Vernal road trip

[hadrosauridae]

This is probably going to be a long post, so I hope you're bored!

 

This is an area I have wanted to visit since I was a little kid and first wanted to be a Paleontologist. Unfortunately, this area was a long way from my family's normal vacationing route so I never made it.  One of my other past-times is running.  I got into running half marathons and then decided I wanted to run one in every state.  I was supposed to come last year, but, well, covid sucked the fun out of everything.  Anyway, Vernal Utah (known as dinosaurland and home to the Dinosaur National Monument) hosts an annual dino-themed half-marathon.  I mean, come on, how can I NOT run this race??!

 

So, my shift at the fire dept ended at 7am this morning, and at 7:01 I was on the road in Oklahoma.  I have to say, being a fossil hunter sucks as you drive!  Driving up the Kansas 281, just shy of I-70 there is a very nice uplift with lots of cuts and looks to be a lot of shale.  I wanted to stop and inspect some interesting road cuts, but I had zero time to waste.  So I drove past fossil lake, onto I -70 towards Colorado.  I waved hello as I passed by the Sternberg in Hays, and I spotted a sign for another museum (the Fick or Frick, I cant remember) so I will have to go back and visit when I have more time.  Of course lots nice chalky outcrops visible driving through that part of Kansas, an so many wonderful fossils buried.

 

The bad part about driving through this part of the country is that every mile looks pretty much the same.  Hour after hour of the same flat plains and wind turbines.  I made my only stop for fuel in Limon. 500 miles and only about halfway there. 

 

I finally caught sight of the Rockies about 100 miles east of Denver.  I always love mountains, and catching the first glimpse on a trip is always special for me.  Dont know why, just always love it.  But then I had to drive through Denver.  I hate Denver.  North/south or east/west it doesnt matter.  Driving there is always horrible.

 

Then You have I-70 through the mountains.  Lovely.  Beautiful.  Majestic.  Hair raising.  You have 200 miles of road that twists and turns, sometimes very sharply, packed with drivers.  Some want to drive 80, some want to drive 50, and then the semi trucks which can barely drive 30.  Then mix in construction every 10 miles.  I'm just glad I wasnt pulling my camper this trip!

 

  On a side note, dont go to Vail.  I pulled off into that town to try to stop for a pee break.  WRONG!  Never driving through there again.  The interesting thing about this road, is that most of the middle is the volcanic/granite/iron/gold/etc mountains.  Then as you drive, you come around a bend and suddenly you are surrounded by massive sedimentary cliffs.  Without consulting a geological map, I think it was probably Morrison formation, at least part of it.  Then things flatten out and get boring until I reached Rifle.  As soon as I got north of Rifle on hwy 13, its just dino hunting drool inspiring formations.  All the way up to Dinosaur Colorado and of course continuing on to Vernal.  Just mile after mile of hills, cuts, valleys, washes, and mountains of sedimentary layer I want to climb and explore.

 

Finally though, after just short of 14 hours of non-stop driving I arrived.  Dog tired but too wired to sleep at the moment.  Race isnt for a couple days, so tomorrow will be prospecting for sea-life and seeing some local sights.  After Saturday's race, I'll go hunt some more before heading back home for another 14 hours marathon drive.  I'll post pics and report on some hopefully productive digging!

 

[FranzBernhard]

Great!! Thanks for sharing!

So you have driven around 800 miles / 1200 km practically non-stop? And so much traffic, not to speak just after a night shift. You really must be young.  Or at least enthusiastic. 

Waiting for the next part! Have fun and success. 

Franz Bernhard

[Ludwigia]

I can recall going on trips like this, but those days are long gone

[hadrosauridae]

6 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Great!! Thanks for sharing!

So you have driven around 800 miles / 1200 km practically non-stop? And so much traffic, not to speak just after a night shift. You really must be young.  Or at least enthusiastic. 

Waiting for the next part! Have fun and success. 

Franz Bernhard

 

It was actually right at 900 miles.  I prefer to think "driven".  There is something I want to accomplish and I do what I have to do.  I really would have preferred to make this a 2 day trip each way but I only have four days off total so it has to be 1 day drives.  This is the max distance I will do in a single day drive.

[FranzBernhard]

12 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

I do what I have to do

Understand this!

 

And this also:

12 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

This is the max distance I will do in a single day drive.

Franz Bernhard

[hadrosauridae]

I started off my morning today with a trip back through Dinosaur, since I couldn't stop last time.  Turns out there really are some dinosaurs in the town of Dinosaur!

 

After the obligatory tourist pics, I made my way to a hunting site south of Bonanza.  I was able to find some shale outcrops above Evacuation creek. When I say this spot was remote, I mean REMOTE.  It was a half hour drive after I left the highway.  I never saw another person on the drive.  I only saw one vehicle on a distant dirt road 1 mile away when I was getting ready to leave several hours later.  The views were wonderful though!

 

It took a little roaming and exploring but I finally found a good spot.  I really wished I had a steel rake and shovel to help clear out debris. 

 

Anyway, I found some interesting fossils.  There were a lot of tiny little leaves, but I found several good ones.  Sadly one was destroyed on the drive back.  I went over a section of really bad washboard road and the slab seems to have bounced up onto another slab and then bounced itself into oblivion.  This first pic is the one that was lost.  Sorry I dont have a scale in the pics, I forgot to pack one in the field box.

 

 

 

This last pic was actually the first thing found.  I'm not 100% sure its a leaf of any type.  It may be a bug, it may just be veggie debris.

 

This shale reminded me of the Green river formation fish quarry, in that if the slab split clean and easy, it was probably empty.  If it shattered there was probably a nice fossil in it.

I worked for several hours in that spot, but by noon I was hungry, hadnt found anything in a while and I needed to go pick up my race packet, so I headed back into town.  Then I decided to try the belemnite spot I found listed online, but that was a total bust.  The race is tomorrow morning, and then I need to figure out where to go.  I may go back down to try for some more leaves.

[Crusty_Crab]

Glad you found something other than dispensaries in Dinosaur. We were driving through the area not too long ago and according to maps, there wasn't much there but they seemed to have a lot of dispensaries for such a small town. Like 3 for a town of 300. 

[hadrosauridae]

21 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

Glad you found something other than dispensaries in Dinosaur. We were driving through the area not too long ago and according to maps, there wasn't much there but they seemed to have a lot of dispensaries for such a small town. Like 3 for a town of 300. 

 

I dont even notice them any more.  ITs the same in my home town.  There seems to be one on every corner.  They are so prevelent in the legal states that they just become background noise to me.

[hadrosauridae]

OK, last day in Vernal.  Wakeup at 5 to be at the race finish before 6, then we were all bussed to the starting point 13.1 miles up a canyon road.  Beautiful scenery for the first half of the run.  The run sucked.  They always do.  I was wiped out, cramping and hurt all over by the time I crossed the finish.  But I checked Utah of my 50 states goal, and got a killer medal for the finish. 

 

Then after soaking in the bathtub in the hotel room for a while, followed by a nap, I decided to hit the shale spot I hunted yesterday.  Very little success, only got one leaf, and the wind was blowing so hard I almost lost my hat over a cliff. 

 

So I packed up and decided to torture myself by scouting some BLM land for vertebrate material I cant touch.  Wound up finding several exposures weathering away to dust.  They didnt look like there was anything else with them (you know, with my x-ray vision since you cant do anything but look) so I took a few pics and headed back into town. 

 

 

Got back into town and stopped at Fullbright Studios and rock shop.  The owners are absolutely wonderful people!  I think we talked for over half an hour.   Had a great burger and beer at the Dinosaur Brewhaus.  Come on, where else is a wanna-be paleontologist going to eat? LOL.  So now, I'm packed and ready for a god-awful early start to my 14 hour trip home.  All in all is was good.  I accomplished finishing the race I came for and got to scout and find my own fossils.

[jpc]

Great tale.  Congrats on the successful run.  I have a growler from the Dinosaur Brewhaus.  

 

[Coco]

HI,

 

How long for your half marathon ? Great idea to run one in each state ! And congrats !

 

Coco

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Coco

[Wrangellian]

Good trip report. Too bad about the shattered leaf... Any idea what age that spot is? Eocene?

I know what you mean about driving past all the enticing layers of sedimentary rock. It was like that on drives across BC when I was a kid, but we never had time to stop and check any of them out, or even any way to do it - nowhere to pull off the hwy in most cases.

 

On 5/6/2021 at 11:09 PM, FranzBernhard said:

So you have driven around 800 miles / 1200 km practically non-stop? And so much traffic, not to speak just after a night shift. You really must be young.  Or at least enthusiastic. 

...

Franz Bernhard

I think it was you that told me that driving in Europe is different than in North America? (and I knew it from visiting Switzerland in 2011). The Plains are particularly fast, unless you encounter traffic/construction/etc, as noted. I wouldn't do a whole day of driving though weavy-windy mountain roads or heavy traffic, myself, but I could do it if the roads were mostly wide-open.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Wrangellian

[FranzBernhard]

3 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I think it was you that told me that driving in Europe is different than in North America?

Yes, I think, I told you that the Americans are more considerate drivers in general.

I avoid driving during weekdays. It has become a real nightmare. Sunday morning, even Saturday morning, are much better .

Franz Bernhard

[hadrosauridae]

20 hours ago, jpc said:

Great tale.  Congrats on the successful run.  I have a growler from the Dinosaur Brewhaus.  

 

Oh man, I didnt even think to ask about growlers.  We have a small collection from a few places we have visited. 

[hadrosauridae]

18 hours ago, Coco said:

HI,

 

How long for your half marathon ? Great idea to run one in each state ! And congrats !

 

Coco

 

 

 

Half-marathons are 13.1 miles (or 21.097 KM) in length.

 

 

17 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Good trip report. Too bad about the shattered leaf... Any idea what age that spot is? Eocene?

I know what you mean about driving past all the enticing layers of sedimentary rock. It was like that on drives across BC when I was a kid, but we never had time to stop and check any of them out, or even any way to do it - nowhere to pull off the hwy in most cases.

 

I think it was you that told me that driving in Europe is different than in North America? (and I knew it from visiting Switzerland in 2011). The Plains are particularly fast, unless you encounter traffic/construction/etc, as noted. I wouldn't do a whole day of driving though weavy-windy mountain roads or heavy traffic, myself, but I could do it if the roads were mostly wide-open.

 

I will be looking at some geo maps of the area to see what the exposers are.  Most of this trip is flat, wide-open highway.  Speed limit is 75mph for most and I might have set my cruise control for 82.  There were no traffic problems through the mountains or through Denver today, so that was much nicer.  I only made one single stop today for fuel.  I never even made a separate bathroom break.  Made it home in 13 hours.

[Wrangellian]

13 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Yes, I think, I told you that the Americans are more considerate drivers in general.

I avoid driving during weekdays. It has become a real nightmare. Sunday morning, even Saturday morning, are much better .

Franz Bernhard

Oh, I thought it was because Europe is full of twisty roads and lots of cities and small towns that you have to weave your way through, and Europeans would (understandably) resist driving 1000km unless it was absolutely necessary. Over here I think there are more straight highways that are made for getting you between two distant points quickly, so 1000km is not so daunting, though it's not something you would do every day.

I don't hold up well to weavy roads taken at high speed (as I saw when I was in Europe in 2011) but heavy traffic is the worst! I'll drive at night if I have the option, when traffic is much thinner. And I only drive here on Vancouver Island, where it's nothing like Greater Vancouver or Seattle, but it's getting worse as more people move here.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Wrangellian

[Coco]

Hi,

 

5 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

Half-marathons are 13.1 miles (or 21.097 KM) in length.

 

Yes, I know that, I ran it... I mean, how long did it take you ?

 

Coco

[FranzBernhard]

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Oh, I thought it was because Europe is full of twisty roads and lots of cities and small towns that you have to weave your way through, and Europeans would (understandably) resist driving 1000km unless it was absolutely necessary.

Correct, that was it. But it isn´t that bad. From most areas in central Europe, you have a max. of 1 hour to drive to the next transeuropean freeway for the next 1000 km.

From my location, I have 10 minutes to the next freeway, and than - whole Europe can be reached via freeways this days. Nearly whole Europe is covered in a dense net of freeways nowadays. Most parts of Scandinavia might still be an exception, but I don´t know.

Here is a map of the freeways in Austria. Note, that the east-west extension of Austria is only about 580 km, covered by 2178 km of freeways. New freeways are still being build.

 

Side note: For me, a freeway has 2x2 lanes (Autobahn or Schnellstraße in Austria). A highway is just a broad two-lane road (Bundes- or Landesstraße in Austria). What is the real correct usage in CD and US?

Franz Bernhard

Edited May 10, 2021 by FranzBernhard

[hadrosauridae]

5 hours ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

Yes, I know that, I ran it... I mean, how long did it take you ?

 

Coco

oh, sorry, LOL.  I get asked all the time how far a half marathon is.  This was a really slow race for me, I think I crossed at 2:45.  Injuries and weather really put a damper on my training this year.  I knew it would be a terrible time, but I wasnt going to give up on running it.

[Coco]

Okay. I did one in 2018, the first and probably the last of my life. I put in 2 h 19 but it was on the road and there was not much elevation (142 m => 465 ft). I think you had more coasts than me.

 

Coco

[hadrosauridae]

Update to my finds.  Checking a county geo map shows that both of the locations (shale and weathered bones) are Eocene in age group, so somewhere in the 33 to 55 MY range.

[jdp]

On 5/6/2021 at 9:11 PM, hadrosauridae said:

 

 

  On a side note, dont go to Vail.  I pulled off into that town to try to stop for a pee break.  WRONG!  Never driving through there again.  The interesting thing about this road, is that most of the middle is the volcanic/granite/iron/gold/etc mountains.  Then as you drive, you come around a bend and suddenly you are surrounded by massive sedimentary cliffs.  Without consulting a geological map, I think it was probably Morrison formation, at least part of it.

 

Vail is a great place to ski or go ice climbing, but there's not much there in the summer. Glenwood Springs is the better summer stop in that stretch of the 70.

 

Those rocks are probably not Morrison; its mostly Carboniferous-Permian Minturn and Maroon Formations, if I remember right. Minturn is classic late Pennsylvanian nearshore marine fauna, with brachiopods and so on. Maroon is early Permian terrestrial, but is mostly not fossiliferous except for rare vertebrate trackways. Maroon is typically overlain by Triassic Chinle Formation, but I think that's mostly eroded in that section, though it turns up slightly west of there.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by jdp

[fossilcrazee]

Great story! Thank you for bringing back great memories of my rare forays into the Green River Formation to split shale in search of leaves (and drive a silly number of hours/miles to do so!).  Though you may feel you didn't find much, the specimens are really nice!  And congrats on the marathon - great medal!

[Crusty_Crab]

Very nice leaves! Did you happen to find any insects as well?

[hadrosauridae]

4 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

Very nice leaves! Did you happen to find any insects as well?

 

The very last pic from the first day, is a "MAYBE" insect.  I still havent done anything with it, but it doesnt look like a leaf and seems to have body segments.  It reminds me of either a caterpillar or the tail of a dragonfly in appearance.