Colorado

The mountain bike trails around Fruita are world class.  We headed to the Kokopelli trail head area and found some beginner to intermediate trails to ride…unfortunately we hit a hot, sunny afternoon so we only lasted a couple of hours.  We had great vistas of the Colorado River and Amy found a beautiful yellow-headed collared lizard along the trail.  We love the wildlife surprises that we have had on this trip.

We made a day of traveling north to Dinosaur National Monument, probably THE highlight of the trip for Jackson. They just finished building a new structure over the quarry last year (NPS had to close it in 2006 due to a crumbling structure.  We felt grateful for our timing).  The quarry has an impressive "wall" full of dinosaur fossils that measures about 150 feet by 30 feet.  The best part was that they let you actually touch the fossilized bones!  It is an old quarry that was first excavated in the early 1900's.  Some 300 tons of dinosaur fossils were taken out by horse and wagon by the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA who had the original claim to the quarry. When the excavation began the area in the quarry was some 50 feet higher than it is today.  WOW! The fossil trail that leads back to the visitor center also has actual fossilized bones that you can "discover" as you hike.  Cool stuff.  Jackson (and Asa) had a day they won't forget.

We also made it a point to drive to the rim of the Colorado National Monument for some more amazing views of the Colorado River basin.  It was only 2 miles from our camp site and definitely worth another visit when we return to mountain bike again!