Harpers Corner and Echo Park
Harpers Corner is located in the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument. It is a very scenic drive, worth the time to get there. There is a previous blog about this drive; do a search on “Harpers” to find it. Once there you will find a 1 mile hike that brings you over a promontory overlooking the confluence of the Yampa and Green River. You are about 1,700 feet above the rivers, and there is a great viewpoint.
Once we left the overlook, we drove to Echo Park. The road there is 13 miles of very steep, switchbacks, and rough surface that will get your attention. In fact, if it is raining the road is impassable. Along the way you pass the now unused Chew ranch, more Petroglyphs, and Whisper cae. The cave is rather unique in that it does not appear to have any openings yet there is a breeze blowing out of the cave… and it is some 20 degrees cooler. Very interesting!
We made it back up the Echo Park road just before we ran out of gas so we had yet another great day in Dinosaur National Monument. Remember, you can click on an image twice to get a larger image if you want to see more detail.
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- The road back. You can see the switchbacks up ahead
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- Inside Whisper Cave. Hope the ceiling doesn’t come down….
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- Whisper Cave, lots of cool air coming out of the cave entrance
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- Steamboat Rock, behind the cliff
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- Steamboat Rock. Here the Yampa and Green rivers meet.
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- An old hut. Wonder who worked here?
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- Inside the “motorhome”- bed above the loft
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- What’s this, an antique horse driven motor home?
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- And don’t even think about it if it wet!
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- The “Mittens”, a very strange uplift from tetonic plate movement
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- A good view of Steamboat Rock from Harpers Corner.
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- Another view of the Green river
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- The Green and Yampa rivers, now flowing as one
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- The way to the promontory takes you along a ridge with serious dropoffs on either side. The promontory is in the distance.
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- Trees, even dead ones, take on interesting shapes in the desert climate
Laninga's Travel Blog 