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| Lower Green River |
Date: July 23, 2020
Place: Dinosaur National Monument, Dinosaur, Colorado
Coordinates: 40.524930, -109.019617
Length: 2.3 miles
Level: easy
The visit at Dinosaur National Monument was at the trail of a long and capricious road trip I took with my daughters and two of their friends, all youth, in the summer of 2020 after the pandemic did away with our initial plans for that summer. Dinosaur NM was kind of an epilogue for this trip. It was beautiful and interesting enough to have our trip end on a high note although everyone in my group was already weary from traveling. I would have loved to go on exploring, but the kids were certainly reaching their limit. The night after our visit of the Exhibit Hall and the Fossil Trail hike they had their first (and only) scuffle on this challenging trip. They resolved their differences quickly, but it was clear that their resilience was wearing thin. I already told them that Dinosaur NM was our final destination. We'd have one last short hike there before turning west and heading home.
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| Gnatcatcher at the Split Mountain Campground |
Not in a hurry, we took our time breaking down and clearing out our campsite. My elder chika did a short stroll around the campground and stopping by the river, looking for birds.
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| European Starling |
I sent the other youth to join the elder chika on her birding stroll while I remained behind to finish washing the breakfast dishes and load the car with everything. After so many days I needed some alone time as well.
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| Yellow Warbler |
Dinosaur NM spans two states. To get to Harper's Corner where our final trail was, we had to exit the park and head east into Colorado. We drove through the town of Dinosaur (yes, that's its real name) then turned north to get to the trailhead. The elder chika found a bird at the trailhead too.
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| Spotted Towhee, Juvenile |
Harper's Corner trail is an in-and-out trail that follows a narrow knife-edge ridge, leading to a view point on the Green and Yampa Rivers. These rivers meet within the Dinosaur NM area. The jointed river continue south as the Green River until meeting the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah.
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| Our hike as captured by my GPS |
It was a hot day. We packed water and started up the trail. A few light clouds dotted the otherwise deep blue sky.
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| Harper's Corner Trail |
The ridge of Harper's Corner had a loose forest of small pines and junipers. These were beautiful trees, but they didn't cast much shade. It didn't take long for all of us to break sweat.
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| Pine |
A few of the pine trees were dead, but standing still. Their twisted figures and exposed wood rings reminded me of the ancient bristlecone pines of the White Mountains in California.
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| Dead Pine |
We were high on the ridge and it was dry all around. The nearest river was thousands of feet bellow, in a deep canyon. Still, there were a few wildflowers blooming here and there. Small, and few, but in bloom.
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| Rock Goldenrod, Petradoria pumila |
Some of the wildflowers that I did see on the Harper's Corner Trail were minute, as befitting desert plants.
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| Grounddaisy, Townsendia sp. |
Fairly soon into the hike we started seeing grand views. Harper's Corner ridge protrudes into a canyon-land area carved by the Yampa ad Green rivers. Between the trees we started seeing glimpses of the huge valleys and plateaus below.
I detected a parking area and a dirt road far below, on the south. I think it was the same dirt road we took yesterday to get to the Steamboat Beach on the Green River.
Between the bottom of the canyon and the height of the mountains on the south there was flat, light yellow strip that looked like sand. Below it was a gorgeous formation of giant steps descending into the canyon, The magnificent geology of the place was completely oblivious to the arbitrary border line that humans drew between the States of Colorado and Utah. The Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument was no less impressive than the Utah side.
The next gap in the trees revealed to us a direct view to Steamboat Beach. This beach is located on a tight curve of the Green River, a short distance downstream of its confluence with the Yampa River.
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| Steamboat Beach |
On the afternoon of the day before, after our Exhibit Hall visit and the fossils hike we drove down to Steamboat Beach where we dipped in a shallow area away from the main current of the river, and enjoyed a relaxed time there. The photo below I took while on the Steamboat Beach. This location is also a resting place for rafting groups that go down the rivers. If my path takes me to Dinosaur NM again I would like to go rafting there as well, it looked like great fun.
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| Steamboat Beach, July 22, 2020 |
Further down the trail we got some incredible views eastward of the Yampa River canyon, and north of it a glimpse of the Green River canyon, and the place of their confluence point, although I couldn't see the actual flow until just upstream of the Steamboat Beach.
On the northwest of the narrow ridge we were walking on, we had another incredible view - of the Green River past its confluence with the Yampa River. An enlarged image of this view heads this blogpost.
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| Post-confluence Green River |
The day was getting hotter and the youth requested a break. After sitting for some time three of them, two of which were my very own chikas, insisted on staying put, saying it was too hot and that they were too tired to go on. Seeing that it was an in-an-out trail and that they had a nice shaded spot to sit in, I left water with them and went on the hike with the forth youth who wanted to see the end of the trail and the views from there.
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| Harper's Corner Trail |
The trail dropped a bit on below the ridge line on the east side. Lovely little pines and junipers adorned the rusty-colored slope we were walking on.
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| Harper's Corner Trail |
I couldn't have enough of the magnificent views of the Yampa and upper Green rivers. I didn't count how many photos I took of this view but I know the choice for this blog post was really difficult.
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| Meeting Rivers |
As if to even things out, the trail then moved us to the west side of the ridge, treating us to even more awe-striking view of the lower Green River.
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| Green River |
I increased the zoom of my camera to maximum and focused on the water way far below. It was easy to see why this river was named Green River. I tried spotting rafters there but didn't see any.
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| Green River |
The chikas' friend and I arrived at the view point at the end of the trail. I don't know who Harper was, but his corner has some of the most grand views I ever seen.
The lower Green River was just below us now, and it was incredible to see the change between the geology with the lighter colored rocks on the east side of the view point (in the photo below) and the darker, more forested west side (the next photo below).
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| Lower Green River |
I assume part of the difference can be attributed to the direction of the slopes - the west-facing slope is usually wetter. There must be some geological difference there too, though, but I'm no expert the local geology there.
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| Lower Green River |
We didn't stay long at the view point. It was hot and exposed there, and I thought of the other three youth waiting in the shade half way back. So me and the forth youth that joined me turned around and started back down the trail.
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| Harper's Corner Trail |
The walk back was quick. We didn't take any rest breaks now, just quick hydration pauses, and an occasional photo stop.
We found my chikas and their friend waiting in the same spot where we left them. They didn't seem to miss us much but they did look happy that we were on our way back to the car.
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| Harper's Corner Trail |
Closer to the trailhead I slowed down a bit to take more photos of wildflowers that I've seen there on the way in. Some of them were not only small but also farther from the trail and not easily accessible.
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| Scarlet Gilia, Ipomopsis aggregata |
Harper's Corner wasn't a wildflowers hike. The trail was all bout the geology and the great views. Yet the few summer flowers there were noteworthy.
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| False Goldenaster, Heterotheca sp. |
By the time I finished my hike the youth were already waiting for me near the car. My elder chika used the time to find and photograph a Woodhouse scrub jay that was perched on top of a small tree, backdropped by what was the only clouded part of the sky.
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| Woodhouse Scrub Jay |
The Harper's Corner hike was the last hike we did on this wild 2020 summer road trip. It took us three days more to return home, three days in which we had a few other adventures (like racing the car on the Bonneville salt flats and then having to take the car for a power wash), but had no more hikes. This is therefore, the last blogpost about this trip.
I thank that the youth were so accepting of my wild ideas, their willingness to
come with me on such a trip and go on these hikes too. I was grateful
for their trust in me. I could only hope they enjoyed it as much as I
did. Or at least, that they found it a superior alternative to staying at
home during the height of the pandemic.
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