The One Where We Go Looking for Dinosaurs and Get Lost in Desert a Few Times

Yesterday was a day for getting lost in the desert.

Our first stop was to find Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail to see some fossils and tracks that were still in the ground. Once we got there, we somehow couldn’t find the trailhead, even though, in hindsight, it was right in front of us. So we walked down a different trail, assuming it was the one we wanted.

Spoiler: it wasn’t.

However, I did get one of my favorite photos of the day on the wrong trail. The sun was shining in just the right spot to illuminate this tree to make it pop against the red rocks.

We walked a little further, and then turned around. The dino trail promised signs, and we hadn’t seen one. On our way back we met someone else who was looking for the trail, and after talking for a few minutes we split up and walked on either side of the river bank. He was the one who spotted the first sign indicating the dinosaurs, so we followed his lead.

Only, it was the end of the trail, not the beginning, which would have been fine, except he didn’t see the steps that led to the trail and he went up the mountain. And us, being us, followed his lead.

Which led to more disappointment and accidentally getting off the trail. We turned around again and were about to give up and call the trail a bust when we saw this cutie.

We met the chipmunk at the end of the trail where we had started the second time, and once it left us, we looked around and saw the steps that we were supposed to take, and just like that we found the fossils.

While we were on the real trail, I overheard someone talking about there being dinosaur tracks, so when we were finished looking at the fossils, we went on a quest to find those too. They were surprisingly easier to find than the fossils.

Once our search for dinosaurs was over, we headed back to the car, and found our very own living dinosaur. Only it was much smaller and less ferocious. At least, we hope.

My husband pointed it out, and honestly, I’m not sure how he spotted the lizard, it was so little, and very well camouflaged.

After the dinosaur trail, we went to Dead Horse Point State Park, which I will turn into its own blog post and share tomorrow.