Onward and Upward (May 13-15)

Pikes Peak was hidden by snow flurries as we left for the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  We arrived about noon and spent a couple of hours there.  We hiked a little and ogled the petrified trees and other fossils on display.  As evidence that you can't keep a good Sequoia down, even when petrified, one has a Lodgepole pine growing out of it that's alive and well.  The land in the Monument is laced with walking trails that led through fields and forest.  It was an amazing place- there is something very compelling about the open range.  We left reluctantly to find a campsite at Eleven Mile State Park,

so named because it's 11 miles off the beaten path.  At 9000+ ft. it has a nice lake, and we spent the evening watching snowflakes.

The next day there was no place to go but up.  We crested the Continental Divide at Hoosier Pass, (Pat McMullen, this photo's for you) 11000 + feet above sea level.  There was about 6" of snow on the ground, but really, whoever goes there and doesn't get out for a photo, snow and sneakers not withstanding?  We have been staying off the Interstate as much as possible, so on the range we saw buffalo roaming beside pronghorn deer, and the occasional llama and alpaca, as well as the usual cattle, sheep and horses. And always, that compelling landscape.  We shopped for food in Breckenridge, CO, the famous ski mecca.  Now THERE"S a yuppie town!  Heading west we camped in Rangely, an aptly named small city.  Our entertainment that evening was a rousing horseshoe match, which Bill won, 11-3.

East Four Mile Draw in Canyon Pintado in Rangely is home to a wonderful collection of pictographs by the Fremont culture of Native Americans, who created them from 600-1300 AD.  Fortunately the citizens of Rangely recognized their value and have helped the BLM and the NPS to preserve them.

They line a 4 mile long draw and we hiked about a half mile in to see the first ones, which reputedly were the best.  The art teacher with me pronounced them superb!  We proceeded to Dinosaur National Monument, which has entrances in both CO and UT.

The entrance in Dinosaur, CO, actually doesn't have any fossils, but it does have several auto tours with breathtaking views of canyons and the Green and Yampa rivers.

  There are also miles of high or "cold" desert terrain and range land.  We drove out the 35 mile Harpers Corner Drive.  There were the aforementioned breathtaking vistas, a herd of horses that seemed to have residence on the roadside, and sagebrush everywhere.  At the top (7600 ft.) we hiked a mile and a bit out to the point of a mesa, from where one could see Steamboat Rock standing over the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers.

There were pinpoint sized red and gray dots on the rivers as rafters floated along.  This vista was billed in the NPS handout as "the most beautiful view in any National Park,"an opinion I found a bit subjective.

It certainly was incredible, but who made that judgment call?

We are camping in Vernal, UT, tonight.  The city has a bank that was built of bricks that were shipped here via the US Postal Service.

When it was constructed, freight rates were more per pound than postal rates.  However, because the Postal Service had size limits, they were shipped in parcels of seven bricks at a time, to many different addresses.  And, it's not a small building!