Blogs from Vernal, Utah, United States, North America

Geo: 40.4557, -109.529On Sunday, we drove north about 125 miles to Dinosaur National Monument which straddles the Utah/Colorado border and stopped at the Quarry Visitor Center on the Utah side. The main attraction at Dinosaur NM is the Quarry Exhibit Hall which is a building built to enclose the side of one of the hills, called the Wall of Bones, where hundreds of dinosaur and other ancient animal bones have been exposed and can be viewed and even touched right there where they were originally deposited 150 million years ago. The rock layer enclosing the fossils is a sandstone and conglomerate bed of alluvial or river bed origin. The dinosaurs and other ancient animals were carried downstream by the ancient river system which eventually entombed their remains. The dinosaur fossil beds (bone beds) were discovered in ... read more

Sunday, 28 June, 2015 We left Lyman and drove down Hwy 414 and 43 to Manila, UT, and then Hwy 44 to the dam at Flaming Gorge. What a drive! It was wonderful scenery, buy bumpy roads to Manila, then steep, steep ups and downs to the dam. At the Flaming Gorge visitor center they said the road to Vernal, UT, was worse, but it definitely was not. That road (Hwy 191) did have 10 switchbacks (u-turns,) but it was mostly downhill, not those engine-screaming uphills to Flaming Gorge. Vernal was so pretty. They have placed planters of pink, white and red flowers all through town. We drove to Dinosaur National Monument, where we first checked out the visitor center while Jenna got her 6th Jr. Ranger badge. We then rode their shuttle to the Quarry ... read more

Located on the Colorado side of the monument, Harpers Corner Drive is a scenic, 32-mile (55-km) road that leads to the heart of Dinosaur National Monument's canyon country. Overlooks offer sweeping vistas of the Green and Yampa river canyons. Several picnic areas and the trailheads of three hiking trails are located just off Harpers Corner Drive. On one trail, sharp-eyed hikers can spot fossils of small sea creatures that lived long ago. Visitors prepared for remote driving conditions can access two unimproved roads from Harpers Corner Drive. Fuel, food, and other services are not available along Harpers Corner Drive. The nearest services are in Dinosaur, Colorado, two miles west of the Canyon Area Visitor Center on Highway 40 Hiking Trails Situated on top of a butte, the paved, wheelchair accessible Plug Hat Trail introduces visitors to ... read more

In 1909, paleontologist Earl Douglass was searching for fossils for the Carnegie Museum when he discovered a formation layered with prehistoric plant and animal fossils. A quarry was established there and it proved to be one of the world's best window into late-Jurassic-period dinosaurs. Dinosaur National Monument was created in 1915 to protect 80 acres in the quarry area. Today the monument includes 210,844 acres. Many fossils are embedded in a sloping rock formation that was once a sandbar on the edge of a large river. As the river carried animal carcasses downstream, many became stuck on the sandbar, which eventually turned to rock. As a result, fossils from hundreds of creatures are concentrated in a small area. Many fossilized bones have been partially exposed but left intact in the rock where they can be easily ... read more

Pelican Lake (elevation 4800 feet) is a natural lake in the Uinta Basin southwest of Vernal, Utah. Historically, it is noted as a world class bluegill fishery. Pelican Lake has been dammed to impound and release water for irrigation, and water is diverted into the lake via the Ouray Park Canal from the Uinta River. The existing concrete dam was built in 1967, but the lake has been in use as a water storage facility for decades. Consumptive water use is limited to irrigation, and non-consumptive uses include warm water aquatic habitats, wetland habitat, and recreational uses. Public access is unrestricted. The shoreline is managed by the BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, and private ownership. WATERSHED: Pelican Lake has a small, natural watershed consisting of Ouray Park, a flat agricultural area north of the lake. The ... read more