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| Fossil Butte National Monument |
A couple of weeks earlier, we took part of our family on an epic roadtrip to Badlands National Park. Some of our family couldn't go with us on that trip, namely my oldest daughter, her husband and their children. The first roadtrip was for seven days. They couldn't get off work for that long, and that would have necessitated taking two vans for the whole clan. Our family is getting bigger. The takeaway from this is that we like to spend time with our family.
We felt bad that they weren't able to go with us to South Dakota and we wanted to go and spend some time with them on their own epic roadtrip. We have five grandsons and one granddaughter. I looked around the region for something we could do over three days and thought, "Dinosaurs! boys always like dinosaurs." I made an itinerary for us to go to Dinosaur National Monument in Vernal, Utah. When I was mapping out all the possible routes for a Vernal trip, I realized that one road would put us right past Fossil Butte National Monument. This was a no brainer. What boy doesn't like fossils?
Fossil Butte National Monument is about three hours from our home. Vernal, Utah is about three hours from Fossil Butte National Monument. Six hours of driving on the first day. The cool thing about that is the driving would be broken up with a stop at a really cool place with fish fossils. Over the years of travelling to all these different places, I have always been confused about the difference between a National Park and a National Monument. Both of them are administered by the National Park Service, so why the distinction? What I learned is that Congress decides what gets to be a National Park, but the President can create a National Monument. Really that is the difference. It isn't size, it's who gets to decide. Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, for example is large enough and there is enough to do for it to be a National Park. But a president made it rather than congress, so it is a National Monument. That explanation is probably about four sentences longer than it needed to be.
We rented a fifteen passenger van for the trip and went in one car. There were ten of us and our stuff. Perfect. We left fairly early in the morning. The Hot Chick and I are night people, so early in the morning as defined by us is like ten o'clock. We stopped in Afton, Wyoming for a couple of reasons, first we wanted to see the worlds largest elkhorn arch. For some reason, people in Wyoming like to create architecture with elk antlers. There is a park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that each entrance to the park features and elk antler arch. They even make chandeliers out of them. Granted, there are a lot of elk in Wyoming. They might outnumber the people. Elk shed their antlers every year in the fall, after the rut. The other reason we wanted to stop was to see the Star Valley Temple.
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| The largest elkhorn arch in the world. I know they aren't horns, they are antlers. But the sign says... |
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| I'm not sure how those two bulls can stay up there like that, locked in mortal combat for all time. |
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| Here's a smaller, pedestrian arch |
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| The fam in front of the Star Valley Temple |
We arrived at Fossil Butte National Monument at about one o'clock. The main feature of this National Monument is the visitors center. It is a building with tons of fossils quarried from the National Monument. Many of the fossils are original, and many of them are casts of original fossils that have ended up in some of the great museums of the world. I think the casts pre-date the National Monument. There are alot of interpretive features that explain how the fossils got to be where they are now.
About fifty million years ago, there were three major lakes that made up the Green River Formation. Lake Uinta in Utah, Lake Gosiute in Colorado and Fossil Lake in Wyoming. This was during the Eocene Epoch. Fossil Lake was the smallest of the three, but the most significant, at least to modern geologists and paleontologists. I know, I know, America is the land of superlatives, especially here in the west where I live, but really, the Green River Formation in Wyoming does produce the finest Eocene fossils anywhere in the world. Conditions were just right for maximum preservation.
The fish fossils from this area are unmistakable, and appear in nearly every great paleontological museum in the world. They are abundant, and can also be purchased in many gift stores. Plus, there are at least three private quarries outside the National Monument where you can pay to dig and keep the fossils you find. We have done this before, and I wish to do it again someday.
In addition to regular fish, rays, turtles, alligators and frogs have been found here. Several species of mammals have been found here including horses, tapirs, lemurs and bats. Scientists aren't sure if these bats were carriers of Coronavirus. The two camps of scientists have decided to arm wrestle to see which side is correct.
This area during the Eocene was also sub-tropical, in a past period of global warming. Palm trees grew in Wyoming. Birds and bugs were abundant as well. In the early part of the 20th century, coal was mined here. The miners discovered the fossils and began selling them for a lucrative side business. In 1972, Richard Nixon created Fossil Butte National Monument to be preserved for all time and all Americans. See, not everything he did was bad.
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| Visitors Center hidden in a patch of non-fossilized sagebrush |
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| Diorama of actual fossilized fossil hunters |
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| More fossilized fossil hunters in their natural habitat |
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| Some of the turtles or tortoises here grew to be over a meter long, if we're talking metric. This one was only about a foot long if you are talking imperial measure or hot dogs |
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| This is a well preserved fossil ray |
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| Group of fish, fossilized at a family reunion |
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| I have collected fossil fish nearby, and when you split the limestone, you can still smell the ocean. It's weird and cool all at the same time. The fish have not turned to stone, they are a different kind of fossilization. They are still carbonaceous. Ok, so I don't know if I used that word correctly, it was a thinly veiled attempt to seem smarter than I really am. |
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| Fossil gar. These are not nice fish. Kind of like the barracuda in Finding Nemo |
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| The reason this fish went extinct is because no-one could pronounce it's name |
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| Horses can't breathe underwater, and that is why this one died. I don't actually know that, this is what happens when I blog while I have a headache |
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| Alligator or crocodile, I don't know how to tell the difference. I do know how to tell the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon however.. |
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| A bat. There is no fossil evidence that suggests these bats were carriers of COVID-19 or that the virus was the cause of death and extinction at fossil lake. |
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| Some kind of fossil with dis-articulated bones. This guy had a really rough day |
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| Cast of a snake |
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| Killed during the Night of the Iguana |
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| Some kind of mammal. Couldn't make fire, so it went extinct |
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| Palm frond in Wyoming. Life existed here during previous global warming. Just saying |
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| Wall of fossil goodness |
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| Dragonfly |
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| Pretty cool turtle fossil |
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| Diplomystus is having a bad day |
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| Shrimp, crawdad, crayfish. Bottom feeder |
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| The visitors center is really cool |
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| This is the original choreographer of the ballet, Swan Lake |
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| Looks like an ostritch but not so big |
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| This is not a fossil, rather, she is a fossil curator |
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| I wonder how they tasted? |
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| It is possible that the extinction event here came from a volcanic eruption which sapped the oxygen out of the lake. It's possible that all of these fish suffocated. |
The visitors center is the main attraction at Fossil Butte National Monument. There are some hiking trails with beautiful views of the surrounding area, and you can go visit the quarry pits where the fossils are found. I believe they are working quarries to this day, but you have to be a park employee or a scientist or both in order to dig there. And you don't get to keep what you find.
We took one hiking trail and then headed for our camp which was about three hours away from Fossil Butte National Monument.
Because we had the grandkids with us, we took the shorter trail which is simply called "Nature Trail." The other trail is called the "Historic Quarry Trail." One day I'd like to hike that one.
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| The actual butte which is called Fossil Butte. Geologically speaking, the lake bottom was uplifted and created a huge plateau. As the plateau eroded, it became a series of mesas and buttes. All of this means that more fossils have disappeared through erosion than there are left in all of the buttes and mesas and museums and private collections worldwide. Where I am standing to take this photo was once as high as the butte in front of me but erosion has taken it all away. |
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| Me and the fam about to hike |
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| That gazebo is at the trailhead |
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| Literally the best picture of the whole trip |
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| This is so you can identify hoofprints and poop on the trail |
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| Boys being boys |
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| Up on the mountain, looking out over the valley. At one time, this whole area was part of a greater plateau. Wind, rain, rivers, snow, glaciers have all had a hand in carving this valley and destroying all those fossils! |
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| Elevation gain. There is the van in the parking lot |
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| Fossil bearing layers dead ahead |
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| The hike was tough for the littlest ones |
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| Good thing we saw the sign |
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Pretty part of the trail. Pretty sure we saw a mountain lion on this trail but all we
saw was the tail and butt/ |
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| One of my grandsons |
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| Moth or butterfly making a living. Maybe it will become a fossil in a million years |
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| It's not all a barren hellscape |
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| Nice section of trail through the aspens |
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| This is called a Mormon Cricket |
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| Apparently, South Dakota isn't the only place in America that has Badlands |
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| More badlands |
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| But wait, there's more! |
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| There were forest fires in the west that created the haze |
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| This looks like an evening shot, but it was really in the afternoon because of the haze. |
We drove about three hours to our campsite. Near Vernal, Utah we found a place to camp in the Ashley National Forest and the campground was called the Skull Creek Campground. Anyone who knows me knows why this is cool. I have a daughter named Ashley and I am really obsessed with skulls. So there you go. We made camp and hung around the campfire, cooked our evening meal and relaxed as one does when one is camping.
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| Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area |
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| Colorful cliffs on the way to camp |
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| My daughter's forest |
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| My campground |
I like national forest campgrounds better than national park service campgrounds. Less people, more privacy. They are usually quite pretty. National park campgrounds tend to have less trees so they can sardine more people in. I have only stayed in NPS campgrounds a couple of times. I'll take national forest camping over national park camping every time. Glacier wasn't bad though.
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| Our camp in a forest of Ponderosa Pines |
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| Seasonal stream bed |
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| Naturally occurring geological feature in the wilderness. We were the first people to ever see this |
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| Me and my granddaugher |
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| Some of the boys |
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| Pretty moth or butterfly. Will it live to become a fossil? |
This is the end of day one. In the next post I will talk about downtown Vernal, Utah. Until then, Ciao.
Epic Road Trip 2: Part II
Epic Road Trip 2: Part III
Epic Road Trip 2: Part IV
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