Our inspection of the desert creek quickly completed, I made the mistake of pointing out how close we were to Fossil Ridge.

Not it's real name, of course. Just the name our family has given to a Jurassic outcrop.

But the warden I'm with, who happens to be driving and therefore in control of our immediate future, loves to walk. Even if it is the middle of the day, in the middle of July.

So moments later we were parked below the Continental Divide.

Looking up at the thick layer of white Yellowstone ash. The good news that has arisen in the past couple weeks is that the planned construction of huge wind turbines along that windy divide is looking less and less likely.

From the beginning, I and the federal biologists have tried to explain to the company reps the problems they will have with sage grouse.

And were summarily, almost rudely, dismissed, like annoying mosquitoes. These are people used to getting whatever they want, whenever they want it.

Now it appears, because solely of concerns for sage grouse, their billions-dollar (literally) project is either dead in the water, or going to be seriously curtailed.

We tried to tell 'em...

Aaaanyway, we are soon parked on a Jurassic era coral bed. And quickly into shell fossils.

This far into summer, the landscape is almost boring. The only plants blooming were buckwheats

and cactus.

Encouraging was the condition of the winterfat on the range

A favored winter food for pronghorn, so named because domestic sheep can actually gain weight in the winter off this plant.

But in the heat of the day, there is little to see. A few alarmed prairie dogs, and a startled jackrabbit.

A hundred meters up the draw, I found the remains of one of its cousins.

And some interesting seed pods.

But there was some excitement, near the draw itself:

We were not the first people to wander here.

But I suspect these others were smart enough to avoid the midday heat of a July day...