National monuments that we have visited.
We visited John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. It consists of three units; we visited the Sheep Rock Unit and the Painted Hills Unit:
Viewpoint:
Picture Gorge:
Sign:
Picture Gorge:
Peak:
Who was John Day? Just a naked guy who never went there:
Visitor center:
A peek into a lab:
James Cant Ranch. Maybe he should have given up, then:
Picnic lunch:
On the way to the Painted Hills Unit:
Painted hills:
We did a day trip drive along the Utah Alpine Loop scenic drive, to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, through the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and to Bridal Veil Falls.
Here’s an embedded map of the route, as an experiment (alternative link):
Alpine Loop scenic drive:
We stopped at the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, since it was on the way. We didn’t go to the actual cave, since (a) it requires reservations, (b) it requires a fairly long hike to reach it, and (c) it requires having never been in a cave before:
We stopped at The Holy Grill for lunch, a BBQ restaurant:
And a stop at Eddie Bauer to return some clothing:
Mountains:
While staying in Vernal, Utah, we visited Dinosaur National Monument, which spans Utah and Colorado, and has two visitor centers.
We visited both, starting with the the Utah side:
The visitor center:
Relief map:
Up the hill is a separate building with the dinosaur fossils. One can’t drive up there, instead taking a free shuttle:
The quarry visitor center:
The building encloses a wall of dinosaur bone fossils:
Some fossils one can touch:
Then we headed into Colorado:
Canyon Visitor Center:
We had a picnic lunch:
The park has a weird border, with a long road that is part of the park:
(And yes, I was amused by the name of the picnic area.)
This part of the park is mostly about scenic rocks:
We visited Colorado National Monument, in — you guessed it — Colorado, west of Grand Junction.
We started by having a picnic lunch in a nice shelter:
Then continued along the twisty roads, looking at the interesting rocks:
The first of three tunnels:
We stopped at several viewpoints:
Morons sitting on rocks off the trail:
An open-ended canyon:
Big horn sheep; we were excited to see her, as she was the first big horn sheep we’ve managed to get a picture of in the wild (we’ve seen them in a zoo in Palm Springs, and on the side of the road in Lake Mead, but not so close):
Viewpoint:
Blooming prickly pear cacti:
Visitor center:
Relief map:
The Colorado plateau; been to all of those places:
Views:
The other two tunnels:
Balancing rock:
We visited Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, New Mexico.
Pueblo people describe this site as part of their migration journey. Today you can follow their ancient passageways to a distant time. Explore a 900-year old ancestral Pueblo Great House of over 400 masonry rooms. Look up and see original timbers holding up the roof. Search for the fingerprints of ancient workers in the mortar. Listen for an echo of ritual drums in the reconstructed Great Kiva.
(Quoting from the NPS website.)
A very nice picnic area:
Where we enjoyed a picnic lunch:
The visitor center:
Flowering Prickly Pear cactus:
Exploring the ruins, with the help of an audio guide:
A reconstructed great kiva:
The reconstructed kiva in the background, and ruins of a smaller one in the foreground:
Unlike many sites, one can go into this:
Demonstrating how low the doorways are:
Into fairly intact rooms:
Original ceilings:
On guard:
Chatting with a volunteer:
An impressive place, fascinating to explore.
Hovenweep National Monument has multiple units in Utah and Colorado. We visited the main one, site of Hovenweep Castle and several other ruins:
A sign with a map of the various units:
We hiked along a canyon-edge path, with a view of several structures on both sides of the canyon:
Hovenweep Castle:
We drove our truck in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, along Burr Trail Road to the Singing Canyon, a delightful little slot canyon that is easy to access from the road (most require a several mile hike to reach). This is a timelapse of driving to and from there, with lots of interesting rocks on the way. Plus a couple of cows.
We took a day trip along Scenic Byway 12 and Burr Trail Road to Singing Canyon, a small slot canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
The monument is a massive area, almost two million acres, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
The drive we went on was just a tiny fraction of it; inspired by this article.
The Grand Staircase is a massive series of cliffs, going from Cedar Breaks National Park to the Grand Canyon; here’s an image from the Wikipedia article:
Heading along Scenic Byway 12:
Lots of interesting rocks along the road:
Monument sign:
One of the visitor centers for the monument, in Cannonville, Utah:
Back on the road:
Another visitor center in Escalante, Utah:
Trying a prickly pear cactus candy snack from the first visitor center (pretty tasty):
Singing canyon, so named due to its amazing acoustics, which we can confirm; we had it all to ourselves, too:
Interesting rocks outside the canyon — actually it’s still in a canyon, Long Canyon:
Looking down into Long Canyon:
We encountered a couple of free-range cows on the road:
An enjoyable drive, and impressive slot canyon.
A day trip to Pipe Spring National Monument and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, amongst other places.
Pipe Spring National Monument sign:
Visitor center:
Diorama:
Exhibit:
Outside, behind the visitor center:
One chicken wandering around:
Longhorn bull:
Roof:
The main building:
The building was closed, but I peeked through the gate:
The spring goes through that building, and out the side:
Into a pond:
Wagon:
Some interesting rocks on the drive to the sand dunes:
Tourist trap cave:
Interesting rocks:
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park:
Interesting rocks:
We stopped for some food at Thunderbird Restaurant, “Home of the Ho-Made Pies”:
Info:
Dessert menu:
Restaurant decor:
BLTs:
We had pie slices for dessert, and got a whole pie to go:
We went back there another day for dinner:
More interesting rocks:
Rock shop:
You guessed it, more interesting rocks:
A timelapse video of driving our truck through snowy Cedar Breaks National Monument, then out and along highways towards Cedar City, enjoying the many interesting colors and shapes of Utah rocks and scenery.