“In rivers the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.” Leonardo da Vinci
Adventures with Pepper: Day Six continued
View of the Green River from the Dinosaur National Monument quarry overlook. — Photo by Pat Bean
My detour off Highway 40 to Dinosaur National Monument on a rural back road followed the Green River as it flowed down to join the Mighty Colorado River.
Not a slouch in itself the Green, which begins in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, is 730 miles long and a major tributary of the Colorado.
I had rafted this section of the river, through Split Mountain Gorge into Dinosaur National Monument, back in the late 1980s, and I had canoed a section of the river from Ouray to Sand Wash in the 1970s.
So while I have a fondness for all rivers, I have a special fondness for the Green. It was an expected pleasure to watch its passage from behind the wheel of Gypsy Lee this morning.
What wasn’t expected was the flock of sandhill cranes in a meadow near the river. I had to stop for these.
A flock of great blue herons in an irrigated agriculture field just outside the entrance to Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah.
The herons were an unexpected sight, the kind that continues to make travel so alluring to this wondering wanderer.
Book Report: Travels with Maggie now at 50,402 words. Over half-way there. Yea!
The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.
Bean’s Pat: Running with Scissortails http://tinyurl.com/8q45ucg One of these things is not like the other. Personally, I hang out with scissortails at every opportunity, but I’ve never seen scissor-tailed flycatchers anywhere but Texas.
Pat Bean's blog 
I have never seen a flock of herons – how cool is that! Thanks for sharing – AWESOME:)
Field of heron is amazing. I see them individually on a river or clustered in trees nesting, but not like this.
I’ve only seen them in a flock like this one other time. At Farmington Bay in Northern Utah in winter when the bay was mostly frozen over.
Over half way there! Yay! 🙂
How wonderful to see a flock of herons. I’m so used to seeing them on their own that I found it shocking to see them in a group the first time.
That’s a cool photo but I believe those are Sandhill Cranes and not Great Blue Herons.
Yup. I had a brain fart. Correction has been made.
> Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:20:48 +0000 > To: patbean@msn.com >