Last December we read that Nevada Northern Railway had a matching grant challenge, so we signed up to be members. And we convinced BJ to buy the Be the Engineer, this is where she could actually drive the stream engine. It took more convincing than I would have expected, but in the end she caved. Then I discovered that Carbon County Utah did tours into Range Creek Canyon, a historic ranch with pictographs. Now we had a trip. I would fill in the other days with fossils, and petroglyphs. I had us a "there ain't no rest for the wicked, and the righteous don't need any" kind of trip. Yep, early mornings, late nights, and a ton of driving. Since we were going to be in Ely for one train trip, we signed up for everything that was available while we were there, Robinson Canyon, Steptoe Valley Flyer, and Sunset and Stars Champagne. I really enjoyed the Steptoe Valley Flyer as you ride on an original First Class Passenger Car built in 1882. It even has the original seats with leather for the men and velvet for the women. Fancy.
BJ at the train station
One of the steam engines being re-built
Looking into the fire box
The original buildings and equipment are still there.
An old snowplow
The women's section on the Steptoe Valley Flyer
Look at all that original glass.
Our souvenir glass.
BJ on the big day. Looking like a steam engineer, or farmer.
This is view you have as the engineer.
Someone looks happy
Jim, the instructor engineer, and BJ after a successful run.
Don't miss this 5-minute video of BJ's train adventure! Video link to YouTube for email readers is here.
Weird effects in the tunnel on the Robinson Canyon train.
Another tunnel
After too much fun with trains in Ely, it was time for too much fun with trains at Golden Spike. They have replica trains that run during the summer, a wood burner and a coal burner.
Then, it was time for the fossil portion of our trip. We had never been to Fossil Butte before. We all really enjoyed the fossil collection, and the scenic drive and hike we did.
White tailed jackrabbit. Cool new hare for us.
Yes, there is a huge fossil display in each bathroom.
Yes, fossilized poop really does deserve a bathroom display, Loved it.
We next headed to Dinosaur National Monument mainly for the covered fossil bed. Wow!, there is so much more to see. Tons of petroglyphs, great scenery, and fantastic hiking trails with views. We could have spent more time here.
Lots of Fremont Style petroglyphs.
Down there is the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers.
We decided that we had to do the overlook trail in Dinosaur as it would be our sixth state, so we made a brief stop at the ranger station, where a fortuitous meeting with a ranger had us heading to Echo Park along the river for the views and petroglyphs. What a great area, we will have to go back when we have more time.
Really interesting pecked in petroglyphs.
What a view, Shark's Fin.
And bonus petroglyphs.
After Dinosaur we went to several very impressive petroglyph sites. First up is McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs, which are on a private ranch that is open to the public a good part of the year. I thought it was basically the 3 Kings Panel, and was very impressed with all the other rock art there.
The 3 Kings Panel
We headed to Price Utah for our Ranch Creek Ranch tour, but what would a vacation be without a museum, so we stopped by the Prehistoric Museum.
Then early the next morning we met our group and headed to Range Creek. As we were the first ones there we asked if we could ride in the Suburban with Juanita as opposed to the big van. This was so much fun. We got to hear about all the things she does including the trips she takes the senior citizens on, and got to ask her all our questions about the ranch and pictographs as we were driving along.
Juanita!
One of the historic ranch houses.
Finally, we spent a day in Nine Mile Canyon. It is more like 46 miles long with petroglyphs spread over about half of it. We could easily have spent two days there. The rock art is magnificent.
