Rifle, Vernal, Steamboat

Sunday - Rifle Falls, CO, Vernal, UT area - September 21, 2025

Morning drive to Rifle Falls State Park, CO and a hike around the falls. Then up to Fantasy Canyon, an hour south of Vernal, UT. Next a short visit to McConkie Ranch Petrolyphs and stayed the night in Vernal.

Sight and sound of Rifle Falls

Monday - Vernal, UT to Dinosaur National Monument and on to Steamboat Springs - September 22, 2025

Waking in Vernal on the Vernal Equinox has a certain poetry to it! We go to the Utah unit of Dinosaur NM but the Exhibition Hall is closed (the covered fossil dig building) and take the very 4x4 road (Blue Mountain Rd) to the Colorado Unit and Canyon overlook. We'd planned to take the Echo Park road to the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers but the road had washout and sand area needing 9in clearance which we don't quite have. Then on to the Steamboat Grand Hotel. Amazing place!

Tuesday - Steamboat Grand - September 23, 2025

First day of Colorado Association Storm Water and Flood Plan Managers connference (CASFM). Dinner in a old barn of Sirloin and Trout then get-together via Gondola. Weeeee!