Because the Colorado Plateau was at one time an inland sea, and also a tropical climate (think Pangea) it has both interesting geological features, and a high concentration of dinosaur fossils.
At the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, UT, you can see many fossils, historic models, and dinosaurs depicted through the ages. Here is a photo through a light box recreating images from the first Dino film, The Lost World.
Also, extensive work has gone into the exhibition to stress that many dinosaurs may have actually had feathers. If these dinosaurs had a flighted ancestor, then they are flightless birds. If the ancestor is not a bird, then they are just a dinosaur with feathers. Lots of work is being done to fill in the knowledge in the evolutionary time line gap. In the meantime, these scale feathered models are still pretty scary.
On to Canyonlands National Park. The park is broken into 3 accessible sections. We visited Needles. Because of that whole inland sea thing, a salt done developed beneath the earth's crust, pushing up the sandstone and breaking it into fins. The salt then dissolved thanks to millions of years of rain, and thanks to that settling plus wind and sand erosion, we're left with Needles. A strange red rock and Sandstone landscape.
Wooden Shoe Arch
Hiking in Needles, follow the cairns ( the small piles of rocks here in the foreground) or you will get lost very quickly
See the Needles
Also, Ravens everywhere. This one decided to decorate our car.
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