Wednesday July 23, 2014

 

Travel Day

 

This morning we started by heading south on I-215 then east on I-80 and US Rt . 40. The drive east on US Rt. 40 was a beautiful ride through the mountains; there were several points at which the grades were long and steep, but we made the climbs without incident. The scenery varied from high mountain pine forests to high desert areas of very little growth. Our destination for today was the town of “Vernal” UT, and the Fossil Valley R. V. Park. This is a small park but we have long gravel pads, with grass and large trees between the sites, it looks like a nice place for the next several nights. Because we arrived around 2:00 we had time after unhooking the camper to go into town and visit a museum that was recommended to us. 
The Utah Humanities Council presented “Journey Stories”, exhibits depicting the journeys undertaken by the various groups that migrated to Utah over the past 150 years. It was a small but very interesting museum. One of the volunteers suggested that we visit a local ranch that contains some Indian Petroglyphs, Indian rock art; that is only a few miles out of town. Because the petroglyphs are on private land there aren't the facilities found at state or national parks. The climb up to the petroglyphs was an unpaved narrow steep incline over large rocks and loose gravel; although the climb was strenuous it was worth the effort. Up on the mountain side the rock art was spread out along the cliff face, and at times the pictures were hard to find as they had faded over time. This was one of those unplanned, but fantastic side trips that have made this whole trip so interesting.