Dinosaur National Monument, petroglyphs and more

Yesterday we explored Dinosaur National Park and crossed another item off my bucket list: Seeing dinosaur fossils in their natural environment. There is a huge fossil deposit here of Jurassic Era animals, notably the stegosaurus, allosaurus, and Camarasaurus. There is a cliff face where fossils have been exposed and left in place for the public to view.

It was so fascinating to explore the jumbled remains of these huge creatures. The femur bones were taller than Joseph!

The kids enjoyed the open-air shuttle ride to and from the fossil quarry.

There was a fierce storm last night that rattled our tent severely. We were afraid it would rip into shreds with the buffeting it was being given. It was difficult to sleep with all the noise, but luckily the storm ended in the wee hours of this morning and the tent only suffered minor damage.

Today we enjoyed several fascinating hikes. The first one was a close up view of ancient petroglyphs along high cliffs. We loved admiring the handiwork of bygone artists and puzzled over their meaning. Matthew copied some of the petroglyphs into his field journal.

Daniel was so kind and helped carry Joseph over troublesome rocks when the hike became difficult.

Near this site was a really neat historic homestead created by a local legend, Josie Bassett Morris. She settled this spot in the desert by herself and built everything alone. The original cabin, out buildings, and fences are still intact and open to the public.

The shade trees she planted and carefully nursed are towering pillars. It's remarkable to walk through someone else's home and imagine life here. There is a small spring near the house, and it trickles into a hand-dug pond. The cattle corrals were made in box canyons. They were so gorgeous!

As we hiked a mile into one box canyon, we made an unexpected discovery. There is a very pleasant micro-climate here where the air is at least 10-15 degrees cooler. Trees, shrubs, and grasses thrive, and there was a large variety of life. This was a huge change compared to the open desert that we were accustomed to seeing.

We loved hiking inside this canyon during the afternoon (which would normally be spent sweltering...this desert is quite hot and shade offered no noticeable relief in our campsite). We had several school lessons in the cool shade of the canyon walls, next to a little rushing brook of clear cold water.

Their favorite activity on this hike was climbing that sandstone cliff faces. They also loved playing with a traditional First Nation puzzle created of native grasses. They loved making and solving several puzzles, and Joseph picked a huge bouquet of this particular grass because he wanted to bring home puzzles for Dad. Here the kids are all busily reassembling the puzzles. So fun!