Dinosaur National Monument - September 8th

 Today we hiked the Sounds of Silence Trail in Dinosaur National Monument.  It lived up to its name as the only sound we heard was the crunching of our boots on the trail and the sloshing of water in our bladder packs.    I got to climb on rocks, wander through red mounds and be lost in the formations.  

It’s interesting thinking of the elements that create this ‘rock art’

Even in these conditions, flowers find a way to brighten the day

This dripping was interesting.  Figure as the wet sand flows down it just dries in a certain spot.  Dave said just like sand castles on the beach.

After the 3 1/2 mile hike we went to a couple of pull offs to see petroglyphs/pictographs.  I wonder what the pictures really meant or were trying to convey.  They used minerals to do the pictographs.  One interesting thing I read about the petroglyphs is that they feel it is evidence that the people lived here comfortably.  The creation of the images would have been time intensive and taken people away from other important daily tasks, like finding or growing food.  Even so it was not seen as a drain on resources but a worthy endeavor.  They found the desert to be bountiful when properly cared for.  Because they chose to live with the land and not simply upon it, they found success where many have not.

Various drawings

Lizard

Large lizard

Various

Looks like a vase and various suns or designs

People and animals

More lizards.  I did see 5 or 6 on the trail, so they were either drawing what they saw or lizards had a great deal of significance to the indigenous people

Your guess is as good as mine.

Til next time…