After we left our motel we proceeded on to Fossil Butte National Monument. What an amazing place. We watched a 13 minute video that showed how, by removing a layered sheet of limestone, they found the fossils in the underside of the layer. In the Visitor Center they had many fossils, some replicas of fossils held at the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum in NYC.
Visitor Center at Fossil Butte National Monument
Fossil-bearing Wasatch Badland
Quarry site at Ancient Lake Bed
Boa found in Green River Formation
A fine preservation of Priscacara
The fish fossils with smaller fish fossils in their mouths I
found fascinating. It was too dark to photograph any of
them. The enclosed photos we purchased at the Visitor
Center. They had a crocodile fossil, but recently it has
been suggested that it is an alligator. A soft-shelled turtle
and stingray were both remarkable. The turtle because its
"shell," although a fossil looked like leather with such fine
detail of its cracks and ridges of the shell. The ray was
skeletal and all its very fine bones were fanned out so you
could really "see" it.
We had a wonderful time at the center. They had numerous
pictures of fossils in the exhibit and great panoramas of the
way they thought the lake was before the "slump" or "slide"
buried the animals, apparently, instantaneously.
After the visitor center we took the 1 1/2 mile look trail up the
butte so we could look back down over where the lake had been.
We spent the whole morning there.
After we left the monument we drove west on US30 and
around Bear Lake and on over the mountain. We had a
picnic lunch on our way up the mountain at an overlook.
The view from there was great. The lake looked lovely
from a distance when you couldn't see the resort stuff
and the fact that the water level in the lake was very low.
As we headed on up the mountain we were passed by 5 or 6
motorcyclists, all had luggage and dressed with helmets and
leathers. Coming down the canyon there is an area marked
with warning signs about 6% grade and 20 mph curves and
they were not kidding. It's a really dramatic drive and one of
the most beautiful canyons I've ever seen. But, the drive was
marred by the tragedy of seeing a motorbike lying on the
ground and a man also lying on the ground and a patrol car
was there and one biker on his feet. I think there were actually
at least two down because later 2 ambulances roared up the
road soon followed by 2 of the bikers and another patrol car.
What a sad way to end what had looked to be their vacation.
Now we are in Boise, ID at a Comfort Suites Inn where we've
stayed before. Robert is on the love seat checking e-mail and
drinking cranberry juice. I'm in a very comfortable easy chair
having a glass of wine. It's almost 8 PM and I suppose we should
go out to eat.
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