After our short time at the Dinosaur Quarry building in Dinosaur National Monument, we made the short drive to the campground. Although there are several campgrounds in DNM, I chose the one closest to the quarry purely for convenience. From the map and satellite view I was afraid that it might be too close to the road to be as private as I'd like.
I needn't have worried.
Here's the view from outside the RV:
It was still fairly hot when we arrived, so we kept to the shade at first. I did explore the immediate campsite of course, and was excited to find...
...a not-too-bashful lizard!
In the early evening when things started cooling off we took the short walk down to the river.
I can't help but love the color palette of western wilderness -- the textures too!
So the river. The Green River.
It's fine, but it really just serves as a nice foreground for the mountains:
The obvious explanation for this river's name is probably not the correct one, but it sure does provide a lot of green to this area...
...especially when seen from above:
This expanse of greenery is not automatic. Hence the somewhat noisy -- for an almost silent environment save for the gentle sound of flowing water and some wind through the trees -- presence of an irrigation pump just across the water:
Still, the view was quite wonderful, and I used my longest telephoto lens to good advantage:
On the 5-minute walk back to the campsite, more beautiful colors:
Then some dinner...
...and a few relaxing hours in front of a campfire with our first good look at a very dark night sky. (This was probably the best night of the entire trip!)
Finally this trip was living up to its promise!
.
Beautiful photos. The colors are relaxing, soothing to the spirit. Your pictures of the mountains are fantastic. The last landscape photo looks like a painting with colors that remind me of CM Russell.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying your trip vicariously! We just returned from several days in Eastern Oregon, wow. I was very inspired by the colors and textures...which are quite similar to what you photographed.
ReplyDeleteI love those landscapes. If only I had more time, I'd be on the road a lot more!
ReplyDelete