Trek America - Jackson to Vernal

The landscape changed dramatically after leaving Jackson and heading south into the Mormon state of Utah. Gone were the snow capped and tree studded mountains as arid plains of scrubland rolled out into a never ending horizon. The Rockies reared up over our shoulders as we moved further south and east to the town for Vernal where we would camp for the night.

On the way to our destination we stopped at the 'Flaming Gorge', a huge brimstone red gorge of rock turning up out of the water in front of it like the tail of a diving whale. Although it was not hot, it felt very warm compared to Yellowstone and we recognised how the land must become a furnace in the summer. We also stopped at the Dinosaur National Monument,created following the discovery of over 500 species of dinosaur fossils in 1909. The high concentration of bones is as a result of the area having been a river bed, drying out during a drought before flooding again, drowning a number of dinosaurs and trapped carcasses of others that had died in the drought. The river bed trapping and preserving their bodies to be discovered millions of years later. Although Alex was a little sceptical of this school trip detour it turned out to be interesting.

When we arrived at the campsite, the sun and blue sky were out with the mood buoyant at the prospect of a dry warm night. However as the sun set a huge thunderstorm broke in the distance, lighting us up like the headlights of several cars. Rain started to patter across canvas and we retreated to our beds for the night.Read more