FOSSIL BUTTE NATIONAL MONUMENT
Today we go to Fossil Butte National Monument. The buttes around Kemmerer were once the lake bottom of Fossil Lake. I don’t know how they knew it was called Fossil Lake. Fish tend to not name things. Anyhow, at the visitor’s center there are many examples of flora and fauna discovered at Fossil Butte. There’s a video that explains how it all happened and helpful rangers. We decide to head out to the Fossil Lake Trail and explore.
FOSSILS SEEKING FOSSILS
Leaving the visitor’s center, we head for the Fossil Lake Trail. This is a 1.5 mile loop with a 300 ft. gain. The gain is in the first half mile. Now John and I haven’t done a lot of hiking lately. And we haven’t done any at 7000 feet. So there is a lot of huffing and puffing especially by me. John picks up one piece of rock that has a black line on it and we decide it is a fossil of a leaf. Probably not but we are grasping at straws, or leaves.
BULLWINKLE
And what do we see on our hike? Fossil fish? No, a moose! It is quite exciting. Our tromping down the hill must have bothered the moose and he takes off crashing out of the Aspen thicket and racing across the street. I had said to John that my goal was to see a moose and voila, a moose.
WHOA!
As I said yesterday, we didn’t whoa the first time around. The Energy Inn looks pretty bleak from the ouside. No landscaping, no portico to pull under as you check in, even the parking lot is only partially paved. But you can’t always tell a book by its cover.
CELL BLOCK K (for Kemmerer)
So here it is, our motel, The Energy Inn. To be truthful, although it is kind of bare bones, it’s not too bad. It’s clean enough, the showerhead is high on the wall (a must for John), the beds are comfortable and at least two pillows are okay. There’s even a refrigerator and a microwave. I’ve taken some additional pictures so I can post them on TripAdvisor. I figure people should at least be able to see what they are booking.
