Western Adventure 2014: Stop 16: Vernal, UT (Dinosaur National Monument and Flaming Gorge)

We woke up to a clear sky on our travel morning and, as we left Moab, we couldn't believe how red the rocks were in the sunshine. We were concerned about all of the snow that had fallen in the past few days but we hardly saw a trace of it.

We knew that the trip from Moab to Vernal would be a long one. After considering all of the possible routes and eliminating those that seemed least trailer friendly, we chose a 233 mile route that had us going back up to I-70, then West through Green River to US-191. US-191 goes through miles and miles of emptiness before it goes up over a 9200' pass (5 mile 8% grades on both sides of the summit) and then turns back East to Vernal.

The problem wasn't the high pass or the steep grades. We handled those easily. The problem was in those miles of emptiness. 30 or 40 miles north of I-70 and 15 miles South of Price, there was a 6 mile stretch of roadwork. Traffic was only able to flow one direction at a time under flagman control. Just before we reached the Southern control point, a Fedex 3-trailer rig driver was speeding and apparently didn't notice the Northern control point. He hit 4 cars and flipped. Another rig was tailgating him. It missed the accident but hit a 5th car. Here's the news story.

We were pretty much trapped at the Southern control point for 2 hours and got to know our neighbors quite well (The trucker behind us had a CB and was an excellent source of information). The road was narrow so turning around and finding another way was pretty much out of the question. Eventually, most of the cars did turn back leaving only the big rigs and cars with trailers. After 2 hours, things started moving. Unfortunately, they let the Southbound cars go first and we sat another 45 minutes while they went by.

I had time to hike to the top of a hill near the road. Our trailer is just out of frame to the left. You can see where the traffic is stopped. The crash is 6 mile farther on.

Looking back, the stopped traffic extends over the horizon. Gaps in the line are the result of departing cars.

Our first full day: Dinosaur National Monument

Cheesy dinosaur statues abound in the Vernal area. This one is just outside the entrance to Dinosaur NM.

Dinosaur National Monument is the only National park area that is dedicated to the preservation of a historic dinosaur quarry. The bones in the quarry are all from the late Jurassic era. The next 2 pictures explain some of what happened here.

What the pictures don't explain is that when the mountains rose, they turned that dinosaur "logjam" on its side, creating a wall of bones. A lot of excavation took place to unearth or expose those bones and, eventually, an exhibit hall was built over the wall to protect it from the elements (and further excavation). It's a pretty amazing place.

An Allosaurus skeleton that was found at the sight.

Part of the wall.

I think that this was another Allosaurus, Obviously, this slab has been removed from the wall.

Still another Allosaurus.

Another part of the wall.

More wall.

After visiting the Quarry Exhibit Hall, we went on the 20 mile round trip scenic drive through the park.

This shallow cave was inhabited by man about 7,000 years ago. Look closely and you'll see petroglyphs above the cave.

This is called Split Mountain. The Green River somehow wore its way right through the middle of the mountain.

Split mountain in the background. The slanting rocks are more evidence of the ancient upheaval that upended the Wall of Bones.

The Green River near Split Mountain (campground in the foreground).

The Green River.

A pronghorn antelope that we spotted on the way out of the park. Looks like it's either molting or it's seen some tough times.

We've been interested to see all of the references to Butch Cassidy in the area. Vernal was apparently where he and the Wild Bunch went to town when they went to town. Just about every farmstead along the scenic drive in Dinosaur National Monument (and all along the Green River), helped to hide the gang and helped replenish the horses when they were on the run

Our second full day: Flaming Gorge

Flaming Gorge wasn't originally on our list of places that we wanted to see (we hadn't ever heard of it, actually). When we were planning this trip, we definitely wanted to get to Dinosaur National Monument. My original route out of Vernal had us going through Flaming Gorge to Wyoming. When I discovered that Flaming Gorge didn't sound like someplace that I wanted to pull a trailer, I also discovered that it was someplace that I'd really like to see. So, it became one of our Vernal side trips.

The Green River flows through Flaming Gorge. Work was started on the Flaming Gorge Dam in the 1958 (apparently that's why a huge bomb shelter is contained inside the dam). The first generator was started by John F. Kennedy just weeks before his assassination and the dam was dedicated by Ladybird Johnson in 1964. The dam is 502' high. The water depth at the dam is over 400'. The reservoir when full is 91 miles long and contains 4,674 million cubic meters of water.

Our first look at the reservoir. That's the Cart Creek bridge in the middle of the photo.

South from Cart Creek Bridge (I was going to say down stream but this is a part of the reservoir and "down-reservoir" isn't a word).

North from Cart Creek Bridge.

The reservoir side of Flaming Gorge Dam.

We really lucked out. They do 2 tours a day of the dam and we showed up just 5 minutes before the scheduled time. No one has taken the tour in recent days and they were just about to cancel this one. We signed up and immediately, about 10 other people signed up.

Looking back at the face of the dam.

Looking down the Green River from near the top of the dam.

A better view of the face of the dam.

Looking down at the power plant.

Downstream from on the dam.

The power plant from the top of the dam.

There's a fish observation point at the foot of the dam. These rainbow trout are between 18 and 24 inches long ...

... and there are a lot of them.

Looking downstream from the foot of the dam.

Looking up at the face from the foot of the dam.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed a view point called the Red Canyon Overlook.

General background information (from a sign at the overlook): We found it interesting that John Wesley Powell started his famous exploration of the Colorado River here on the Green River - not on the Colorado. He wasn't on the Colorado until he reached the confluence in what is now Canyonlands National Park.