My plan for the day was to see something I wanted to see even more than dinosaur bones. Dinosaur footprints. Rather by chance I found out that there were supposed to be footprints of dinosaurs in this area. Even luckier, I camped almost in front of them without knowing it. Before pitching my tent I asked the campsite host if there were any tracks in this area since this would be the absolute highlight for me and admittedly I would have been a little bit disappointed having come all this way to the heart of dinosaur land and not having seen foot prints to get the complete package of what we can experience from dinosaurs today. I was told it would take about an hour to hike there but the sun was about to set. I would have been a hike through the desert and while I really wanted to see the site with the setting sun and strong sideways shadows in the tracks and I thought it would have been great to wander through the desert with my headlamp but I thought about those people who get lost in the desert and lose orientation and I didn’t want to take any risks so instead I got up early in the morning with my goal in sight. All I had to do was get to the other side.

I don’t know why they didn’t just run a little ferry service but then again I would not have had to hike there and missed that experience. So I packed my things and got on the road again. I had to take the first paved right turn back up north on the main road but I wished I had time to take the first non paved turn. Throughout the area there are signs describing the local geological dinosaur context. It was a stunning feeling being right in the middle of this part of history only millions of years later.

On second thought maybe it was a good idea I didn’t explore this amazing dirt road further as not only geologists and paleontologists were interested in this terrain but also a mining company blasting away the mountain with debris flying everywhere.

There was a sign at the beginning of the trail to the tracks which read that it was only recommended to proceed with a body weight proportional amount of water with you and ample heat protection and to let somebody know where you were hiking.

Upon taking the first few steps I thought I had already found a track but that was just how the path in the middle of nowhere was market. I would never have been able to find these markers in the darkness with just my headlamp.

The scenery was unlike anything I had ever seen. Seeing terrain like this was a bucket list moment. The sandstone and it’s vivid orange color with the blue sky was a sight I wish I had more time for to appreciate.

Just two days ago I had had snow in my hand on a mountain, now I touched the hot sand of the desert.

I was surprised at how much life there was here. Not just the vegetation that was actually green (which was probably due to the fact that it was close to the lake water) but also animal life was somewhat abundant for a desert.

Funny enough this guy is less related to dinosaurs than the ones we eat.

The sun was merciless and I while I was walking I was trying to remember way-points so I would be able to get back. Everything looked the same and walking back it would all look different.

Around each corner I wondered if I had reached the goal.

At least the geology made it clear that this is where dinosaurs tracks might be found.

Layer upon layer upon layer.

Finally. I reached the lake and could not help but wonder if there was a Velociraptor waiting for me there at the water. The view was stunning. It would have been a great experience even without seeing any tracks.

There were some signs at the waterline explaining the site and one had a layout map of the tracks.

It was a good thing the scenery itself was well worth the hike as you can imagine my disappointment when I realized that all the tracks were under water.

You can(‘t) see a foot print here.

The lakes water level rises periodically thus covering all tracks.

But wait, what was that! Not all tracks were submerged under water. In the center of the photo, left of the broken stripe of rock you can see the three toes foot print of a Dilophosaurus.

It was an electrifying and humbling feeling to touch this shape in the rock. 200 million years after a dinosaur hat put it’s foot there.

In Jurassic Park Dilophosauruses looked like this:

And when I knew what I was looking for I found another one.

These were not the most prominent prints of the 30 or 40 prints under water but I got what I was looking for. As I felt the shapes of the prints I though how lucky we are that this layer of rock has just been revealed to us now. There are hundreds or thousands of layers of rock and of all the layers that could be visible because of erosion it is one with dinosaur tracks. This begs the question what else lies under the surface that we just can’t get to. Also it means that this layer will be gone “soon” just like the layers that were above it until this one got revealed by erosion.The water is sanding down the rock each day. Maybe in a thousand years the show will already be over – but another one might just start.

I spent another half hour trying to imagine the changes of 200 million years before I tracked my way back to my bike. I had reached the most southern point of my journey and from now on my general heading would west. Next stop Salt lake City.

The landscape became less spectacular but the high temperatures stayed.

I reached Salt Lake City in the afternoon and was surprised to find a not so small version of the Washington DC capitol there. Salt Lake city is also the capital of the state of Utah.

 

For the first time I saw gated communities which to me was a really sad impression. People wanting to build a wall around them to keep others away, creating a “we vs. them” feeling. Reminds me of the middle ages or some dystopian mindset after the world has gone to hell. Speaking of hell, another thing that made Salt Lake City an interesting experience for me was the Mormon Church’s temple square. What is considered a sect in Europe is a big religion here in the US and particularly in this area. This was the place the missionaries I had met in Yellowstone wanted me to visit.

There were several temples and the whole square had something of a Bond villain vibe. This was also due to the fact that there were groups of young people walking around with big content smiles exuding happiness like they were on drugs.

It reminded me of Moonraker where you have this group of people who are waiting to be transported to the space station to start a new colony in space.

I’m being judgmental without knowing much about the ideology but it made me feel uncomfortable.

The buildings were nice on the inside and looking at the ceiling and the lighting and electrical equipment I remembered what the missionaries told me about this place. This was where the or a leader frequently gave a televised speeches to the followers. Again I don’t actually know what he says but these TV pastors shows seem very sketchy to me.

The missionaries would be happy I saw the place that clearly was so important to them but unfortunately it was not for me. The sun was nearing the horizon and I wanted to continue west to find a campsite since there was none close to the city. After taking a few wrong turns and ending up at a grocery store stock up my food supplies and getting gas I was back on the road heading west towards Nevada, getting closer to the salt lake that gives Salt Lake City it’s name.

After almost an hour drive I got off the highway and took a gravel road heading north towards the lake. There was nobody there and I wasn’t sure I was on the right track. On a map I had seen a spot close to the lake that seemed like it could be a campsite and I was really hoping I would be able to either camp right next to the lake or at least not have to keep driving more than a few minutes to camp after seeing the lake.

You can see my essential nutrition at the back of the bike.

I reached the lake about an hour later and the view did not disappoint.

The shore was not sand but salt. The salt was piling up with a gooey texture.

The water had an intense wine colored tint.

But just as imposing was the smell and the amount of mosquitoes and flies everywhere. I had planned to take a swim in the lake because you would float in due to the high salt concentration but the smell of death of anything that falls into the lake and the relentless mosquitoes made me change my mind quickly.

I was exhausted and just wanted to find a place to sleep but I definitely would not camp at the beach and I would also not camp close to it. The campsite I had been hoping to find turned out to be private property and the bushes next to the road were too strong to put a tent on them. So my only option was to drive back and keep heading west to Nevada.

The sun had set but I loved riding on the dirt road and my lights made the road look like it was day.

The past two days I had noticed my clutch getting rougher and rougher and back on the highway I realized I had to do something about it as soon as possible. I stopped and of course my oil level was extremely low. The engine oil doesn’t only lubricate the gears and the cylinder but also the clutch so it was an easy enough fix. Just not at midnight in the darkness.

So I pulled over, and used one of my water jugs to collect the remaining old oil …

… before poring in two bottles of fresh oil.

It made a world of a difference and the engine was once again running as smooth as can be. I took the opportunity to check the map again to see if there were any campsites in the area but there were none. In complete darkness I also could not see if there were any spots next to the highway that I could camp at.

So I kept driving. Of course a few minutes later I saw a sign notifying me that there was no gas station for the next -I believe 70 km- and I was sure I would not have more than 70km left in the thank. So I pulled over at that last gas station to gas up just as the old lady who operated the old independent shop locked the door to call it a day. I told her my situation and expressing that she didn’t want to leave me stranded she went back inside and switched on one of the pumps for me. I hurried filling up the tank and gave her a 5 dollar tip which she only reluctantly accept. But I figure maybe she’ll do it again for someone else.

I got back on the bike and continued west until I saw a road sign with a hint to something that could be a campsite at an upcoming exit. I slowed down and turned onto a dirt road. The visibility was absolutely zero, zilch, nada, nothing. Only the road in front of me. After about five minutes the road made a few turns and in the shine of my lights I saw a few dune like sand hills behind which the road eventually stopped. But there was a wide flat empty space in the dirt that was good enough for me. It was a huge relieve and I hurried with putting up the tent in the light of my bike.

There was no wind, no sound, no light and no moon and the temperature was just right to not feel the air. There was no physical input for my mind to process. Except I had an amazing view of the stars and the Milky Way. I felt like I’m floating through space. This is exactly what astronauts must feel like on spacewalks. It was like wearing virtual reality glasses. A surreal experience feeling so extremely connected to the universe and extremely disconnected from earth, like it didn’t exist behind me. Those bright dot’s seemed like they were directly in front of me. No “sky”, no atmosphere. It reminded me of a photograph of a city from the top. It was difficult to imagine that none of these dots would have life.

I woke up from the sun burning onto my tent. Climbing out I wasn’t sure if I had ended up on Mars but …

… soon I remembered I was in the US.

The storm from the previous day had not returned and the weather was just perfect. Once more I was alone on the road save for the odd antelope here and there. One was about the cross the road in front of me but luckily changed it’s mind. There was an abundance of wildlife on this barren patch of land. I also saw vultures and a variety of rodents.

Finally, after a few hours in the sun I reached the state of Utah. Known for it’s high dinosaur density and geological predestination for findings. It seems however dinosaurs don’t like the heat which is unfortunate since part of the reason to come here was to see some dinosaurs but who can blame them after what happened a few million years ago with that big fireball and all that.

Instead I found the first signs of what can reveal their remains in this area. A massive broken fold of rock sticking out of the ground showing layer upon layer of time preserved.

The incredible scale was mind blowing. Millions of tons of rock folded up like a piece of cloth over millions of years. A very humbling sight.

The closer you get the more difficult it usually becomes to recognize a pattern but this was as obvious as it gets even at close range.

If only I had more time to admire these keepers of time. The complete silence and solitude would have made it easy to spend a full day marveling at nature.

An hour later I found a little road leading to another imposing sight. A giant canyon with a steep drop off.

Once more I had to force myself to get going again.

I followed a road that led me down into a wide basin, my goal for the day. It was a narrow winding road with a steady not too steep incline. Still it was enough to turn trucks into unstoppable cannon balls in case of a brake failure which is why at any long enough straight there was a long strip of deep gravel branching off the main road so that trucks could speed into them to slow down. I would have paid to see a truck undertake such a maneuver but luckily I didn’t see any. The tracks in the pits however showed that had I waited long enough eventually I would have seen such a show.

The view onto the basin was spectacular. There were stacked layers of rock breaking out of the surface as far as the eye could see. Ideal for dinosaur findings.

I entered a small town called Vernal that housed a dinosaur museum and was clearly dinosaur themed. The museum was supposed to be a very extensive collection but I didn’t want to see bones in a museum which I have seen many times before, I wanted to see where they were from. Of any locations in the world this was the place to do that. Before getting some gas and stopping to eat a big pizza at a Seven Eleven which was actually very good I found another dinosaur of it’s class. A Bell Cobra from the Vietnam War that had been flown by a local pilot.

Despite this being dinosaur country I still didn’t know how close I was to finding them. As distances are great here I was worried I may not find any traces of dinosaurs close enough for my limited schedule. I only had today to track them down. But after talking to some locals I found out that my goal was just a little outside of Vernal.

Somehow I expected a place like this to have a circumstantially boring or scientific name but I had arrived at Dinosaur National Monument. This aught to be good.

After paying the fee for the park it soon became clear where I had ended up.

Welcome to Jurassic Park. The real one. Cue the music.

There was a little train that brought people into the park. Spared no expense.

Of course they also had those jeeps you see in the movie. (Don’t let that Park Ranger look fool you, clearly this is just a disguise.)

If we have learned anything from Jurassic Park it’s not to get out of the vehicle but I wanted to see the dinosaurs up close.

I was rewarded with a monumental sight at huge dinosaur graveyard. A big fold of rock was covered by a hangar like building and allowed a view at an unbelievable amount of dinosaur bones that were still half stuck in the rock. There were dozens of dinosaurs in the same layers. If I recall correctly the science behind it is that over time they were all washed up to a certain spot at a river bend where they accumulated and eventually were covered in sediment and preserved just so they could be discovered millions of years later almost precisely (in a cosmic timescale) as I walked by.

This was exactly what I had come for. The whole site almost seemed fake so perfectly were the bones preserved and the shapes recognizable.

I was surprised at how casual the whole location was managed. There was only one person at the quarry, a military historian who answered and explained the science behind the bones in a very military like Q&A fashion. Unfortunately he could not answer my question as to why one side of this gigantic bone below was missing. The bone doesn’t look fractured so we speculated that maybe a geological shift had transported the rest of the bone away or it wasn’t stuck in the right kind of material and rotted before it could fossilize.

The quarry also had one of the best preserved Allosaurus skulls found so far.

A nice little diagram explained how dinosaur remains are being revealed to us. Dinosaurs die and get covered in layer upon layer of sand and other materials that over time become rock. Pressure from below might then push upwards thus breaking these cake layers and together with erosion this process can reveal old layers which in other spots might still be deep under the ground hiding more secrets for later generations to discover.

Today there was more to be discovered on a little trail leading back to the entrance.

As trivial as it my be I have always wanted to touch a dinosaur bone and this was it. Certainly a highlight of my trip so far.

Soon followed by roughly 2000 year old drawings on a rock. Again it baffled me that this was not at least protected behind a glass wall. No alarms for getting too close. No suspicious security guard eyeing you up. Personally I find art like this more important and worth protecting than art like this ($140mio.) and this ($75mio.) but what do I know.

Back at the main building looking for hydration I found it very admirable that this vending machine stocked almost exclusively water and there was a free water fountain right next to it too.

Exhausted from this excursion in the park I began looking for opportunities to camp nearby.

I decided to just take it slow and drive around a little bit and see if I could find an empty space. As during dinosaur time there weren’t many trees to hide a tent as the landscape was mostly barren rocks like this one that was just another layer slowly pushing out of the ground. Luckily though this time I would not have to worry about bears so anywhere would be fine.

Eventually I did find a camp site and after wrestling my tent to the ground I went to bed before it was dark so I could get up early the next morning for another highlight.

The sun had set as I was still looking for a place to put up my tent. I knew there was supposed to be a camp site near the parks south entrance and eventually I pulled up into the forest road marking the site. Behind me another car followed shining it’s light on me. I stopped in front of a sign post that every visitor at any of these campsites has to take a look at to find out how much to pay, and other general information for camping at this location. Behind me the car had also stopped while we read the information with our engines running. I finished reading and ready to go I turned my head to the left to spot a big sign almost obstructing the road into the campsite that read: Campsite Full. As soon as I had turned my head I heard the car behind my rev the engine and the wheels spinning as it passed me going up to the camp spots. I was furious because clearly if there was any camp spot left it should be mine since I arrived first. I followed the car and indeed they got the last remaining spot. Normally I would not care much because there are inconsiderate idiots everywhere and caring is not worth my time but in this case I didn’t want to let it slide since I would have to go back and start searching for another campsite in the middle of the night for who knows how many hours and kilometers.

After doing another round to double check that I really hadn’t missed any spot before making a fuzz I slowly passed my spot while its occupants got comfortable trying to avoid the unmissable loud motorcycle next to them. I stopped the bike and was about to get off to tell them what I thought of their move as a little old lady walked up to me from behind. She noticed I was looking for a spot an asked me if I could not find any. When I told her that all spots were taken she immediately offered me to put up my tent at her spot on the opposite side. My anger was gone immediately and I gratefully accepted the offer before parking the bike behind her trailer.

I forgot her name but she was a retired teacher who sold her house, moved into an apartment and bought a car and a trailer to tour the US with her little dog. She offered me something to drink and let me use her camping chair, bug repellent torches and the rest of her bonfire as she was about to go to sleep anyway. I was glad I didn’t have to start and argument with those people and after warming up a can of raviolis on my little stove -the fire was not strong enough anymore- I crawled into my tent an slept like a rock with a full stomach.

In the morning we talked for a little while, about our travel plans and experiences while we packed our things. She had a wonderful attitude towards life and only briefly cared about the fact that she didn’t have her dentures in for the photo.

After a quick breakfast we said good bye and for a change I was back on the road early in the morning.

Leaving the park behind the views were still spectacular. I could not believe my eyes when I saw three buffaloes jumping over a fence with their massive bodies. After one had jumped it waited for the next one before they proceeded to cross the road.

It was interesting to see a very flat landscape with a narrow chain of mountains sticking out on one side.

More mountains appeared as I was nearing Jackson, a big ski resort in Wyoming.

 

It was difficult to imagine snow while I was melting in the heat. Jackson was suggested to me by a traveler but I it’s only really interesting for partying and not for it’s sights or nature. It was noon and I was exhausted. I stopped at a big supermarket where I stocked up my food supplies for the next days and got some unhealthy sugary pastries that had no taste beside sugar. But I was too exhausted to mind and too happy about the shady spot I had on the grass in front of the supermarket. In most of North America dog owners have to clean up after their dogs or there is a hefty fine. So unlike back at home in Austria all the patches of grass in the cities are clean and can be enjoyed by humans too. Way to go North America!

I continued south where the mountains disappeared and the wind picked up. In fact there was not a single bump on the horizon. Thus leaving no resistance to the wind. It was not pleasant to drive. There was almost no traffic so the few cars and truck passing me drove a little faster, creating a huge blow each time the passed me. A sign next to the road caught my attention. It marked the crossing of the remains of the Oregon trail. One of the old historic roads essential in conquering the west. About 300 wagons and thousands of cattle passed here every day during the 1850s.

The distance between springs to stock up water supplies was huge and one of the biggest problems for settlers.

The wind picked up and it became increasingly difficult to make progress. A usually unpleasant oil change next to the road was a welcomed break for my sore muscles from holing the bike steady.

Another hour later the wind had become so strong that I had to reduce my speed to 30-40km/h. When I missed a turn and ended up on a highway with cars passing me at three times my speed I knew it was time to call it a day. I got off the highway and disregarding my heading started to look for a place to camp. It wasn’t even dark yet but the beautiful colors in the sky and the saturated colors of the rocks that had become yellow and red over the past few hundred kilometers let me forget about the lost time.

I put up my tent and did my best to heat the meat I had bought without any oil. I ended up half cooking it in boiling water and it turned out surprisingly good. The storm had been rattling on my tent when I put it up but by the time I went to sleep it had completely died down and I went to sleep looking forward to the next day.