Overview

Hype:

Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers. Although most of the monument area is in Moffat County, Colorado, the Dinosaur Quarry is located in Utah, north of the town of Jensen, Utah. The nearest Colorado town is Dinosaur while the nearest city is Vernal, Utah. Originally preserved in 1915 to protect its famous Dinosaur Quarry, the monument was greatly expanded in 1938 to include its wealth of natural history. The park's wild landscapes, topography, geology, paleontology, and history make it a unique resource for both science and recreation. The park contains over 800 paleontological sites and has fossils of dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Deinonychus, Abydosaurus, and various sauropods. Paleontologist Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum discovered eight vertebra of an Apatosaurus on August 17, 1909, which became the first dinosaur skeleton discovered and excavated at the new Carnegie Quarry. The area around the quarry was declared a national monument on October 4, 1915. The International Dark-Sky Association designated Dinosaur National Monument an International Dark Sky Park in April 2019.

Time:

Fees: Entrance fee

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Features:

National Monument
Dinosaur Fossils

Links: http://www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm
http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/dinosaur.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_National_Monument

Getting There

Navigate to 40.440327, -109.300873.

Maps

Closest City or Region: Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Coordinates: 40.436731, -109.308821

Interactive Guide Map

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Brochure

July 21, 2021 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Savannah Dye, Madilyn Dye, Cooper Dye, Greg Dye, Laura Dye, Anthony Dye, Arianne Dye, Miller Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Jaren Wagner, Killian Wagner,

Story

We spent a day in Dinosaur Monument. We stopped at the Quarry Visitor Center first and bought a couple of the trail guides. Then we followed the Tilted Rocks Driving Tour. We didn't stop at all the stops, but we visited most of them. We got out and hiked to Swelter Shelter, stopped at a pullout overlooking the Green River, stopped at a geology pullout, stopped and photographed the Chew Ranch petroglyphs, hiked to the Cub Creek Petroglyphs, and finished at the Josie Morris Cabin. We had a picnic lunch and played a hide-and-go-seek-style game that Savannah learned at Shadow Mountain. Nobody really wanted to hike up Box Canyon or Hog Canyon, so we headed back to the visitor center and caught the shuttle to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. We admired the wall of bones then Tara and I hiked the Fossil Discovery Trail while the others took the shuttle back. The kids finished their Junior Ranger workbooks, and we headed back to the Airbnb.