Page 35 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000
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exactly a wilderness experience, but it was the first time we have
gone out into unknown country and tracked about without known
paths to follow. Lois was the one egging us on most of the time.
The river erosion has uncovered various layers of sediments in the
canyons. The light gray is clay, the dark gray is volcanic ash from
Montana and Wyoming, the black is coal, the yellow is another
form of clay, and the red is clay, called clinker, that has been baked
to a color and consistency of roof tiles by the fires that ignite and
burn within the coal layers. There have been no underground fires
here in about 20 years but the last one here had been burning
since the first settlers arrived. The fires start with lightning as the
exposed coal seams are right on the surface in the canyons.
We had lunch from the car at an overlook. Got the chairs and
table out for the first time. Very successful. Headed for town for
the afternoon, as it’s too hot to stay out in the park at midday. Got
some ice cream and looked in a few shops. Went to the Visitor’s
Center for a Ranger Talk on pronghorn sheep. After hitting the
camp store for groceries, we went back into the park for the
evening. Found a tree shaded picnic area all to ourselves and got
out the chairs again. Sat out and read our books and “rested our
eyes” for a couple hours. We were observed closely by a colony of
Prairie Dogs. Four wild turkeys wandered through and chipmunks
munched flowers around the tables. We ate our dinner and
headed out for evening wildlife and lighting.
The evening light was perfect for photography. Took more pictures
than I should have as it takes so long to get them onto the Web
site. The highlight of the evening was the appearance of more
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