Dinosaur National Monument actually has two separate areas, one in Vernal, UT and one in Dinosaur, CO. It's the Utah half that actually has the dinosaur fossils and the dinosaur quarry. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that the dinosaur quarry, which shows a large amount of dinosaur fossils preserved in the cliffside, was closed. There was still the Fossil Discovery Hike, which showcased a select few dinosaur bones in their "natural habitat", if you will, so we grabbed the shuttle to the trailhead and headed off to see what we could find.
Matt hikes up to further investigate the Stump Formation, where there are literally thousands of fossilized tiny sea creatures, such as clams and mussels. Mostly, they look like little bumps all over the rocks until you look at them closely.
Next, the trail took us to the Morrison Formation, which is where the majority of intact dinosaur specimans have come from. Here you see a fossilized femur. The thing was *huge*.
About ten feet above our heads were these intact vertabrae. I really wanted to get up there to get a closer look but that rock wall is sheer and I am *not* part mountain goat.
After we completed the fossil hike, we took the "scenic tour", which included a number of petroglyphs. The one Matt is pointing out here had us a little perplexed. Is it supposed to be a porcupine? A catlike animal that's been speared several times? We have no idea.
There was also lots of gorgeous scenery to behold, like this large balanced rock. This one was actually along the trail we hiked. For more photos, check out our Dinosaur National Monument album at
http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/DinosaurNationalMonument.
Matt hikes up to further investigate the Stump Formation, where there are literally thousands of fossilized tiny sea creatures, such as clams and mussels. Mostly, they look like little bumps all over the rocks until you look at them closely.
Next, the trail took us to the Morrison Formation, which is where the majority of intact dinosaur specimans have come from. Here you see a fossilized femur. The thing was *huge*.
About ten feet above our heads were these intact vertabrae. I really wanted to get up there to get a closer look but that rock wall is sheer and I am *not* part mountain goat.
After we completed the fossil hike, we took the "scenic tour", which included a number of petroglyphs. The one Matt is pointing out here had us a little perplexed. Is it supposed to be a porcupine? A catlike animal that's been speared several times? We have no idea.
There was also lots of gorgeous scenery to behold, like this large balanced rock. This one was actually along the trail we hiked. For more photos, check out our Dinosaur National Monument album at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/DinosaurNationalMonument.
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