Wy-Co-Ut-Wy-Ut — YOFO Adventures

You know there was alcohol involved in creating a sport that requires cinching down on an angry animal's nuts.

Looking ahead as we left Nebraska and continued our meandering toward Salt Lake City, we figured out that we'd be near southeastern Wyoming at the same time as the Cheyenne Frontier Days. And one does not miss an opportunity to see the Granddaddy of 'Em All. So, we attempted to blend in (although we both refused to wear "daisy dukes") and joined the festivities. We caught a concert that included the Bellamy Brothers, Joe Dickie, and Sawyer Brown, all good ol' boys of country music. We also lucked into their "military appreciation day" and enjoyed a free day of epic rodeo action.

The wildflowers in the Colorado Rockies were spectacular!

From Cheyenne, we dipped into the Colorado Rockies and lucked into a spot near Rabbit Ears Pass at about 9000 feet. Our campsite was close to a lake and walking minutes from the trailhead to the top of Rabbit Ears. It was only about a 5 mile round trip hike, but it had us huffing and puffing as we ascended another 1500 feet for some fabulous views. We felt like we had earned our dinner out on the town in Steamboat Springs that evening. Much fun.

You can hike or kayak to get to these and more tracks.

Dinosaur National Monument was next up on the agenda. We drove past the Colorado side, which we'll have to hit later on (perhaps on YOFO round two?). We stayed outside Vernal, Utah, which was a good jumping off point both for the Monument as well as for some local attractions like Dino tracks and mountain biking at Red Fleet, pizza at Antica Forma (a great restaurant in Vernal: three "noms"), a hike to Moonstone Arch, and a laundromat with wifi!

More on Dino NM - the bone quarry wall is amazing. It was over 95 degrees outside so we opted for a couple small interconnected Loop trails which were great for seeing the terrain. We also drove out to see the cool box canyons and the Josie Morris homestead at the literal end of the road. The thousand year old petroglyphs are stunning as well.

Petroglyphs are cool.  These were created with "hammer stones" that were used to chip away at the red patina covering the sheer rock face. — Petroglyphs are cool. These were created with "hammer stones" that were used to chip away at the red patina covering the sheer rock face.

Real Dino bones left in situ at the fossil quarry.

We headed a bit north from Vernal and travelled thru some gorgeous forest areas. We stopped and got some amazing views of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

And then we kept right on driving back into the high desert. Dawn's luck at randomly selecting sites ran out and we were in essentially a treeless desert "parking lot." Sigh. The next day we drove back down to the forested southern end of Flaming Gorge to hike the red canyon rim trail and catch some more wildlife - big horns were chilling out and we flushed a decent sized group of grouse/pheasant.

Get out of your car! This is less that a mile from the Red Canyon Visitor Center

We also got in one more sunrise kayak in Flaming Gorge. Despite the early wake up, we're really enjoying getting on the water before dawn to view the wildlife while the sun peaks over the horizon.

Upcoming in our next update: we drove to SLC and had an explosive tire blowout. We flew to NYC for a wedding; and our trusty companion Murphy crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Plus, we are due for another monthly recap. Time flys when you're YOFOing!