Dinosaur National Monument Day 2
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The morning began with coffee and the sound of sheep baa-ing across the river. A full herd was grazing on a farm just outside the monument boundary, an unexpectedly pastoral soundtrack for a place defined by fossils and stone.
Sheep across Green River Campground
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After breakfast, we set out on the Tour of the Tilted Rocks Scenic Drive. The landscape shifted around every bend, dramatic layers of rock tilted and folded by forces far older than anything human.
We stopped at several pullouts with short walks to petroglyph panels. The first featured carved human and animal figures etched high into the sandstone by the Fremont people nearly a thousand years ago. The elongated bodies and broad shoulders have that unmistakable ancient style. If you squint just right, they look suspiciously like something straight out of an Ancient Aliens episode. Danny and I occasionally put that show on as background noise for a nap. Something about the narrator’s voice and speculative extraterrestrials is oddly soothing.
The second site featured a giant lizard petroglyph, fitting given how many real-life lizards were darting across the rocks as we climbed up for a closer look.
From there, we visited the Josie Bassett Morris Homestead, tucked into a quiet box canyon. Josie was married five times before deciding she was better off on her own. She settled here in 1914 and lived independently for more than 50 years, raising animals, growing her own food, and managing life in the desert well into her 80s. It was one of those stops that makes you rethink what “remote” really means.
Later that afternoon, we hiked part of the Fossil Discovery Trail, where fragments of prehistoric life are exposed right along the path. The trail ends at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, and we took one last look at the wall of dinosaur bones before wrapping up our visit.
Ancient people. Ancient reptiles. Ancient landscapes. Dinosaur lives up to its name.
We stopped at several pullouts with short walks to petroglyph panels. The first featured carved human and animal figures etched high into the sandstone by the Fremont people nearly a thousand years ago. The elongated bodies and broad shoulders have that unmistakable ancient style. If you squint just right, they look suspiciously like something straight out of an Ancient Aliens episode. Danny and I occasionally put that show on as background noise for a nap. Something about the narrator’s voice and speculative extraterrestrials is oddly soothing.
The second site featured a giant lizard petroglyph, fitting given how many real-life lizards were darting across the rocks as we climbed up for a closer look.
From there, we visited the Josie Bassett Morris Homestead, tucked into a quiet box canyon. Josie was married five times before deciding she was better off on her own. She settled here in 1914 and lived independently for more than 50 years, raising animals, growing her own food, and managing life in the desert well into her 80s. It was one of those stops that makes you rethink what “remote” really means.
Later that afternoon, we hiked part of the Fossil Discovery Trail, where fragments of prehistoric life are exposed right along the path. The trail ends at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, and we took one last look at the wall of dinosaur bones before wrapping up our visit.
Ancient people. Ancient reptiles. Ancient landscapes. Dinosaur lives up to its name.