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Day 64 - Colorado and Dinosaur Monuments

A quick five mile round trip hike took me to the canyon bottom of the Monument and Wedding Canyons at Colorado National Monument. Climbers were out and begginning their climbs up Independence Monument. Pics. 



After this morning hike I drove north two and a half hours to Dinosaur National Monument. Named for a small park with a fossil wall of 200+ dinosaur bones, the park actually has a second larger section with incredible canyons and the scenic Echo Park at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers.  I desperately wanted to see Echo Park so I went to the non-dinosaur part of Dinosaur first.  

Unfortunately the dirt road to Echo Park was closed due to recent rains making it rutted and impassable, so I had to stick to the views from the ridgeline 2500 feet above. But wow, were they great views. The view from Canyon Overlook is pic 3 and then 4, 5 and 6 are from Harpers Point at the very end of the road at the very end of the one mile trail, about 100 feet past the fence that stops the normal people.

Zoom in to the panarama if you can and you can see the Yampa river flowing in from the right, the Green river flowing in from the top and the Green river continuing south along the Whirlpool Canyon to the left. The Green river is one of the most popular white water rafting canyons in the USA (I understand why)!













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