Dem Bones Dem Bones Dem Dinosaur Bones...

The first day of adventure - and what an adventure it turned out to be.



The day started off partly cloudy with a drive from Salt Lake City to a little town called Jensen which is a couple of miles past Vernal (a town which becomes most important before the morning is up) to get to the Dinosaur National Monument.



Discovered in the early part of the 20th Century, the Dinosaur National Monument contains thousands of bones and dozens of full skeletons. Utah includes some of the most important dig sites in the world for dinosaur bones. The National Monument used to have a Visitor Center which included a wall of over 1,500 specimens still embedded in the rock. That center was built on the existing soil and enclosed the wall of specimens. The soil that it is built on contains clay that gets very slippery when it gets wet and becomes almost like a glue. Being that the National Monument is at an elevation of just under 5,000 feet, it gets significant snow and rain each year.



Last July the clay soils were so saturated with water, they finally shifted enough so that a part of the ceiling fell almost hitting a visitor. Needless to say, that center is currently closed so that it can be rebuilt - no one is currently allowed in to see the specimen wall. Bummer man!



The saving grace is that Dinosaur National Monument has many other deposits of dinosaur bones and full skeletons just waiting to be unearthed. Just last summer a group from BYU and the University of Michigan discovered an intact skeleton that is still being excavated. The rangers at the monument have created a trail that shows the geology of the region and about a dozen different bones and fragments. They show how at various times during history that the area was under water as salt water ocean and at a different time it was covered as freshwater stream. In between those times there were dinosaurs roaming around. The pictures below show the largest of the bones on the trail as well as the freshwater fossils.

Also included in the National Monument are pictographs and petroglyphs made by the Fremont Indians. Petroglyphs are pictures chipped into the rock and pictographs are painted pictures. Some of the items are both - petroglyphs that have been painted. I have included one picture from a wall with over 40 pictographs and petroglyphs. Most of the designs are of people and some are of animals. Fascinating stuff. I wish had more time to spend and talk with the rangers.

Two other pictures that are included in this posting are of a current dino relative - a nice lizard who was kind enough to pose at the top of the rock for me and a picture of the Utah State flower - the Sego Lily.

While I was driving from Salt Lake City to the Dinosaur Monument a little light came on in my car of a battery. Not having a manual for the car, I did not know what that might mean. The gauge for the battery was in its usual position and the car was not sounding or driving differently, I pushed on to my destination. On the way to Jensen for the Monument turn-off, I passed through a little town called Vernal which so happened to have a Ford dealership. Lucky me.

I went to the Dinosaur Monument and had a delightful morning. Saw some fantastic sights of bones still embedded in the rock; heard the story of the visitor center and saw pictures of the specimen wall; looked at the petroglphs and pictographs; and saw some of the local geology, flora and fauna. After leaving the Monument, that pesky battery light stayed lit so I decided to stop at the friendly Sherwood Ford Dealership to see how much this was going to cost me. :)

Taking a car adventure such as the one I am on, one expects to have some mechanical issues. I had the car in the shop before I left to have it checked out. Did a tire alignment, oil change - all the usual stuff and a more to try to fix anything I could before I left. I had changed the battery recently. It was the original battery in the car (a 2004 Mustang convertible) and it had a crack near the negative terminal so I did not think much about having to change it.

Luckily there was a Ford Dealership in Vernal so I stopped and talked to the Service Manager dreading being from out of state in the middle of nowhere Utah what I was going to hear from him. The battery light comes on when the alternator is over charging or under charging the battery. The light does not come on if the wrong battery in the car (what I was actually hoping, thinking that by putting a Ford battery in instead of the Costco battery I would quickly and cheaply be on way) - no such luck. On top of it being noon and all the mechanics being out on lunch break, the parts department did not have an alternator in stock for my engine. Oh boy. They called a local parts dealer who happened to have an alternator in stock. I was being told that if it is the alternator I would never make the 3 hour drive back to Salt Lake City. So while the parts department manager was calling around to find the alternator, I called my mechanic in Hayward to find out the scoop on whether I was being given good info about not being able to drive very far with a bad alternator. Unfortunately I was.

Vernal is a nice little town. It has a Natural History museum and a Museum of Western Heritage and a nice rock and fossil shop. Unfortunately I got to see all three. The rock shop owner was fun to talk to about dinosaur bone fossils, dinosaur dung fossils and other assorted fossils. He also makes jewelry from cutting the fossils. Most of the fossils are polished on one end to show the color and mineral patterns. Four hours later I was on my way.

The Service Manager was very kind to me and pushed some other vehicles aside so that the alternator could be put in my car that afternoon. He did have to get a couple of other vehicles finished before mine which is why it took so long to get mine done. I do appreciate his kindness and for having to tell some other people that their vehicles would not be completed that day. I suppose that is the good part of being in a small town that makes its living on tourists - the locals generally understand having to deal with tourists. The rock shop owner pointed out that the owner of the Ford Dealership is the current mayor of Vernal, so that might have actually helped get this tourist on his way. $403.46 later I was on my way to Flaming Gorge for the ride back to Salt Lake City.

I have included a couple of pictures from the return trip from Vernal to Salt Lake City. I must admit that Utah is very beautiful. They also know this as they include quite a few places with parking to view the scenery. I am sure that some of these views are better in the fall with the trees in color and some are better in winter for the snow, but the ones I used were great for the rock and water formations.

I am still a day behind on my postings but I need to head off to Glacier National Park. I never made it there yesterday because my accommodations were blown away in 100 mile an hour winds but I had a delightful stay in Great Falls, MT which I will share in my next posting.

Thanks for riding along with me. The one thing that is standing out to me in this trip so far are the cloud formations. You can see so much of the sky at one time it is really amazing. I will share some pictures in my next posting that do not do the shy justice, but amazing all the same.

TTFN