Intro to Recent Western Loop Trip

This little post will serve as an introduction to the trip MOH and I took recently through parts of five western states.

It was a trip of views...

Looking south toward Zion from Utah S.R. 14.

And of new places.

Fog coming off volcanic rocks, as seen from Colorado S.R. 34, AKA Trail Ridge Road, AKA Highway to the Sky, in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Another view from Trail Ridge Road (with snow!) from above 11,000 feet, possibly from above 12,000 feet.

A trip with roadcuts...

On the road to Dinosaur National Park, from just outside Dinosaur, CO,
looking south. Utah says this is Jurassic Entrada Sandstone on the Jurassic Carmel Formation. Colorado is vaguer about its formations.

And old roads...

Looking straight down old U.S. 40 (West Wendover Boulevard, Wendover, NV) from I-80 toward the Great Salt Lake Desert.

U.S. 40 in Utah, with an old alignment of 40 off in the bushes.
(Which road did my family and I travel on in 1957?)

A trip over lots and lots of Mancos Shale, especially in UT and CO...

Mancos Shale just west of the UT-CO stateline near Dinosaur,
with a bit of Mesaverde Group sandstone on top.

Mancos Shale, seemingly everywhere, looking south from U.S. 40
near Elk Springs, CO.

And a trip of wonderful cross bedding.

Navajo Sandstone along Utah S.R. 89 about 6 miles north of Kanab.

The map shows major locations or stopping points on the trip, not locations of photos.

View Western trip in Larger Map