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STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEE GOODWIN
Main image : U . S . Route 40 west of Dinosaur , Colorado . Inset , top : Utah embraces its paleontological past . Inset , bottom : Inside the Wyoming Dinosaur Center .
200 Million Years Ago B . C . in Colorado , Utah and Wyoming
When the dinosaurs roamed the earth , they were tiny and titanic , terrifying and titillating , fleet footed and even flabby . Sounds like me at various ages . My map says the Dinosaur National Monument is way , way up in northeastern Colorado . Next to the town of Dinosaur ! And next to nothing else , on a road to nowhere . Excellent , let ’ s go chase some dinosaurs !
Fall has begun and the tourist hordes have fled , so I start with Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road , the highest continuous paved road in America . The aspens are golden and quaking , the peaks still have pockets of snow and the air is warm with no hint of impending winter .
After a quick lunch in Granby I hit U . S . Route 40 , a mostly wide and gentle two-lane highway and my home for the day . Following alongside the Colorado River for an hour , through lots of farmland and a brief fun canyon , I turn north into spacious mountain valleys with vast ranges off in the distance . Steamboat Springs