Two days of showers left us ready for some hiking
52 million years ago, three great lakes covered areas of present-day Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The smallest, Fossil Lake, occupied this area. As the lakes dried up, the sediments they left behind created the rock layers that preserve the fossils. Since the mid 1800's, paleontologists and others have unearthed millions of fossils from the sediments. Billions more lie buried in the butte and surrounding ridges, protected and preserved (since 1972 when the national monument was formed) for future study.
There are only two hiking trails in the park with the visitor's center between them.
The visitor's center house a lot of the fossils from the park:
plants and insects,
reptiles
fish,
and mammals.
The quarry trail is the most strenuous.
This trail is a hike up steep grades (guessing 6-10%) gain 600' in altitude.
It is the trail Lee Craig used during his fossil hunting days.
At the top of this nice set of steps
is the quarry, the bottom 18 inches of the lake bed, where the best fossils are found.
The quarry bed was cleared long before the area became a national monument.
Info boards along this area explain how the fossil hunters knew where to look.
The dark bands are all fossils, as seen from the edges.
The view from the top shows the park road angling in, US30 running straight, and the railroad running between them over the bridge.
A dark cloud had been slowly covering the area and we were sprinkled by a quiet little shower on our way back down to the truck.
We hiked the quarry trail first, then toured the visitor's center. By that time the rain had moved on and left us covered by blue and white skies for the second hike.
This was a pleasant little ramble through grassy meadows, sagebrush hills, and that little aspen wood.
This one only went up 300' through the mountain desert,
but still offered a nice vista view of the park road below.
The path was very pleasant, with flowers blooming everywhere.
We enjoyed the changing landscape of both hikes, but liked the walk through the aspen forest the best.
Hiking today, flying tomorrow.
Louise and Duane
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