Dinosaur National Monument

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Geo: 40.4557, -109.529

On 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 1909 by Earl Douglass,
a paleontologist working and collecting for the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History. The park was declared a
National Monument in 1915 by President Woodrow
Wilson.

After visiting the Quarry Exhibit Hall we got our hike in on
one of the trails in the park called "The Sound Of Silence
Trail". A nice, 3.5 mile loop trail that had some nice
views of the surrounding countryside. However, a good
part of it was along drainage ditches or washes which
were not particularly scenic. But, you have to take the
good with the bad.

In addition to being able to see dinosaur bones
in the place where they have lain for millions of
years, there are also pictographs and petroglyphs that
can be seen on the walls of cliffs in several places.
These were left by the people of the Fremont Indian
Culture who lived in the area from around 800 to
1200 AD. We were able to see a lot of these by
driving down Cub Creek Road which crosses the
Green River which runs through the park today.

After our visit to see the dinosaur bones and the pictographs
& petroglyphs, we drove on to our motel in Vernal, Utah,
where we spent our last night before Salt Lake City.
This was a Sunday and a good many restaurants were
closed, but we were able to find one that served locally
brewed beer, always a prime consideration, the Dinosaur
Brew Haus, where we ate dinner. Then back to the motel
to rest up for drive to Salt Lake City the next day.

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Photos

View Along Colorado Highway 139
En route to Dinosaur National Monument.

The Wall of Bones.
Inside the Quarry Building.

Dinosaur Bones
In the Wall of Bones.

The Sound Of Silence Trail
View along the trail

The Sound Of Silence Trail
View from the trail.

The Sound of Silence Trail
A lot of this trail was made up of drainage ditches. Not very scenic.

The Sound of Silence Trail
One of the more scenic sections of the trail.

The Sound of Silence Trail
Another of the more scenic sections.

Storm Across the Valley
From the Sounds Of Silence Trail. Shades of the John Denver song.

Another of the storm
From the Sounds Of Silence Trail. The storm actually reached us just as we finished the hike on this trail. Not a big deal, just got us a little wet.

Petroglyphs
One of many on the wall along Cub Creek Road. If I believed in such things, this looks sort of like a space ship landing extraterrestrials.

Petroglyphs
Lots of different forms here. A goat on the upper left, at least two human forms, among several others.

Petroglyphs
Two lizards - looks like one is chasing the other.

Petroglyphs
I see at least one petroglyph here - appears to be someone playing an instrument or holding a spear. Backside of the upper body missing??

Petroglyphs
A female?? At least with longer hair ?? Maybe ??