Interesting Stuff

On our loop trip around Flaming Gorge yesterday we learned a few interesting things:

Fuel at the gorge was the most expensive we've encountered on our trip so far. 

The hymn America The Beautiful speaks of "purple mountain majesty".  In all of our years and miles of travel, we finally found some "purple" mountains as we were crossing the top of the Uinta (you in ta) Mountains.  The main cause of the color, I suspect, was the dark clouds and moisture in the air.  The air up here (13,000' give or take) was cold.  Duane and I could have used a few more layers!

Wildlife lives here, but we saw very few animals.  We saw one mule deer and three pronghorn several miles apart running downhill away from the road, but they didn't stick around to pose for photos.  We had stopped at an overlook so that Duane could see some of the scenery when we happened to see this pronghorn.  I managed a quick shot before it got away.  

We really enjoy riding/driving through mountains and high deserts.  We never know what we're going to see next.

Moving day tomorrow,

Louise and Duane

Soaring

When Eagle screams, we let him fly. 

Our 278 mile ride took us from I80 south on CR 44  through Wyoming and into Utah, then east along the Flaming Gorge Reservoir then north on US 191 back into Wyoming along the top of a mountain and along the Gorge recreational area.  Off the mountain we accessed I80 for home.

We soared over and under mountains, through upland desert valleys and around gorges.

We stopped at several vista views and the Flaming Gorge National Monument Visitors' Center where we toured the museum, learned about the dam and ate our lunch at the nice picnic area.

We viewed the Green River as a reservoir on one side of the dam

and as a river on the other.

Across the dam and around the mountain

we caught a view of the bridge we crossed earlier.

We passed through a brief shower, but kept our cloud cover until we reentered Wyoming.

One day left here.

Louise and Duane

Beaut Of A Butte

 

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

Ft. Bridger Post Trader

William and Mary Carter arrived at Fort Bridger with the army, in the capacity of post traders. 

William set up business at the edge of the fort.  His first building was ell shaped, with the back portion the post general store. 

Standing at the far side of the above building and looking at the street, this area was occupied by the biggest part of the building, the tavern.  In western times, the tavern or saloon was not just a bar, it was a meeting place where business was conducted on a daily basis. 

Carter was an entrepreneur, always looking for the next new thing.  Over the years, a post office, telegraph office and telephone were added to the general store.

In the area next to and behind the general store is another ell-shaped building which housed a mess hall ((restaurant), store warehouse,  butcher shop and cold meat storage.

Behind it is the ice house,

and running to the left the carriage house

stables and chicken house.  The stables were used free of charge by the Pony Express.

Also on the grounds are the first school, milk house and laundry with a washing machine.

After the fort was abandoned the Carter family continued to run the businesses for emigrants, railroad builders, soldiers, cattlemen, and Indians.

In 1913 the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, opened the area to automobile tourists.  In the 1930's cabins with carports were available for travelers.

Outside the Fort Bridger State Historic Park, the area still had various businesses that make it a modern trading post.

Hiking tomorrow.

Louise and Duane