Nine Splendid Miles
When you read that a hike is one of the prettiest in the Southwest, you start with some pretty high expectations.
Today, our last in Dinosaur National Monument, we drove a not very promising road through the sagebrush and then began our descent to the Jones Hole National Fish Hatchery. Suddenly, we came around a bend to sheer and massive cliffs of Weber Sandstone. It was a promising start to a glorious day.
The canyon walls soared 1500 feet above and while in places the grass was unnervingly high, the creek was lovely. After stopping to load up on mosquito repellent, we looked up just in time to see a herd of Bighorn Sheep just across the river.
Petroglyphs and pictographs abound in DNM, and today, we saw some of the best examples yet.
The hike ended at Whirlpool Canyon on the big and fast-moving Green River. Though we didn’t see any rafters float by, we did enjoy a picnic lunch on the beach.
Just as we got back to the Minnie an Osprey took off from a lamppost and we watched as it soared above the trout ponds, no doubt looking for easy pickings for lunch from the hatchery’s growing stock.
We drove up to Flaming Gorge tonight as storms rolled through, though we fortunately missed the inch of hail that littered the road. After taking in the staggering views from the Red Canyon Visitor’s Center, we found more Bighorn Sheep, ewes and their babies, wandering in our campground. Pretty good day, and a terrific way to start week three on the road.