Where the rivers meet each other. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 4.

We enjoyed being in Craig (including museum - Craig. Museum of Cowboy & Gunfighters. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 3) and our short stop in Maybell but we still have a few miles to cover and some places to discover.

 

Our trip was progressing well and we had some time before the night fell and covered the land with darkness, so we decided to make a turn and take a look at Harpers Corner, the last viewpoint and trail at the East part of Dinosaur National Monument. We thought we had enough time for a short hike to see Green and Yampa rivers, the wild cliffs and crazy canyons.

We drove about 30 miles deep into the park, crossed the Utah border and made our way back to Colorado, only to end up at the trailhead, where we left the car and continued on foot.

 

This is a short and pleasant trail (about 3 miles back and forth) that meanders between cliff edges. So you can see the Green River weaves around the rocks and makes a couple of sharp turns (if you look at the satellite image, you can see the Green river has an S-shape there). And the hiker is the only observer there, almost like a hawk, flying high in the skies and watching the canyon floor from a great distance. The view from this viewpoint is unforgettable!

Actually, the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers is not visible from there... Moreover, the Yampa River is almost invisible. But you can see the Green river on both sides of the cliff.... before it draws the water from Yampa river, and after that, the Green River now carries water all the way down to the Colorado river.

The Yampa River flows 250 miles through northwestern Colorado in the United States. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, it is a tributary of the Green River and a major part of the Colorado River system. The Yampa is one of the few free-flowing rivers in the western United States, with only a few small dams and diversions. The name is derived from the Snake Indians word for the Perideridia plant, which has an edible root. John C. Frémont was among the first to record the name 'Yampah' in entries of his journal from 1843, as he found the plant was particularly abundant in the watershed.

The Yampa River is a typical Western snow-fed stream, but unlike most other rivers in the western U.S. its seasonal discharge patterns are not affected by large dams and water projects. The river forms a noticeably wide, shallow braided stream throughout much of its course. And I would say that driving along the highway along this river is a great pleasure. Both banks of the river look so green and lush... so unlike any place distant from the river. I can imagine how important this river was for the Native Americans, because if there was a little water in it, buffalo and deer would move to other places, and growing plants would be threatened. My guess is that the irrigation system has made fields and pastures less dependent now, but life in this region still depends on winter snow in the Rockies.

Unlike Yampa, a relatively small and "one state" river, the Green river is large and powerful. The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Green River is 730 miles long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing through Wyoming and Utah for most of its course, except for 40 miles into western Colorado. Once the Green river meets the Colorado river, it continues bringing the waters down to Arizona, Mexico and ending up in the Pacific Ocean. Quite a run, huh?

And there are a few big dams and reservoirs along this run (we will show one later), miles of rocky canyons the river has eaten through millions years of hard work. And... all these riversides and canyons look just amazing. But why am I telling this if I can show - just take a look...

PS but if you'd like to learn more about Green river - look here:

Green River (Colorado River tributary)

And finally our day ended in Vernal, the town of dinosaurs ;) Just 400 miles away from home...

Click here if you are interested to see how the same place looks like on gloomy, cloudy and foggy day - Yampa and Green rivers

To be continued...

Pictures were taken on May 25, 2019.