My Tour Of Dinosaur National Monument – Day 2

After spending the night at Dinosaur National Monument’s green River Campground, I packed up my gear, loaded up my motorcycle and took off toward the south on Cub Creek Road. According to the map, there was supposed to be a large set of petroglyphs just a short distance from the campground.

As promised, just a couple miles from the campground was a spot in the road where you could pull over and see numerous petroglyphs carved into the nearby rock.

The first petroglyph site was directly beside the road. You could park, walk just a few steps from your motorcycle and instantly be viewing some incredible ancient art. The photo below shows just some of the petroglyph artwork found in this area.

About two-tenths of a mile up the road was another stop (show below) where I parked my motorcycle and walked up a short, but steep hiking path to another location where dozens of ancient petroglyphs lined the entire rock face.

The photo below shoes the rock face where there were dozens and dozens of different petroglyphs. If you look carefully, you can see one of the large lizard petroglyphs on the left side of the photo.

This is a close up shot of the lizard petroglyphs on this same rock face. You can see at least 5 different lizards in this one photograph alone. To the right of these lizards were dozens of other petroglyph drawings.

While photographing the petroglyphs, I was visited by a real life lizard, which I took the opportunity to photograph. At that moment I realized why the natives of long-ago were drawing lizards. They were all over the place!

After a good half-hour looking at and photographing the petroglyphs, I returned to my motorcycle and continued a short distance down Cub Creek Road until I ran into a small cabin where a woman named Josie Morris used to live in the early 1900′s.

At this location you could walk into Josie’s old home, wander around her homestead, and view a number of her old fences, out-buildings, and 100+ year old structures. To the east of her cabin was a short 1.5 mile walking trail, which I followed. The trail led into a place called Hog Canyon, which was a natural canyon that Jossie Morris used to use as a pen for her pigs. With high rock walls on three sides, this long and narrow canyon was the perfect natural pig pen for Jossie’s animals.

The photo below was taken during my hike up Hog Canyon. In the grass at the bottom right you can see the hiking trail through the canyon… and near the top of the photo, in the middle of the high rock on the left-hand side is a small cave where bats are known to dwell.

After my hike up Hog Canyon, I returned to my motorcycle, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then high-tailed it back in the direction I had come, past the petroglyph sites, past Green River and Split Mountain campgrounds and back to Interstate 40. It was time for me to return to the highway and ride my motorcycle into the state of Colorado.

The highway in this part of the state was beautiful. The long empty stretches of road were a joy to travel on and the fact that there were so few cars in this area made it all that much better.

After just twenty minutes on the Interstate, I found myself in the tiny town of Dinosaur, Colorado. I put a measly one gallon of gas into my motorcycle in order to fill the tank and purchased two more giant bottles of water – water I knew I would need for my upcoming adventure into the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Park.

About two miles east of Dinosaur was the main entrance to Dinosaur National Monument. Upon entering, I drove right past the visitor center and continued north along Harpers Corner Drive – a long, winding road traversing through open cattle country. The photo below was taken while standing on a high hilltop overlooking this part of the state.

For 25 miles, Harpers Corner Drive took me on a twisted, isolated path through western Colorado. The land here was side open and only every few minutes would I see another vehicle. Cows and horses, however, were everywhere… and there were even a few antelope on occasion.

Eventually, I turned off onto a small road that took me to a place called “Canyon Overlook”. Once I saw the view, the name was for this pit-stop along the route was more than obvious. It was like being at the Grand Canyon, except ever so slightly smaller. The view from here was magnificent! Little did I know that I would soon be driving to the very bottom of that same canyon.

After spending some time enjoying the view at the Canyon Overlook rest stop and picnic area, I continued north along Harpers Corner Drive until I came to a small dirt road called Echo Park Road. This was the road I would have to turn onto in order to reach the one and only campground on the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument. According to my map, this road was entirely dirt and rocks and would be totally impassable if it were to rain, hail or snow. I crossed my fingers and prayed for hot, sunny weather. Then I began my slow descent into lower Sand Canyon.

The first couple miles of Echo Park Road were the most difficult. Here, the road was steep, rocky, and consisted of numerous sharp switchbacks.

However, once these first couples miles were covered, the road smoothed out a bit and became incredibly enjoyable. For twelve miles I slowly made my way down the dirt road, sticking to the right-hand tire track created by the numerous large trucks and vehicles that had traveled this road in the past. This single-track road was incredible! All around me were the most magnificent views. In some parts there were trees and bushes. Other parts consisted of nothing but rock. And for one long stretch I found myself back out in the open with nothing but high grass around for as far as the eye could see. It was fantastic… and exactly the type of motorcycle riding I had dreamed about when I first purchased my bike.

Near the end of the road I pulled over and explored a small homestead that had been built and abandoned at this location several decades prior. There was an old, but fairly modern house here, along with two small cabins, what looked to be a large horse, sheep or cattle pen of some kind, and an old covered wagon.

Further up the road was yet another petroglyph site. I stopped the bike here as well to check out the artwork and take a few photos. Unfortunately, the petroglyphs were located about 30 feet up a steep rock face (how did they get up there to do the artwork in the first place?) and extremely faint, so it was difficult to see.

Then, just another mile or two up the road was a small cave called the “Whispering Cave”. Supposedly, you can stand on one side of the cave, whisper something into the air, and another person standing at the other end of the cave should be able to hear what you whispered. Unfortunately, I was alone and didn’t have anyone to whisper to, so I can’t verify whether or not the cave actually lives up to its name.

Then, just another mile or so up the road was Echo Park Campground – the place where I would park my bike, set up camp and spend the evening.

While driving down Echo Park Road I had not seen even a single other person, so when I pulled into the campground I was somewhat surprised to see that there were at least four or five other parties already there. The campground, however, with about 13-14 different campsites, seemed pretty darn empty.

I circled the camp once and then parked my bike at a site far from all the other campers. The only other people I could see were about a tenth of a mile away (photo below) and set up near where Echo Park Road met the wide, open campground.

This remote campground at the bottom of Sand Canyon was quite possibly the best campground I have ever stayed at. The location was totally remote and fantastically beautiful. Lodged between super high rock canyons and just feet from a giant twisting bend in the Green River, I felt like I was in heaven.

After arriving, I set up my tent, ate some food, and then took a short walk down to the river.

Once I got there I found three other male campers swimming and bathing in the river. I tried to steer clear of them, so I stuck to the western side of the water and went for a long walk down the shore.

As it started to get dark, I headed back to my campsite and swallowed a few more chugs of water – boy was it hot!

As night fell in the canyon, my neighboring campers lit campfires and the large party to my right started to play the guitar and sing campfire songs. I sat for a while in total darkness, listening to my neighbors sing, before finally blowing up my sleeping mat and placing it on top of my campsite’s large picnic table. Now in total darkness, I laid on top of the sleeping mat, turned on my iPod, and for the next hour or so just laid there, looking up at the stars and listening to my favorite tunes. While I lay there, a number of small bats flew overhead and their piercing screams could be heard even through the music on my headphones.

As the neighboring campfires began to dwindle and my eyes began to slowly close, I picked myself up and headed for my tent. Once inside, I lay my head down, turned off my music, and quickly fell asleep. My second day at Dinosaur National Monument had been one of my best days all year.