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Monday,
August 14 - August 21, 2017; Dinosaur National Monument, northwest Colorado
& northeast Utah, and on to west of Union
Pass, Wind River Range, Wyoming.
I had no time between leaving Aspen, CO until
after the Eclipse to paint, so this is another painting done after that event,
but this blog post is of part of the journey to arrive there.
C1633
“Wildfowl Flotillas on Mosquito Lake”
(West of Union Pass, Wyoming)
Oil Sketch on
Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel
5” x 7”
I ended part 1 of Heading
north to Wyoming with; “And that was Thursday, day two of the Dinosaur
National Monument, where I thought I would spend only part of one day to breeze
through!”
And yet, I was not yet finished with the
Monument, for how can you pass up a name such as ‘the Gates of Lodore?’ Sounds like something from ‘the Lord of the
Rings.’ To get there, in the morning I continued
on the county roads for thirteen miles to Us Hwy 40 at Elk Springs (a couple
houses and a rest area), and on to Maybell and a petrol station. From here State Hwy 318 is followed west
forty miles or so (now north of the Yampa River), and then leaving the pavement,
a gravel road is taken a few miles to the Gates of Lodore where the Green River
enters the mountains. It’s funny to
think that just a few miles by river will take one to the meeting of the Yampa
River with the Green at Echo Park, where I was yesterday, so many desperate
road miles ago; there were two groups of rafters preparing to do just
that. The views of the Gates from the
sand bank on the Green at the campground are good, but for the classic views of
the river into the canyon itself, a mile stroll along a nature trail is well
worth the hike. Sadly the box containing
the guides to the numbered points of interest was empty. You know … I never
spotted one Dinosaur the whole time I was in Dinosaur National Monument! I, of course, expected them lurking on every horizon. What a swizz (that is a ’jip,’ to the Yanks
out there!! Har! Har!
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| The Gates of Lodore from the Campground. |
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| The Gates from the Nature Walk. |
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| The Gates of Lodore from Trail’s End. |
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| Into the Gates. |
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| Floaters on the Green. |
Now wasn't that really Lord of the Rings-ish? Photos
taken and lunch eaten, and I continued west on Hwy 318. A few miles along from the Gates of Lodore, I
attempted to cross the Green, to drive the few miles to one of the hideouts of
Butch Cassidy, but the bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic, and an eight
mile walk was not in my timetable. From
the highway one could see the canyon, and imagine the seclusion of the place,
especially back then.
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| A
few miles along from the Gates of Lodore, one comes to Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge. |
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| Near Browns Park Butch Cassidy had one of his hideouts across the Green River. |
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| Up
that valley, is one of Butch’s hideouts; The Green is in the fold of land between here and there. |
A
few miles along the road enters Utah, and the pavement ends and becomes gravel
and intermittent with pavement for the forty or so miles to its junction with
US Hwy 191, which I took north through Rock Springs, Wyoming, topping up with
petrol and ice, to Farson. Turning
northeast here onto State Hwy 28, forty miles brought me to the famous South
Pass. Here this broad pass, at the south
end of the Wind River Range, saw thousands of emigrants pass through on the
Oregon Trail, including the Mormons on their 1847 trek to the future Salt Lake
City. One can still see the wagon ruts
in places. A few miles on I left the
pavement for the forest roads, and five miles in, camped for the night, on
forest road 309.
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| Just to the west of South Pass is the “Parting of the Ways.” |
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| At South Pass. |
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| South Pass is at the top of the ridge to the left of Pacific Butte. |
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| Of course I had to show you Oregon Buttes, which lie to the south of Pacific Butte. |
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| To
the north of South Pass is the Wind River Range, and at their north end is where I watched the Eclipse, three days after I passed through South Pass and up the east side of the mountains, through the town of Dubois, and then over Union Pass. |
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| More historical info at South Pass. |
The
next day, Saturday, I passed through Lander, on US287, stopped into the ranger
station there, picked up some free eclipse info and eclipse glasses, topped up
with petrol, and continued on to Dubois, seventy miles further. Here I strolled around this decidedly western
town (with hitching posts in places), topped up with petrol again, and a bit of
dry ice to make my normal ice keep longer, and headed into the Wind River Range
over Union Pass, and the eclipse in two days time, and that you already have
read about in my last posting.
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| Red Canyon overlook, on the east side of South Pass. |
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| Wildlife info. |
