To the North: Dinosaurs and the Grand Tetons

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. 

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.

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!!

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.

150-million-year-old dino bones you can touch!

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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!

Auto-touring is pretty fun, too

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.

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.

Goodbye, Tetons!  We will return!