J U R A S S I C P A R K
Where is it ?
**jump to: J. Park West Topo or J. Park East Topo
About 200 yards beyond Holy Saturday along the Turtle Rock Trail, on past the trail to Foreign Territory, you will find a three-layered boulder stacked about 15' high on the right (E). The trail up to Jurassic Pass and down into Jurassic Park is just past this point on your right. Here you'll find a notable collection of 20 routes, mostly short (50 - 80') but usually adventurous and even testy at the respective grade. 'JP' is seemingly remote, and it was until climbers began to discover its varied climbing as well as the pristine surroundings. Certainly two routes found here (Mud in Your Eye and Lichen Lung) were put in before 1992. These were pointed out to me as I roamed the area with crackmaster Bob Scarpelli. Possibly 2 more lines were climbed that weren't documented except by WOM (word of mouth). There was no claim of the area being named at that time (see Timmet: sorry fella, you submitted wrong information). Of course nowadays there are spurious claims of other earlier first ascents, but then WHY were all other lines literally and physically untouched - packed full of dirt and gravel eroded from above over geologic time, filled with roots and bushes so big no one could have gotten through? Photographs and original notes documenting this do exist that demonstrate this. At any rate, most lines went in permanently after much work during the early nineties. It was common to see a moderately large cougar who resided here at the time. He'd come out, growl occasionally and sun himself on a flat-topped rock across the little valley, probably salivating at a likely lunch. Naively, we just continued climbing and talked ourselves into thinking "MIKEY" (we named him for Mike Crichton, author of the book Jurassic Park, a friend of mine) was our 'buddy'. He was seen only occasionally in '94 and very infrequently after that. A cougar of similar size and color was reported prowling around the Beaver Pond in the Summers of '01 and '02, but its not known if it was 'Mikey'.
As well as being a really cool place to hang out and climb, Jurassic Park is a great refuge on really windy and/or cold days. A word of warning however: If you hear deep, resonating growling or slurping sounds, it might be a good idea to vacate the area at your earliest convenience. Cougar, Velociraptor, T-Rex or just wind .... one never knows!
INCIDENTALLY, to be sure, the name 'Jurassic Park' was inspired in part by the book and movie of the same name, both of which were wildly popular during the nineties. In fact, to dispel any legal infringements, I (sh) sought and obtained legal rights to use the name 'Jurassic Park', as well as the names of principal life forms depicted in the film from Universal Pictures after first contacting Michael Crichton, who gave his consent as well (I do have documents accordingly). Additionally, some don't know that Jurassic Dinosaurs roamed SE Wyoming and the entire area is an archeological repository of their fossilized remains. In fact, Como Bluff (about 45 miles north of Vedauwoo) has been called the "motherlode of Jurassic dinosaur deposits", including possible Raptors. Further, the wind does not just 'prowl' through the forest here, at times it 'growls' through the diminutive valley after accelerating through the venturi of 'Jurasssic Pass'. These things in concert, along with the presence of 'Mikey' made it easy to visualize this unique location as another 'Jurassic Park'. Thusly, naming the area was not just a trendy decision, decried very publicly by certain so-called 'local' climbers/authors (see, for example, Fat Crack Country, Orenzac, Extreme Angles.com, Publisher, 2003 pg. 11) who apparently lack clear understanding of the facts.
To the JURASSIC PARK TOPOS
***FOR MORE SHOTS OF J. PARK, check out this site which has some cool, big photos of trips to Vedauwoo, especially "the Park". Big thanks go to Aran, Amy, Ellen, Curtis and Greg who all tested the routes found here. One correction - the photo entitled "Ellen leading CC Left" is actually the route Sore-O-Pod. The Juvenile Raptor Boulder is seen on the left, and there are bolted lines on either side of the big crack that Ellen is in. CC Left begins about 50' to the right of this big crackline. This is not mentioned in criticism whatsoever, just clarification. Great shots.
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