Exploring Hagerman Fossil Beds......For Me!

 

 This weekend, I decided to adventure a few hours East to the small town of Hagerman, which is the location of the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. I started my adventure at the Visitor Center. While small, it contained some pretty neat fossils that had been found in the area, including a famous Hagerman Horse fossil. This collection was only a small look into the over 200 species of plant and animal fossils that have been found throughout the monument. I watched a short film about the fossil beds and even earned my Junior Ranger Badge! I spoke with the Interpretive Volunteers in the visitor center for a while and they were excited about the idea of my developing a Junior Refuge Manager Program for Deer Flat and made a few suggestions for activities that I should consider including. Before leaving the visitor center, I was given a water bottle and a National Park Service carabiner. I followed the main road for a few miles, crossing the Snake River and then turned to follow the river until I reached the Snake River Overlook, with views of the site where a large majority of the fossils had been found.  

Across the street was the trailhead for the "Emigrant Trail" which follows along the remnants of the historic Oregon Trail for a few miles. Despite the suggestion from the monument volunteers, I decided to hike the trail anyway......I should have listened. It was an out-and-back trail, which did not occur to me until I reached the end of the trail at the Oregon Trail Overlook, several miles from where I had started the hike. Being that the trail didn't offer much in terms of views, I opted to hike back to my car along the road, rather than hiking down a trail I just came off of. It was rainy and windy as I'll get out, and you could hear the wind turbines in the distance, which was a pretty neat addition. Apparently my presence on the road was a bit concerning as a man in a truck pulled over to see if I was ok and ask if I needed any help.  I finally got back to my car and made my way back to the house.
One Junior Ranger Badge Down, about a zillion more to go!

How Neat Is That?!