I thought I was getting old(er), but after today’s activities I now know that I am just a mere speck of age when it comes to the history of our earth. This morning, after coffee and English muffins, we headed into town (five miles) to sign out a key for the Petroglyphs area northwest of Thermopolis.
I signed out a key….and guess what Andy/Laura???? The number of the key was 13!!! For the rest of you, almost everything I do which requires a number: plane seat, departure gate, etc., etc., etc finds me being assigned the number 13. It has been happening for years…..ever since I finished college.
Anyway…..that was a slight diversion from this post……I got the key and off we went for about 30 miles thru the desert….literally. We were given instructions: turn R after going over the second cattle guard, turn L after the black mail boxes, etc., etc. Anyway….we did find the gate which the key opened, and then it was another two miles down a narrow dirt trail to the parking area. !!! After hiking through the cactus and sagebrush, we came upon the cliffs and by following the narrow path thru thorn bushes, we arrived at a blank sign and looking up, we saw the beginning of the trail which took us up to the petroglyphs……….AMAZING!!!! We must have hiked, stumbled, hung on to rocks, and watched out for rattlesnakes(as we were warned when we got the key) for at least a quarter of a mile along the cliffside. The pics on the rocks were just fantastic!!!!! No one is sure who is responsible for creating them, but it is suspected that the early Shoshone Indians are the people who must have been the artists.
We were just astounded at this…….it was the first petroglyph area that I have ever seen……and the setting couldn’t have been more exciting. It was about 10:30 this morning when we got there and we were both glad we had arrived no later, because the heat became a factor very quickly. We had brought water and energy snacks in the backpack and that was a great idea. After about an hour, we came to the end of the path and then we found our way back to the parking lot. Back we went over the trail, the “roads”, and finally arrived back in Thermopolis.
Next, we went to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center which is on the edge of town. We signed up for the 2pm tour of the dinosaur digs up the canyon and on the Warm Springs Ranch. So having been in Thermopolis before, we headed to the Safari Club at the Holiday Inn. It is a cool place to have lunch as the entire restaurant and lounge are FILLED with trophy mounts of all kinds of wildlife and fish from around the world…..probably 150+. Lunch was very good and relaxing after our morning trip into the desert.
Back we went to the Dinosaur Center and awaited our trip. Boarding a small, small bus with a rather uncertain type of driver (she is a bus driver for the school system), off we went up this narrow gravel trail, climbing up and up over the edges of cliffs until we had climbed 600 feet…….barely making the turns on sliding gravel/rocks. BUT…..all was worth it when we arrived at one of the largest dinosaur digs. We were shown bones that are being dug up/out, the shapes of some of the dinosaurs could be seen………just really a great experience. They have found sooooooooooooo many bones there and are putting some of the bones together for exhibits. We were there for an hour…….walking and being shown what we were actually walking on. Very exciting!! Then it was time to load the little bus and hanging on, down we plunged, crunching the rocks as we made the curves along the side of the cliffs with small signs that said: 5 mph. After rocking (thank goodness, NOT rolling) down the trail, we were back at the Center and spent the next two hours in the museum. WOW…..one of the best on the life of millions of years ago that I have ever seen. This experience is NOT to be missed if any of your ever wander thru this part of Wyoming. WELL WORTH an extra day so that you can have these experiences. DO IT!!!
The temp. was close to 98 degrees today, soooo our bodies are finding it difficult to adjust to after being in the cool/cold mountains for the last three weeks. At least there is NO humidity at all. Tomorrow we will head up the road for about 60 miles to the foot of the Big Horn Mountains……Tensleep, Wyoming.
As an aside……the bedraggled geology students who are tenting here have arrived back and are exhausted from their “outdoor classroom experience”. They look rather lifeless, however, they are sitting under the trees doing their journals/papers/drawings in preparation for tomorrow’s expedition.
Hope this can get posted tonight. I have several good pictures from today’s trip back to the Wyoming past……..hope to get them to you. Will have to cut down the number I have of the petroglyphs. Now……time for my red medicine in the long stemmed glass…….need a good dose tonight!! Sue....just got off the phone with you......think you need some red medicine, also!!
Later…..
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