A few days ago . . . sorry, but they seem to blend together after a while . . . I visited a park known as Fossil Butte National Monument.
Hard to imagine there is a ‘butte” out here anywhere. This is the land of Pronghorns, natural gas wells and tumbleweeds.Slowly, as you climb in elevation, the scenery changes. This is the look from the fossil beds out over the surrounding acreage.
Fossil Butte is a monument to the excellent diversity of fossils that were recovered here by an amateur paleontologist in the early 1900’s. He would climb up the butte, whack out large blocks of the shale fossil bearing stone, then cart them down the mountain, painstakingly remove the fossils . . . and sell them out of his gas station! A true American Entrepeneur!!
This is what the fossil bearing layers of shale look like. Can you see the fossils?Can you see the fossil now? This is a little minnow that died, sank to the bottom of the lake and was buried in the fine silt before any scavenger could destroy it. Then 3.5 million years later, a very nice Park Ranger sits and carefully separates the layers of shale, cataloging each find. This minnow is fossil #5002.More views from the top of the butte where my Subaru and I did a bit of off-roading.This is a Park Service maintained track on the butte. When this ends there is a very polite signing that basically states from that point you are on your own and Hava a Nice Day!! Trust me . . . there is not much of anything up here!! LOLWith a definite lack of water, there is not an abundance of wildlife here, although I was told that Elk and Moose frequent the area. I did see this blackbird with a nice insect meal . . . . . . and a very fast-moving Mountain Bluebird. I was lucky to catch this shot before it was off hunting again!This is an Oregon Checker-Mallow.Indian Paintbrush.Indian Paintbrush and Slender Skyrockets.A more common plant around the butte is this Sego Lily.SEEK calls this a member of the Ragwort Family but could not identify the exact species.
I had a great day at the butte and the Park’s Visitor Center has an amazing collection of the fossils that were recovered at this location. It is a difficult trudge up the butte to get to the active dig site as well as the two historic dig sites, but well worth the effort for the views from the top!
How anyone could look at the side of the butte and see fossils just astounds me . . . but I am so glad they did. It is history well worth seeing if you get the chance!Coming back across the plains in the late afternoon, I had to stop and capture these clouds and the sunshine penetrating through them. It was almost a rainbow but in pale pastels . . . . . . and the high plains sunsets can be the best with some crazy lights, colors and shadows.
Another park checked off the list. It has been a wonderful journey with many months to go. I hope you are safe and sound and that you will continue along with me as I again head west and north into Washington State.
What the Walrus said . . . 