Dinosuar National Monument-Not All Goes In Your Favour.

Dinosaur National Monument is an amazing place to visit but on my trip , all was not the best for taking pictures. Further north America was having a  massive fire and the fire front spread over 100’s of miles ( Not kilometers) and the smoke was drifting over  a large portion of the United States and this made taking pictures just so so so hard and at one point I seriously contemplated coming home. It was almost impossible to shoot.I had to deal with the smoke for the first 3 weeks which limited what I could do as it was so so thick at times.

These pictures are not stand out pictures, this I know, but I included them to show one the effect of the smoke on the landscape and to encourage my American friends if you haven’t been there then do so as this place has a grandeur of its own.

On the plus side of blazing the trail to Dinosaur National Monument, it is one of the few parts where you don’t have a lot of people, thats rare in the States these days. It was nice to get out  and go to the look outs  and not be trying to push your way into a spot, or waiting back to get the spot that you wanted.Compared to other  parks, this place virtually has no one there in comparison. This park is out of the way,  and it takes such a long time to get there.

For those who followed me on Facebook, you might remember a series of pictures where I was pulling strange faces( some might say thats normal for Pete) well, that was on a long stretch going to Dinosaur National Monument.

The other thing to consider if you do blaze the trail there, have a 4WD as the best part I feel is down the bottom on the canyon. There are tracks down there and from above you can see them and oh, if I could have gone down there, i would have had a ball.

It’s a steep track going down, not hard to do at all, but the motor home that I had would never have gotten up again. Going down would have been easy whoohooo but coming up, not so whoohooo!!! If you are down the bottom  and if you had  significant amount of rain, then stay down the bottom and enjoy the park as you wont be getting out in a hurry due t the surface of the track and the steepness.

I have to work out something as the Motor home I had was awesome for 85% of my trip, but there were just a few places where I was disappointed as I couldn’t venture to the areas due to the car that  I was traveling in.

What I like about these trips is the people that you meet along the way. I met one lady in her 60s, Donna, a really nice person and she had driven all that way to watch for birds. There is one particular bird that is meant to live in the region and found no where else. No I don’t remember the name of the bird.

We chatted for a little while and as I’m so passionate about what I do, it was nice to talk to someone else who is equally passionate about their gift and hobbies. We are all different and  like different things, that is what make us so unique from each other and also what binds us to others with the same interests.

My pictures here are average, things weren’t going my way but when you are in a place where that is happening, you just need to think outside  the square and make the most of it. When there is a lot of smoke one of the things to do , is shoot close, highlight those things and that is why I would have liked to have gone to the bottom of the canyon.
From the top looking down into the Canyon, I could see all the potential that stood before me. Well I guess it gives me a reason to blaze the trail back, but with a 4wd.