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After the race Paul wanted to go for a hike. I did NOT want to go. Neither did Eli. I pushed my sore feet into my hiking boots, packed some muffins, cheetos, bottled water and off we went.
We drove to Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway Trailhead and started our 2 mile hike to the reservoir.
To mark the trail they painted dinosaur foot prints on the rocks. I told Eli they were real to motivate him to keep hiking to the next print. How else do you motivate a 7 year old to keep walking?
Those tracks kept him busy for the full 2 miles!
A few wild flowers along the way.
The cactus in this area was different. Little circle clumps.
Vernal is very beautiful.
Love the rocks.
Making our way to the reservoir.
If I had known it was going to be two miles of stair stepping, I would have kept my knee braces on. This trail was NOT flat. Lots of rocks and boulders. My knees were crying.
When we came to the reservoir we walked across a large flat rock that sloped into the water. We started searching for prints.
What to look for? We thought every little crack was a track and then we found one. Dilophosarus track!
And then many. Some were indented in the rock.
About six tracks walking toward the reservoir. When the sun went behind the clouds, the tracks illuminated and we saw many!
Look Eli! Dinosaur tracks!!
Look, Mommy! I’m on an Island!!
Little boys and water. It didn’t take him long before he lost interest in finding tracks and made his way into the water.
After running 13 miles and then hiking 4 more miles a few hours later was not fun. While searching for tracks and walking in the Mesozoic era just as the dinosaurs walked, I forgot about my feet and knees. It was pretty cool. I’m glad we did it.