The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: Dima02 on May 13, 2010, 08:24:45 PM

Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on May 13, 2010, 08:24:45 PM
Hey, guys,

As some of you might know, I'm working on a LBT fanfic involving time traveling, and I was wondering if any of you guys have any speculation regarding the location of the Great Valley.

For me, I believe that the Great Valley is really just Ashley Valley, in Uintah County, Utah. Like the Great Valley, Ashley Valley is a lush green valley surrounded by mountains. There are three (and before human intervention, five) waterways running through it, and there are two big lakes. The Ashely Valley also contains the nearby villages of Vernal, Jensen, and Maeser. There are at least three state parks in the region, and the National Dinosaur Monument is nearby. According to fossil records, this place was home to many dinosaurs in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous period. Because most of the species in LBT can be found in the Southwestern United States, this is one of the most likely candidates for the location of the Great Valley. Secondly, this valley, in the early Cretaceous period, the Western Interior Seaway would have been close by. This could be the "Big Water." Also, the place seems like a place where it would be reasonable to receive snow sometimes, but no all the time.

Also, the size of the valley seems reasonable for the population. It is also surrounded by mountains (Uintah Mountains, Split Mountain, etc). Although there are some "oases" in the surrounding areas, most of the surrounding area is pretty dry. Here's a pic of the valley. Notice the large river at the right and the lake in the upper left corner.
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qd0fIb3l590/S8Yi4E-hEtI/AAAAAAAAAFA/pxEhI77gh9A/s800/untitled.jpg)

It also struck me how a lot of the locations actually resemble LBT locations. Take a look at the following picture:

(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qd0fIb3l590/S-yTXwWQg7I/AAAAAAAAAF0/bLw3EpC42mo/s576/untitled.JPG)

and compare it to this one:

(http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Kulstor/LBT/Places/GreatValley1-2.jpg)
(btw: Thanks Malte for the above pic)

If you look carefully, they sort of resemble each other. If you look to the right side of the first pic, you can see a river. If the distance, you can see a waterfall.

Here's another pic:
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qd0fIb3l590/S8YmqLGHHQI/AAAAAAAAAFE/dXO0ET0WSi8/untitled.jpg)

I'll explain:
1: Real-life picture of Ashley valley. It's nothing short of magnificent.
2: Picture form Google Earth. It looks like a beautiful place to live.
3: In the nearby town of Vernal, dinosaurs are celebrated figures, as shown by this sign.
4: The National Dinosaur Monument is located not far away from the valley and is a popular tourist destination.

Anyways, the above are just my thoughts :p. Feel free to voice the possible locations of the Great Valley in the responses. I do not believe that the two places actually called "The Great Valley" in NY and PA are likely candidates. I live in the "Great Valley" in PA. Although it is a beautiful place to live, there are just way too many trees and not enough rivers :p
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Caustizer on May 13, 2010, 08:47:41 PM
Indeed, Ashley valley looks just like the Great Valley looks.  Good find Dima.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Malte279 on May 14, 2010, 05:38:06 AM
Those pictures really do resemble each other a bit :yes
The Great Valley resists any absolutely certain locating on our planet due to the fact that the inhabitants not only lived in differed eras but in some cases also on different continents, but this valley may be one of the closest we will get in our world.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Kor on May 14, 2010, 03:47:53 PM
It is certainly possible that could be either the valley or one of the places Doc mentioned in the 6th movie that are as nice.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Almaron on May 14, 2010, 05:12:41 PM
I agree; I always thought the Great Valley was somewhere in the US, mainly because most of the GOF dinosaurs could be found in North America (Triceratops was only found there, so that also kind of cements it). Plus, it's got a large mountain range that runs North-South (the Rocky Mountains).

Even though some of the LBT dinosaurs did never meet in real life, being separated by both time (Jurassic/Cretaceous) and different continents, we can take advantage of the fact that Fossil records will never be able to record when a species died out (there's a term for this, but I can't remember it at the moment), and so you could use that as an excuse for how all these dinosaurs from different eras are all in the same place.

Another thing is that North America and Asia were connected by a land bridge at this point, so both Saurolophus and Oviraptor species could have migrated to the Great Valley.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Malte279 on May 14, 2010, 08:12:47 PM
There is no place (though North America held most of the kinds) that held all of the species we see in the movies. Tsintaosaurus for example (seen in LBT 6) was only ever found in Asia. In any case it is more about the fun trying to approach LBT in a "scientific" manner.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Pangaea on May 15, 2010, 12:33:37 AM
Tsintaosaurus? Don't you mean Lambeosaurus? Tsintaosaurus had a single, straight, unicorn horn-like crest on its forehead, and it hasn't appeared in LBT. There were multiple species of Lambeosaurus with different crest shapes, but the one appearing in LBT XI and onward is based on L. lambei, which had a squarish, forward-angled crest with a short, backward-angled prong in back. Here's the skull. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Lambeosaurus_lambei.jpg)

And for the record, Lambeosaurus IS known from North America (as well as Asia). However, you are right that there are dinosaur species in LBT that have never been found in North America, and probably could not have even traveled there by land bridge. For instance, Ouranosaurus (the sail-backed leafeater that first appears in XI) has only been found in northern Africa, and probably could not have traveled to North America due to Africa and the other southern continents being isolated from the northern continents during the late Mesozoic.

Still, this is a very fun and interesting idea. I personally thought your explanation was quite plausible, Dima. :yes The issue of dinosaur ranges aside, one problem I do see is that the Western Interior Seaway was located EAST of Utah: the direction that the dinosaurs traveled from to reach the Great Valley in the first movie.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on June 04, 2010, 09:00:26 PM
Quote from: Pangaea,May 14 2010 on  11:33 PM
...one problem I do see is that the Western Interior Seaway was located EAST of Utah: the direction that the dinosaurs traveled from to reach the Great Valley in the first movie.
Oops, for some reason, I always seem to get the two mixed up.  :p

Anyways, I just learned that before the Western Interior Seaway was formed by the combining of two separate water bodies, the Mowry Sea and Tethys Sea, which connected in the late Cretaceous period. Is it plausible that the  story occurred in the early Cretaceous period, before the formation of the Western Interior Seaway?

Here is a picture of the Mowry Sea:
(http://www.ariesgroup.net/images/209_Mowry%20Sea.gif)

Also, just wondering, do any of you have any suggestions as to where the Great Valley is located?
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Amaranthine on June 04, 2010, 11:41:58 PM
You know, for some reason I always thought the Great Valley would be where present day Africa is. I mean sure, we could use geology to guess what the Earth was like millions of years ago, but I think it's just a matter of guessing. :p

If Pangaea was one giant land mass, I would think the Great Valley would be more in the center of that land mass. I'm not sure why...it's just guessing.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Cancerian Tiger on June 05, 2010, 01:28:22 AM
I currently live/intern in Grand Teton National Park in western Wyoming, and have gone through some intensive interpretation training over these past two weeks.  Anyhoo, when I was taught the history of this area, it is true the entire area was at one time covered by a seaway.  There have been many late Cretaceous Period marine fossils found in the mountains of this area.  Wyoming is just north of Utah, so this would mean that the areas north of Utah were covered by a seaway at one time.  Just thought I'd put that out there ;).

Also, threehorn fossils have only been discovered in western America and the Alberta Province of Canada.  So, we can at least be sure the Great Valley was located somewhere in the western part of North America.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: MrDrake on June 05, 2010, 01:32:57 AM
To me, that picture you posted above the screenshot looks to be a good one.  The one of Google Earth....wherever that one is.

If it's America...or anywhere other than New Zealand,t hen I wouldn't have a clue on the place :blink:
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: LBTDiclonius on December 30, 2010, 11:22:31 PM
I actually see quite a resemblence there. The pics and the Great Valley do look a lot alike. :^.^:
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: DarkHououmon on December 31, 2010, 12:20:04 AM
Yeah they do look similar. I could see Ashley Valley as being an inspiration for the design of the Great Valley, though not necessarily the location. Back then, the land masses looked different. It's possible that there wasn't even a valley back when the dinosaurs were around.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on April 24, 2011, 03:28:51 PM
Wow, it's been so long since I've posted here. I've almost forgotten about this thread. In any case, the entire purpose of my research was to add realism to my fanfiction (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6926322/1/The_March_of_Man). Now that I've posted my work on fanfiction.net, I can share my research here. There is a large section devoted to this research, but I'll post it here for convience purposes:

Nearly 140 million ears ago, the Earth was a different, yet similar place. Much like today, all kinds of creatures roamed the Earth, and it was rife with life. Some of these creatures found comfort, some found hardship, but most extraordinarily, some found companions.

No where was this more true than an area we now know as Northeastern Utah, in the United States of America. Even over the course of 140 million years, the geography of the region has changed extraordinarily little. The Great Valley, known today as Ashley Valley, is still a cloister of lush trees and green grass. The air is still filled with the laughter of children playing in the grass, and it still resembles a true paradise on Earth. If Littlefoot and his friends can visit the valley today, they would surely be able to recognize it.

The northern parts of the valley have gone through a more drastic change than the other parts. The valley today considerably is smaller than what it was 140 million years ago, with Buckskin Hills now filling up the northern portion of the valley. The most drastic change is probably the water. A long time ago, the lakes we now know as Steinaker Reservoir and Red Fleet Reservoir were connected to each other. At the current location of Red Fleet Dam, Thundering Falls once stood. Water from Thundering Falls flowed eleven miles south to meet up with another river, one we now know as Green River, before flowing further south into the distance. However, the river that flowed from Thundering Falls to Green River, the one that has been delivering water to the valley for hundreds of years, has largely dried up. Only two small creeks named Brush Creek and Ashley Creek remains today, but they’re still worthy memorabilias to the great river that once flowed through the valley.

The valley is still home to many different creatures, and quite a few can trace their lineage to Skip, Milo, Lydia, Plower, and the colony of underground mammals that Spike once fell in. The stories of the dinosaurs will live on in the stories that were passed down from millions of generations earlier. The dinosaurs are as active in their memories just as they were 140 million years ago. For the humans in the valley, they still get to enjoy the tracks and fossils that these mighty creatures made.

The northern parts contained the most of the waterways. This part of the valley, receiving the largest amount of water, was also the lushest and loveliest. It was the location of Littlefoot’s nesting place and the Cave of Many Voices. However, this lovely landscape can not be seen anymore. The relentless movement of Earth’s crust caused an earthquake that pushed this land upwards. The lush vegetation and waterways have disappeared due to these changes, leaving behind only a barren mountain that looks nothing like it did 140 million years ago.

As for the mountains protecting the Great Valley, very little has changed. Even millions of years of corrosion have somehow failed to abate these titanic mountains. Made of solid quartzite, shale, and slate, these magnificent mountains, formed in the Paleozoic Era, still stand tall and defiantly today. And for thousands of years, these mountains, rising 600 feet, have protected the inhabitants of the valley from outside invaders. In fact, Ashley Valley would not be discovered until 1776 and would not be thoroughly explored until the arrival of General W.H. Ashley in the 19th century.

The southern, western, and eastern parts, in comparison, have changed very little. The eastern parts were more fertile and green then they are today, but changes in the southern and western parts are negligible. The place where Littlefoot and his friends first entered the Great Valley can still be visited. Today, this entrance is near Split Mountain, and some lucky hikers today still get the chance to enjoy the same view that Littlefoot and his friends did more than 140 million years ago.

The fossilized remains of the original Sharptooth can still be found in the buried under the waters of the Green River, just waiting to be found by the paleontologists who prowl this region. Hanging Rock, Black Rock, and Ruby’s Thinking Place haveóextraordinaryóremained almost unchanged. The Secret Caverns, known today as the Big Bush Creek Cave, is now the second-largest cave in Utah. Deeper parts of the cave are off-limits due to obstacles like logs and rocks, but deep inside, the Cave of Many Voices still remains. Whereas shouts of joy once echoed through its corridors, now, there’s only a deathly silence.

Littlefoot and his friends lived in the early Cretaceous period. The Big Water, which is now known as Mowry Sea, is no longer existent. However, many legacies live on. Littlefoot’s birthplace, near Dodge City, Kansas, although not marked by any structure, can still be visited. The canyon that separated the families in the Great Earthshake can still be seen in Colorado. After the lava cooled, a river, known today as the Cucharas River, cut its way through that canyon. Some parts of the canyon have withered away, but the half-mile wide and 400 feet deep gap that separated Littlefoot and his friends from their parents can still be seen near a place called Cedarwood, Colorado. Today, Littlefoot’s bold and epic 880 mile journey to the Great Valley has been shortened to just 690 miles. Their epic journey will be covered more in the next chapter.

The “neck” of Saurus Rock collapsed in an earthquake, but the base still stands today. By some almost divine coincidence, this is the current location of the National Dinosaur Monument. Doc would have been proud…

Less than 35 miles north of the Great Valley, across many mountains and forests, was the location of the Land of Mists. Located near a town we now know as Dutch John, the Land of Mists has gone through a more noticeable change. The mists have disappeared, and the Night Flower, along with many of its dangerous residents, are now gone. The Mowry Sea, the predecessor to the Western Interior Seaway, was only a few miles from the Land of Mists, but neither the sea nor the seaway exists today. The swamps and ponds have been replaced by the Flaming Gorge reservoir. The trees once there now are now replaced the Ashley National Forest. The only things that have remained unchanged are the mountains surrounding this land.

In this same location more than 140 million years ago, a hungry ichthyornis (sharpbeak), an early carnivorous bird, prepared for landing. It spread out its wings and landed softly on the back of a deinosuchus (bellydragger), an early crocodile...

Like I promised, I'll go into more of the journey later. But for right now, please comment and read my story. Thanks! (now... I have to go back to cramming for APs and SATs..  :( )
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: pokeplayer984 on April 24, 2011, 06:59:55 PM
You know, never in my whole life would I have guessed that "The Great Valley" was possibly inspired by a location in my own home state.

I'm going to have to seriously take my family there one day.  I know my Dad would absolutely love it! (He's an outdoors-man to the end.)

Also, they would NEVER guess the reason for me wanting to go there.  Once I tell them, they'll just be floored by it. :)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on April 24, 2011, 08:30:40 PM
Quote from: pokeplayer984,Apr 24 2011 on  05:59 PM
You know, never in my whole life would I have guessed that "The Great Valley" was possibly inspired by a location in my own home state.

I'm going to have to seriously take my family there one day.  I know my Dad would absolutely love it! (He's an outdoors-man to the end.)

Also, they would NEVER guess the reason for me wanting to go there.  Once I tell them, they'll just be floored by it. :)
As it turns out, that place is also a very popular tourist and camping location. (http://www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm) I might visit that place myself one day, but unfortunately, I live in PA.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Malte279 on April 25, 2011, 04:17:31 AM
These are interesting and funny coincidences, but keep in mind that coincidences they are. It is not like the land before time was a historical novel or something ;)
Also keep in mind that there hadn't been any plans whatsoever for any sequel with any more detailed landmarks of the Great Valley at the time the original movie was made.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on March 19, 2012, 04:23:56 PM
Well, I was just doing my AP US History notes when I read something about this place. Here's the excerpt:

Quote
Echo Park is a spectacular valley in the Dinosaur National Monument, on the border between Utah and Colorado, near the southern border of Wyoming. IN the early 1950s, the Bureau of Reclamation--which had been created early in the century to encourage irrigation, develop electric power, and increase water supplies--proposed building a dam across the Green River, which runs through Echo Valley, so as to create a lake for recreation and a source of hydroelectric power. The American environmental movement had been relatively quiet quiet since its searing defeat early in the century in its effort to stop a similar dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley at Yosemite National Park. But the Echo Park proposal helped rouse it from its slumber.

In 1950, Bernard DeVoto--a well-known writer and a great champion of the American West--published an essay in The Saturday Evening Post entitled "Shall We Let Them Ruin Our National Parks?" It had a sensational impact, arousing opposition to the Echo Valley dam from many areas of the country, The Sierra Club, relatively obscure in the previous decades, was roused into action... By the mid-1950s, a large coalition of environmentalists, naturalists, and wilderness vacationers had been mobilized in opposition to the dam, and in 1956 Congress--bowing to the public pressure--blocked the project and preserved Echo Park in its natural state.

Pretty cool, huh! The Green River is the river you see running through the center of the first photo. Here's a more up-close photo.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/DinosaurNM1Panorama.jpg/800px-DinosaurNM1Panorama.jpg)
Nothing short of magnificent, no? This would have made the Western barriers of the Great Valley.

And no, I don't believe that the Great Valley actually exists or is actually based on this place. It's just something interesting for fanfic writers, readers, and naturalists. It's just something interesting I've found--nothing more.

(Btw, I just visited the Smithsonian Aviation Institute with my marching band. It was pretty awesome. My friend and I were basically serving as tour guides for everyone. There are a few particular planes that I'm planning on using in my fanfic, and I was absolutely delighted to see them up close. They even have a ME-163 Komet! Can you believe it? Too bad they didn't have any IL-2s or Mosquitoes (or a P-38 with a 20mm cannon for that matter...). Those were my favorites.)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Bruton the Iguanodon on March 19, 2012, 05:17:56 PM
Beautiful place---I'll have to go visit it someday.  :)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Ghostfishe on April 08, 2012, 07:15:44 PM
Actually, Saurolophus is already known to have lived in North America. AFAIK Lambeosaurus is strictly American, though--I've never heard of it being found in Asia.

I've thought about this many times. Even excluding geological differences that would have to have existed, Utah in general is a great match for the kind of landscape we see in the movies.

My pet theory for a while was that the Great Valley was in Mexico--they don't have the best fossil record, but I've heard of brachiosaur and Monoclonius fossils in Maastrichtian(!) sediments, suggesting a sort of "Lost World" esque thing was going on there. But I'm pretty sure Mexico used to be mostly underwater, with part of it serving as an island...

Maybe then-island Mexico was actually "Sharptooth Island"--that would put the Great Valley in the southwest United States...


In any case, the kinds of dinosaurs aren't all from the same continent. Probably. There is a way to shoehorn them in, depending on which dinosaurs they actually are, and I'm not sure how many are identified by name.

Yes, a lot are definitely North American dinosaurs--Lambeosaurus, Triceratops, Struthiomimus, Stegosaurus, etc. Some aren't exclusively North American but could be, like Saurolophus.

Others are "obviously" not North American, but do have close relatives there--which makes me wonder how many have canon identifications and how many were identified by fans, because a good number of them could be explained away as just being different kinds of dinosaur. Guido (Microraptor?) could actually be a Koparion or Palaeopteryx, the Yellow-Bellies (Beipiaosaurus?) could be Nothronychus or Falcarius. "Stegosaurus longispinus" is said by some to be an American species of Kentrosaurus, and some of the bones assigned to "Iguanodon ottingeri" (also from Utah) show the same tall spines Ouranosaurus had. Maybe Ruby is an Ojoraptorsaurus or Hagryphus, rather than an Oviraptor. We don't know what their crests looked like, after all, they could have been more slanted than Chirostenotes's...

There are just a couple I've seen that this idea can't explain, like Muttaburrasaurus, Amargasaurus(?) and Spinosaurus (no spinosaurs of any kind have been found in North America), and maybe others I haven't noticed. But for the most part, they appear to fit.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Coyote_A on April 09, 2012, 06:32:16 AM
Now I really wanna go and see that valley for myself. I should probably add this place to my "visit during a trip to US" list. :)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Ludichris1 on April 09, 2012, 07:30:32 AM
Now anyone wanna guess which place looks most like the Mysterious Beyond or Land of Mists XD?
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Ghostfishe on April 09, 2012, 10:08:40 AM
Land of Mists: Kansas? :p
We don't really know how much ground the dinosaurs cover, but given the creatures they meet on the way (Archelon, Ichthyornis) I'd kind of assume something in that general direction. Are there any marshlands in Colorado?
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: rKrizik on April 13, 2012, 08:40:06 PM
If you're writing a fanfic, I'd say that Ashley Valley is a good place to imagine where the fictional Great Valley might have existed. But I also agree with the other comment someone posted - millions of years ago the arrangement of the earth was quite different (Pangaea), so, if hypothetically the Great Valley had indeed been a real place, for all we know it might have split up like pieces to a puzzle.
Thank you for sharing the photos, by the way - it's intriguing to see the semblance between the Great Valley and Ashley Valley. =) I had actually never heard of Ashley Valley before this, but its' likeness to the Great Valley is interesting!
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: tlbtlover809 on April 20, 2012, 09:52:23 PM
Well there is an area in near Quebec and Alabama called the Great (Appalachian) Valley. It spans about 1200 feet. I've never been there myself but i read about it on the web. Just a food for thought ;)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on April 20, 2012, 10:27:55 PM
Quote from: tlbtlover809,Apr 20 2012 on  08:52 PM
Well there is an area in near Quebec and Alabama called the Great (Appalachian) Valley. It spans about 1200 feet. I've never been there myself but i read about it on the web. Just a food for thought ;)

Eeyup; been living there for eight years...


(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sZzhJryAusY/T5IbAse42zI/AAAAAAAAAUs/WQk8nzvPwc4/s800/0615010936.jpg) :lol:  :lol:
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on October 18, 2017, 11:29:29 PM
Hello everyone.

It has been more than seven years since I first started this thread. A third of my life has since gone by. During this time, I have completed high school and college, and I am now pursuing a graduate degree.

I had some time before school starts against next year, and I had the chance to visit the Southwestern United States. When I saw that I had an opportunity to visit Ashley Valley, I could not resist. I had been looking forward to this since I was a little boy, and I could not wait to get started!

My trip began in Denver, Colorado...
(https://thumb.ibb.co/fJfFvm/20170928_155311.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fJfFvm)
The photo above was taken from the Colorado State Capitol. The area has a lively atmosphere, and the food there was superb. It felt like a very vibrant and modern city.

Previously, I theorized that Littlefoot's journey began near Dodge City, Kansas. I placed the location of the Great Divide near Cedarwood, CO, approximately 130 miles south of Denver, where there was a large canyon.

Boutique Air offers (virtually private) flights from Denver to Ashely Valley for just $70 a seat. However, to better experience Littlefoot's journey, I chose to remain on the ground. However, during the nighttime drive to Ashley Valley, I realized that there is no absolutely shortage of canyons in the region.

We traveled along Route 70, and we frequently encountered scenery like this:
(https://preview.ibb.co/gvbVvm/20170929_085040.jpg) (https://ibb.co/b97s86)

There were many canyons with gaps of a mile or more, and any of these could have caused our dinosaur friends to separate from their parents.

It was almost midnight when we arrived in Vernal, Utah, the largest city in Ashley Valley. We stayed at the local Quality Inn. Rooms were cheap, at $70 for a room for three.

Morning came, and we were greeted by this beautiful scene:
(https://preview.ibb.co/mwd2am/20170929_085039.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jFKVT6)

The first thing I noticed was how high we were. Vernal is located 5000 feet above sea level, and the mountain peaks would often be obscured by clouds.

I was also struck by how large the valley was. At its longest, the valley stretches about 15 miles, and it took about 25 minutes to drive from one side of the valley to the other. By foot, it would take around 2.5 hours.

Vernal has a population of around 9000, and it had a good small town feel to it. Apparently, the local economy is fueled by natural gas and tourism, and the city liked to celebrate its connection to the dinosaurs. You can find small dinosaur cartoons on most street signs.
(https://preview.ibb.co/jEnvvm/20170929_101002.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jrd2am)
(https://preview.ibb.co/iKvFvm/20170929_102446.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mdpavm)
Note the Dinosaur Inn to the left.

I first went to the eastern side of the valley, near the Utah-Colorado border. The staff at the following visitors center were very helpful. This sign was placed at the entrance of the visitors center.
(https://preview.ibb.co/i9tPo6/20170929_104849.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ghH61R)

There is still a lot of green in the valley, although most of it has been converted to farmland. Overall, there was a lot of green space, but there were fewer trees than I expected.
(https://preview.ibb.co/n19avm/20170929_104641.jpg) (https://ibb.co/crZVT6)

(Sorry... To be continued...)






Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on October 25, 2017, 03:07:58 AM
The view from the visitors' center was very good as well:
(https://preview.ibb.co/goum1R/20170929_104858.jpg) (https://ibb.co/e8aFvm)
You can see across the state border in that picture. Those hills in the background are located all the way in Colorado, and they make up the eastern border of the valley. As you can see in the photo, the rocks differ greatly in color and composition.

One of the sites I was most eager to visit was the Green River.
(https://preview.ibb.co/dRrc86/20170929_110656.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jhC61R)
Hopefully, the truck can give you an idea of the width of the river. It would have been more than sufficient to supply our dinosaur friends and their family.

I crossed the river and continued to travel east. I managed to snap this picture of the valley from a hill from just across the river.
(https://preview.ibb.co/gZ7vvm/20170929_112611.jpg) (https://ibb.co/n6uKMR)

I was soon in the Mysterious Beyond, and the change was immediate. In the panoramic photo below, you can see a distinct difference between the lush terrain of the valley and the arid environment of the Mysterious Beyond.
(https://preview.ibb.co/jV2TFm/20170929_112656.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mvv4o6)

A close view of the Mysterious Beyond:
(https://preview.ibb.co/marNam/20170929_111311.jpg) (https://ibb.co/cDKm1R)
I ventured out into the scrubs, and I was surprised to find that the terrain was inhabited by innumerable locusts. I was immediately reminded of the fifth LBT movie, in which swarming leaf gobblers invaded the valley.

Subsequently, I traveled north, following the Green River upstream.
(https://preview.ibb.co/kExjo6/20170929_113900.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nmXH86)
To the right of the photo, you can see the Green River. On the right, you can see the mountains to the north of the valley.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Hypno on October 25, 2017, 06:29:54 AM
In a couple of the films we get to see a couple of locations of where the Great Valley is. In one of the films it zooms out of Asia, and in another it shows it in western Canada. I pick Asia as more likely as the weather is mostly tropical there.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on October 26, 2017, 11:07:26 PM
Finally, I arrived at Dinosaur National Monument:
(https://preview.ibb.co/b8javm/20170929_113740.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kFZx86)

I had theorized that Littlefoot and his friends entered the Great Valley through the mountains in this area, so I hiked up two of them. These beautiful scenes greeted me:
(https://preview.ibb.co/hMJOMR/6_Nki_IGq_YNWI3u_Lh6_C0_Kb_Xf_q_Alr_VVAK5rm_VUv_Tb_Of_Zx_OBq_k_lz_PYQDqe_Km_IFF38_QW_Tm7_WLg_Jn_BVpy1_TNb_Y8v1rs_Rk_Tw_Uo_Q51p_QYXj_Gu_TH6_Gz_EDm_WIjz_Bfv6_Ajqnc_H5b_VJSP_Q0g_SCb_W6_Hwh6_AFq_Ao_KTklcb_EXTBHtmzd_Jz19v_Decz_PHh_Xe4_Il0_Jaf1_N77_Gx_K_w_EQQY_3w3f2_Fsce_Rojp_Tuig7_LKQVpvpo_W196_Zd_IC4_K3_FCk9ks1_Sx_tlhj_N2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jdT186)
(https://preview.ibb.co/gvSTFm/20170929_130759.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nayqT6)

One more photo of me, taken from the bottom of the mountain:
(https://preview.ibb.co/ns8OMR/Toz_XCIf_VLlc_YY3c_GCpq_Rdx53_Kk4l0_O3i_Of_Wl_Otx_ZXvll_F7q_O0zxg32_MQm_IUUm7_M4rqb7_Z1_Cvt1_Yjxs_XEXt_HEST3_SKSj_XAC8_YPLQd0ll7f_Axinn_OMe_Y6_HKHjd_JOxgxy_KHj32_Dckpk6_LYd_X1h_XNwgb_Ivgtpso_Rxlnbadb_JDKg_LO6_JB_s_SF3o_EB0s_Pj0_X2fbd8_Id_Q1_CIb_Hq_LFO_v136_ZPa_HLYqnf_Sf_CANjs_Kdt_HMdf_TSQ8_H_k_CLr_Zo_Zl5_XUCK4u_KO.jpg) (https://ibb.co/cy0ET6)

So it's not an exact match to what we saw in the movie, but I was still very happy that I was one of those "lucky hikers." There were many other mountains in the area, but I only had time to climb two. I would definitely recommend checking out the trails there.

Dinosaur National Monument is home to the Dinosaur Quarry and the "wall of bones." Although I did not have enough of a background in paleontology to truly appreciate it, it was very helpful to get a sense of how big the dinosaurs were.
(https://preview.ibb.co/bBj8Fm/20170929_125035.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hapavm)
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Dima02 on October 26, 2017, 11:08:36 PM
During my brief time in the park, I encountered many caves such as this one:
(https://preview.ibb.co/b9t2am/20170929_140339.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kd9avm)
Some of them seem to go quite deep. Maybe there are sky color stones in there?  :lol: Some of the caves are open to hikers, but you need to do some off-roading to get to them. If you do choose to visit, I would highly suggest doing so in an SUV or truck.

And there were a few strange holes in the ground too. Maybe the descendants of Skip, Milo, Lydia, and Plower live there?
(https://image.ibb.co/i6rYgR/20170929_132058.jpg)

I also visited Split Mountain. The view was spectacular.
(https://image.ibb.co/hyQFvm/20170929_135450.jpg)
(https://image.ibb.co/d5Pm1R/20170929_135618.jpg)
I was not able to include the top of the mountain in the photos, but I noticed quite a few large boulders positioned precariously at the top. I was instantly reminded of the rock that our dinosaur friends used to push the original Sharptooth into the river.

Some other miscellaneous photos taken in Dinosaur National Monument:
(https://image.ibb.co/ipMoFm/20170929_161038.jpg)
(https://image.ibb.co/g3nH86/20170929_161226.jpg)

Finally, when it was time for me to leave, I stopped by Red Fleet Reservoir, which marks the northwestern boundary of the valley. The place looked wonderful during the sunset:
(https://preview.ibb.co/ngWNam/20170929_183734.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k1DqT6)
(https://image.ibb.co/huU8Fm/20170929_183729.jpg)
I heard that before the reservoir was constructed, there was a small waterfall in the area. Local legends say that it made a thundering sound...

Overall, I really loved the valley. The scenery was wonderful, the locals were friendly, and lodging was cheap. I would highly recommend visiting in the summer, when you can go rafting in the Green River.
Title: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Littlefoot505 on March 14, 2018, 04:16:03 PM
I really need to get there at some point. I'm in college in Colorado Springs (about an hour south of Denver), so there's no excuse for me to not go before I graduate, except for the fact that I don't have a car.
Title: Re: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on July 16, 2018, 06:30:54 PM
Good find. It should be a pilgrimage site for all LBT fans.  :angel
Title: Re: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Littlefoot505 on July 16, 2018, 08:43:45 PM
Good find. It should be a pilgrimage site for all LBT fans.  :angel
I agree. I still really want to get there someday. There’s actually a good chance that I’ll go there for class field trips, as I’ve decided to be a geology major, and I hear that many upper-level geo classes at my college go to Utah. At any rate, I’m pretty bent on going to Vernal/Ashley Valley at some point soon. I actually do have some friends at school who are fellow LBT/dinosaur fans, one of whom has a car, so maybe I could go with them! :Mo
Title: Re: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on July 16, 2018, 08:53:15 PM
Good find. It should be a pilgrimage site for all LBT fans.  :angel
I agree. I still really want to get there someday. There’s actually a good chance that I’ll go there for class field trips, as I’ve decided to be a geology major, and I hear that many upper-level geo classes at my college go to Utah. At any rate, I’m pretty bent on going to Vernal/Ashley Valley at some point soon. I actually do have some friends at school who are fellow LBT/dinosaur fans, one of whom has a car, so maybe I could go with them! :Mo

You are blessed to have LBT fans in the flesh. I would, if you can make a road trip to The Great Valley. If you do, beware of Sharptooth. :o :D
Title: Re: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Flathead770 on July 18, 2018, 01:22:42 AM
Quote
Good find. It should be a pilgrimage site for all LBT fans.  :angel
I've never visited it myself, but I have gone on a more personal pilgrimage to Flathead River/Lake in Montana :p Ok, I actually only drove past it. Thinking back, I kinda wish I took a picture by a sign or something. :lol


Anyways, not that I actually think this is/was the Great Valley but it certainly does have a very similar feeling to it.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/3pxsaawzt/IMG_20180714_161305_HDR.jpg)

This was taken just this last weekend when I went hiking near Banff, Alberta.
Title: Re: Possible Locations of the Great Valley
Post by: Nanotyrannus on December 01, 2018, 11:21:26 PM
In a couple of the films we get to see a couple of locations of where the Great Valley is. In one of the films it zooms out of Asia, and in another it shows it in western Canada. I pick Asia as more likely as the weather is mostly tropical there.

The two films that give these locations are The Stone of Cold Fire and Journey of the Brave, respectively:

In the seventh movie, during the "Beyond the Mysterious Beyond" number, the camera pans out and goes off into space (on the "we can set our sights beyond the sky, or maybe even higher" lyric), in the process zooming out of a point on Earth; the part of the planet the camera pans out of is somewhere in eastern China. In the fourteenth, after the Universal logo and before the opening narration, the camera pans into Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

There are a couple of other locations suggested in the film universe itself, both instances that come to mind being in the opening narrations of their respective movies; the camera pans into what looks like India in V and it pans into what vaguely resembles Africa in XII.