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Day 65 - Dinosaur to Flaming Gorge

At first I thought it was a dream-- bumping sounds by the van--then there was another bump. I looked up and saw a herd of cows surrounding the van, cows again! I yelled at them to no effect then I started the motor and backed out of the side road-- startling the cows and allowing me make my getaway. Rains had fallen all week making the gravel-based 15-mile dirt road to the Utah section of Dinosaur a bit slippery but passable-- luckily I only had to go downhill.  Holding my speed through the muddy sections as to not get stuck, I made it down.

I wanted to climb Split Mountain, a mountain carved in two by the Green River, but it was rainy and the rocks were wet. I did hike up a trail by the river and then off road to a high hill overlooking the mountain and river. Incredible views, no one else around. 




I then drove to the famous "fossil wall", a ancient riverbed layer filled with thousands of dinosaur bones, tilted sideways by rising mountains and now available for the public to experience. The wall is huge and only a quarter of its original size. The bones of 100 dinosaurs were mangled, tangled and embedded in the rock. 



After Dinosaur, I drove north towards Flaming Gorge, a reservoir formed by a large dam fifty years ago. I joined a tour of the dam (wider walls than Hoover) and then drove around the lake towards Wyoming. The weather was overcast and rainy so photos didn't exactly capture the flaming nature of the Gorge. But it was pretty. 


Given the rainy weather and the fact that I was arriving in Wyoming a week early, I decided to make a detour-- to South Dakota. This 1000 mile detour would allow me to see Devils Tower, the Black Hills, Custer State Park, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.  I drove on another two hours to a Walmart parking lot in Rawlins, Wyoming in order to cut the distance for tomorrow's drive. 







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