Pronghorn Fawn

On our way back from our early morning moose adventure, we stopped at the Red Gulch Dinosaur Track Site to see some dinosaur tracks. To get to the site, you travel down the Red Gulch/Alkali Backcountry Byway which is a dirt road for about 5 miles. The road continues on after the site for another 27 miles or so through undeveloped country.

The site had picnic tables and pit toilets and some signs to explain the history and the tracks. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before viewing the site. We were the only ones there until shortly before we left when another car drove up. I had a terrible time figuring which indentations were the dinosaur tracks. Regis had no trouble. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to become a paleontologist.

Rather than returning home the way we came, we opted to drive the rest of the Red Gulch Road through all that undeveloped land. We did not see a single human made structure along the way except for fencing and a few rock cairns. It was a beautiful drive, but the road was very rutted from someone who had driven it in a heavy vehicle while the roads were wet. Those huge ruts made for a bumpy road, but it wasn’t too bad. The scenery was worth it.

Not too long after we left the dinosaur tracks, we found two adult pronghorns with a baby. I have only seen baby pronghorns from so far away you need binoculars to figure out what you are looking at. This was a special treat to see this little one reasonably close. The pronghorns kept their distance, but did not run away. It gave us a great opportunity to watch them for a while and see the little one nurse.

Pronghorns are the fastest animals in North America and can run 65 miles per hour. They have very large eyes and can see 320 degrees around. They are not good jumpers and will climb under a fence instead of through it. The outer material on their antlers are shed every year and regrown. Both sexes have horns but females have smaller horns that never exceed their ear length. The other adult in the group we saw was a female.

We saw a rabbit and a variety of birds, but not other wildlife along the way. The scenery was amazing and the pictures I got don’t show how spectacular it looked.