Day 8: June 17
Okay, just a quick update tonight, I’ll write full report on the day tomorrow, because I suddenly expect to have time.
I did three short hikes in Dinosaur National Monument today, as well as driving the park’s two scenic roads. It’s a pretty spread-out place, and I added a fair number of miles to the trip report over the course of a long day that started at 7:00AM and ended— sort of— at 5:00PM. At left, here’s me touching an actual dinosaur leg bone still embedded in the cliff face, at the end of the “Fossil Discovery Trail.” Probably the only place I’ll have a chance to do that!
I had a choice of two hiking trails next, the contrastingly-named “Sounds of Silence Trail” and “Voices of the Desert Trail.” I went with Voices of the Desert.
Then I left the dinosaur-fossil side of the park and drove over to the Canyon area. Ironically, the town of Dinosaur, Colorado lies outside the part of the park that does not have dinosaur fossils. But it’s a very nice drive, I took a lot of pictures, and then did my third hike of the day, on a trail leading to “Harper’s Corner,” a point overlooking canyons on all sides.
After I got back to town and went to dinner, that’s when everything took a sudden left turn that threatens to derail my trip: at dinner one of my tooth crowns came loose.
Well, I’m not going to drive around the next three weeks with a hole in my teeth. It doesn’t hurt yet but I expect it’ll start if I don’t deal with it pronto. So instead of driving to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow, I’ll be looking for a good dentist in Vernal, Utah. (The drive to Yellowstone was due to take 8 hours so I really don’t expect to do both.)
I’ve already arranged an extra night at my hotel here in Vernal, and am working on adjusting my reservations in Yellowstone to arrive a day late. Assuming I can get in with a dentist tomorrow morning, that’ll leave me with an idle day here. There’s more to see in Dinosaur, so if all goes well I’ll take the chance to see it. Plus I’ll go over today’s photographs and post more details of today’s hikes in a post tomorrow. But finding a dentist comes first.
Wish me luck in the dental quest!
Trip Report:
Miles driven today: 161.1
Total miles so far: 1561.2
