Sundance to Steamboat

From Sundance Utah to Steamboat Colorado

    We had a hard time leaving Sundance, it was spectacular. We parked on the side of the road on what seemed like a remote mountain but couldn’t sleep because cars kept zipping by us all night. We couldn’t figure out what so many people were doing on this road in the middle of the night, so at some point Jimmie drove down the mountain to the trail head parking lot and decided we might get some sleep there and it would be safer. All night long cars full  of people came and went and I couldn’t figure it out.. why? Does anyone sleep around here? We woke up early and hit the trail to Stewart Cascade falls. . Come to find out this parking lot is the trail head  to climb the highest peak in Utah. Its a 13 mile hike and takes several hours. To avoid the blistering midday heat people start out at all sorts of crazy hours and head out in groups with flash lights. That is a pretty cool thing and I’m glad to know my interrupted sleep at least resulted in an adventure for others. Our plan was to wake up early and do the 4 mile cascade waterfall hike and even though these sleepless hikers kept us up all night we were still somehow up bright and early and the hike was certainly good enough for me. We stood under the falls and the coldest water I have ever felt rained over me. We just missed out on seeing a moose drinking just below the very falls we were in, we were told by some other hikers. It was still a great way to start the day.

  After a very scenic drive we finally found the ugly part of Utah. There were some towns that I wouldn’t want to stop for gas in unless I absolutely had to. The nicest architecture was an old trailer that didn’t have a wrecking yard of old cars and trash. I guess every state has these towns somewhere. We kept driving and stumbled upon the Quarry Exhibit Hall Dinosaur monument. It was very cool. The paleontologist who discovered the dinosaurs here in 1909 had the foresight to recommend preserving a part of the mountain side and building a museum around it for future generations. So you can actually see the real bones in the side of the mountain. I am no dinosaur enthusiast by any means but it was definitely worth seeing. If dinosaurs are your thing, this would be the Disneyland of dinosaurs. 

  We just crossed over into Colorado and just over the border was a dispensary called Dino treats. It had a big dinosaur in front. We didn’t stop but it cracked me up. We’re definitely not in conservative Utah anymore. I suspect the Colorado dinosaurs have more giggles than the Utah ones. 

  The wind is picking up, time for me to buckle back up.