Island Park
It was our last day in Dinosaur National Monument, and we planned on a touristy day. We finally went to the Quarry Visitor Center together, and then to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. It's a really cool thing to see, a wall of dinosaur bones that was once the bottom of an ancient sea. We stayed a long time, then we went to go check out the Josie Morris Cabin, which was unbelievably relaxing. The tough lady lived there by herself for most of her adult life, and it's an oasis. This would be a fantastic place for lunch on the picnic tables.
After a leisurely morning we decided to stop by the RVs for lunch because we were close by. We decided to do Island Park at the last minute, so we could see all of the major trails and roads in Dinosaur National Monument before we left.
The trailhead was down a narrow and wavy bit of pavement from the Split Mountain Campground where we were staying, so we didn't even have to get on the highway. The asphalt turned to dirt and we were on our way.
It's a scenic drive through the desert hills, though it heads in one direction for a while. We stopped at the petroglyphs, walking up to them to take some great photos. It was a really nice stop.
When we got to the intersection, we went down to check out the campground. There were lots of people just hanging out by the water. It looked pretty deep there, and we spent a bit of time just checking things out before heading back to the intersection.
Next, we were up on the overlook and it was incredibly scenic. You could see why they call it Island Park. You could see for a long distance, and it seemed like each direction had slightly different colors and surfaces. Very cool.
We could see the rest of our trail down at the river's edge, and we were looking forward to seeing the area from the top and the bottom, so we headed down. Eventually, we got to a boat ramp and the trail went from smooth and wide to a two-track, little-used trail. We had to keep going, of course.
We saw evidence of Ruple Ranch here and there, with a cabin and old fencing. We saw another boat ramp, and we stopped when we were right next to the river. It was really nice down there, and we had it to ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn't see any rafters.
The trail soon ended and we turned around to head back. It was a nice and scenic way to wrap a really great trip to Dinosaur National Monument before we all headed for home in the morning.
