The Long and (Un)Winding Road.......

My day here at the "Swell", begins with the drive out to Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.  The CLDQ is located approximately 20-25 miles south of Price, UT and there is about 15 miles or so of dirt road.  As evidenced in the picture, the road is often straight and uneventful, except for the occasional washboard patches.

For the first 14 or so miles, the road crosses a geologic formation  called the Mancos Shale.  The Mancos shale is primarily mud and silt layers deposited in a shallow seaway that covered much of the interior western part of the U.S. back in the Cretaceous (100 million years ago....).  It has some coal deposits and a few interesting fossil invertebrates, but really isn't the most interesting rock around.  The road really does seem endless some mornings.

This is definitely taking the "road less traveled" as some days we only get 6-10 visitors at the quarry.  But the people who take the time to come out there are always interesting and fun to talk to.


To get the to quarry, the BLM supplies us with Big Silver --- a Chevy Silverado truck.  Here I am leaving the quarry in the truck!

More later!