Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Dinosaur Hill, Fruita, Colorado

 This is the second post of a new series of travel posts of a road trip to Vegas that my husband and I took at the end of May.  If you would like to start at the beginning, go HERE.

On our second day of travel after we left Glenwood Springs, Colorado, we headed towards our next pit stop for the night:  Fruita, Colorado.

We checked into our hotel and then headed out for dinner.  This time instead of going out to a chain restaurant, we drove to their downtown area and ate a local restaurant.  I wrote about our meal there on Saturday's Foodie Post HERE.




Downtown Fruita is small, but cute and well maintained.  I loved their old fashioned bank building.


 Because it was Sunday night, everything but restaurants were closed so we didn't walk around downtown.  Instead, we headed for Dinosaur Hill, which was located only a few miles from our hotel.  It was a beautiful evening and we wanted to stretch our legs after driving most of the day, and work off that delicious dinner as well.


We really didn't know what to expect from Dinosaur Hill.  My husband saw it on Google Maps when he was trying to locate a hotel.  He thought, "I don't what that is, but that sounds interesting."  We have found from past travel experience that we have so much fun when we discover the unexpected on our trips, so off we went to check it out.


True to our experience, Dinosaur Hill ended up being a lot fun and so interesting.  It is a one mile self guided trail that loops past ten geological and paleontological interests including a Apatosaurus site excavated in 1901 by Elmer Riggs.  This Apatosaurus skeleton is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago.


The first half of the trail is well maintained and wheelchair and stroller accessible.  There are also informative signs describing all the points of interest and the history of the hill.


The view from the top of the hill is breathtaking.  You not only get a great view of the town of Fruita, but the mountains as well.





Past this scenic overlook, the trail gets a bit more rugged and difficult, and is no longer accessible by wheelchair or strollers.

The rock formations are just fascinating.


The pictures below shows the quarry where Riggs and his team dug 20 feet into the sandstone to remove the dinosaur bones.  Can you see me standing in the middle of the picture?   Having a person in the photograph really helps give you an idea of the scale of this place.



Dinosaur Hill is open dawn to dusk.  There is a parking lot and a restroom.


If you are a geology lover, or are fascinated with dinosaurs, this is the trail for you!  But for me, I just enjoyed the nice hike with beautiful views.  There were so many lovely spring wildflowers in bloom while we were there.  I plan on doing a special Sunday gardening posts featuring pictures of all the beautiful wildflowers I discovered on my vacation.


Here is another picture to give you an idea of the size of some of these amazing geological formations.


They look a lot bigger when a person is standing in front of them, don't they?


We had such a wonderful time hiking this trail.  It was so nice to get outside and really take a nice, refreshing hike after spending eight hours in a car.  We were refreshed and ready to begin the last trek of our journey to Vegas the next day.


Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!


11 comments:

  1. Your photos are stunning! What a beautiful place to visit and hike! The town looks really cute too!

    Jill
    Doused In Pink

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  2. Gorgeous photos! What an amazing place to visit!
    xo, Whitney and Blaire
    Peaches In A Pod

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  3. Beautiful pictures. New discoveries are such fun. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Beautiful photographs! I am enjoying your trip.
    :) gwingal

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  5. How fun to find such an interesting place to hike, unwind and get great pics! Question: Does your husband ever get on you to wear "sensible shoes" when going for a hike?? My husband and I have a running joke about that! I tell him I don't like sensible shoes. I like cute shoes!

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  6. ha-ha Karen! We went on this hike after eating dinner out and I wasn't planning on hiking. My husband just drove there after dinner. I asked him where we were going and he said "Just checking something out". So to answer your question, yes I wear sensible shoes when I go hiking if I know I'm hiking. I actually own four pairs of very expensive hiking shoes that are all for hiking in different climates and terrain. But as it turned out, these flip flops were amazing for hiking. They are by b.o.c and are super comfortable and have a great grip. It was a short easy hike too...that helped.

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  7. I like to explore new and interesting-sounding places, too, and you certainly hit the jackpot! What a wonderful place.

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  8. Wow what beautiful views! definitely worth exploring, how nice that you went there on a whim and it turned out to be such a lovely spot :)


    Away From The Blue Blog

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  9. I love your blogging- and your details of traveling with hubby- long drive for the 2 of you! We live in Illinois and have done part of the treck- our son lives in Fruita : ) There are some gorgeous places to hike/see there and in the nearby area.

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    1. Thanks Shelly! It was a long drive, the longest we've driven ever. It's no wonder our car died in Vegas. Fruita was gorgeous. I wish it were more than just a pit stop for the night. I would have loved to have explored it more.

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