike were buried under a good
foot or two of snow in the park, so we auto-toured up to Jenny Lake and around,
marveling at the jagged peaks rising directly from the valley floor. Most park amenities were still closed for the
winter. We had no idea we’d be too
early!
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Auto-touring is pretty fun, too |
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Jenny Lake, just after it lost its covering of ice |
Wildlife abounded in Jackson Hole. Elk became ho-hum commonplace, and moose
wandered the campground. We saw our
first bison up in the park, at a distance.
Bear warnings were everywhere:
“You are in Bear Country.” The
cats went nuts at all of the ground squirrels hustling through our campsite.
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Mrs. Moose hanging outside the campground office |
Because the park was largely inaccessible to us, snowed-in
as it was, we decided to move on to Yellowstone early. We packed up the next morning and headed out
after passing by the Moose Junction Visitor Center, heading up the west side of
Yellowstone to the nearest open park entrance, and enjoying one last view of
the west side of the Grand Tetons.
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Goodbye, Tetons! We will return! |
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