"I met you in a cave, you were painting buffalo
I said I'd be your slave, follow wherever you go
I said I'd be your slave, follow wherever you go
That night we split a rattlesnake and danced beneath the stars
You fell asleep, I stayed awake and watched the passing cars
And walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur" - Walk The Dinosaur - Was (Not Was)
It's gonna be a good day because it started with walking a pink dinosaur.
The obligatory roadside stop to take a picture of the park's entrance sign.
We decided to try the canyon side of Dinosaur National Monument again today before heading south to Grand Junction.
We drove into the park along Harper's Corner Road. Our first stop was at Canyon Overlook.
We walked along the ridge above the canyon...
...as the fog moved in and out of our view.
The view changed from this...
...to the fog rising out of the canyon...
...to the canyon filled with fog in under a minute.
So we drove up to a higher elevation...
...and walked around hoping for better views.
The rain let up so the fog began to dissipate.
Then we drove drove further along Harper's Corner Road hoping for better weather....
...to Echo Park. When I stopped the car, there was a great view of the canyon here. By the time I grabbed my camera and got out of the car. This was the best shot I could get. A few minutes later we couldn't see ten feet in front of us. I drove a little further into the park but it was futile. We turned around and headed back out of the park.
After a mile or so, the road was clear but the higher elevations were fogged in. There were a few places that had some color on the drive out.
We left Dinosaur National Monument and drove down south along the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway to Grand Junction.
In the valleys, the roads were clear but most of the mountain scenery was in the clouds or fog.
We stopped to stretch our legs and take a few photographs a few times during the drive.
After a harrowing drive over Douglas Pass through heavy fog that limited visibility to ten feet, we stopped in Fruita for a tasty lunch at Fiesta Guadalajara. Then we attempted to see if the cloud covered Colorado National Monument would reveal it's beautiful canyons to us.
Some entrance signs are more decorative than others. The NPS has nice signs here.
As we quickly drove up hill on Rim Rock drive, the scenery was was incredible.
Then we got to the Visitor's Center and it began to rain. We hiked out to the cliffs above the canyon here and could not see anything but fog. We had our rain gear, so we hiked along the Canyon Rim Trail to the Bookcliff Overlook.
It was somewhat clear on the edge of the canyon.
But we couldn't see anything in the canyon.
We made a loop of the hike back to the visitor center.
Then we drove drove further into the park to Independence Monument but the fog was so heavy we couldn't drive any further. So we turned around and headed out of the park.
Here's a few photos taken along Rim Rock road on the way out.
We spent most of our day in a fog. But it was still an interesting day traveling through Colorado. Here's hoping we see some sun tomorrow.
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