Spread across the border of Utah and Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument preserves both a treasure trove of fossils including dinosaur bones you can touch and scenic canyons carved by the Green and Yampa Rivers. Unless you plan to ride the river or have a 4×4 high-clearance vehicle then the Colorado sections of the park don’t have much to offer. The Utah side though is where you’ll find the collection of prehistoric bones the park is named for as well as be able to explore some beautiful scenery and remnants of human history both ancient and pioneer.
Dinosaurs!
Just north of Jensen, Utah, about 10 miles out of Vernal or “Dinosaurland,” Utah, is a fantastic quarry discovered in 1909 by Earl Douglass of Pittsburg’s Carnegie Museum when he found a series of tail bones sticking out of the rock. He began excavating and found a massive deposit of hundreds of ancient animal fossils. For more than a decade the quarry was excavated for the museum even though in 1915 the area was designated a National Monument.
Douglass’ dream for the quarry was for it to be preserved partly excavated so people could see how fossils are found and collected. He wrote to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution:
“I hope that the government, for the benefit of science and people, will uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them in. it would make one of the most astounding and instructive sights imaginable.”
His wishes have been honored, and today visitors are able to see hundreds, maybe thousands, of bones in the quarry hall still in-situ in the side of the mountain. It is fascinating to see how the bones were deposited millions of years ago by forces of nature and how paleontologists find them today.
I went to the quarry hall twice while at the monument, once with my brother and his family in the afternoon and the other by myself the next morning. I highly recommend visiting the dino wall multiple times as it changes in the lighting at different times of day revealing things you didn’t see on the first visit.
To get to the hall, you must ride a trolley from the visitor center if you arrive after 9 a.m. It feels like you’re going to Jurassic Park as you approach a gate at a split in the rocks knowing that you’re going to see dinosaurs. It was really quite exciting. The trolley drops you off outside the hall where you get to experience the amazing fossil collection and even touch some of the bones in the wall.
If you arrive before 9 a.m. when the gate closes, you can drive your own vehicle up to the quarry. It opens at 8 a.m. The building was definitely less crowded at this earlier time. Whenever you visit, be sure to take advantage of the knowledgeable rangers on duty who can tell you all about the wall and what you’re looking at.
Fossil Discovery Trail
There is a trail connecting the visitor center to the quarry building too. We took the trail from the quarry to the visitor center. The Fossil Discovery Trail winds down the upturned hills through several layers of time passed three highlighted collections of exposed fossils. The most exciting of these being the dinosaur bones exposed on the side of a hill in the rock. It is pretty amazing. Along this 1.2 mile trail you’ll also see petroglyphs from the Fremont people and wildlife including the ever-skittish prairie dog.
Tour of Tilted Rocks
The Utah portion of the monument includes one of the several scenic drives in the park and one of the most accessible. This Tour of Tilted Rocks drive leads guests from the entrance by the dinosaur fossils passed Split Mountain over the Green River into the Cub Creek area and back to Josie’s ranch.
There is an interpretive guide for points along the drive, but you have to get it at the visitor center or right at the start of the drive. Since I was already five miles along the road starting at the Green River Campground, I didn’t want to go back and get the guide and hit the road without it. I would recommend getting one before setting out on this drive.
I went all the way to the end first and worked my way back. The drive ends at Josie Morris’ ranch where there is a lovely picnic area around her still-standing cabin and chicken coop and a couple of trails into the surrounding canyons. More about those a little later.
On the way back up the drive, I stopped at the two Cub Creek petroglyph sites, one of which has an amazing selection of large lizard glyphs. It makes you wonder if the ancestral people of this area knew of the even more ancient inhabitants, if they found dinosaur bones or had legends and stories of the magnificent beasts.
The trail with the lizards was clearly marked for part of the way, but at either end it was difficult to know where the trail had ended. I found this out because I continued on each end for a while before realizing that was it. However, on one of these additional spurs I was treated to some fantastic views of the tilted rocks as the sun was hitting them just right.
Sound of Silence Trail
About halfway between my campground and the visitor center along the Tour of Tilted Rocks is a trail I couldn’t pass up because of its name. Just last year I gave a private tour of Taliesin West to Art Garfunkel, so a trail going by the same name as one of his duo’s most iconic hits was a must do. After hiking the trail, I’d stick to listening to the song. This trail was nice, but it wasn’t amazing. There were no spectacular vistas or interesting details. It was just a meander through various desert terrains. I did see lots of bunnies though and enjoyed the maze of badlands the trail leads through.
Box Canyon and Hog Canyon Trails
At the Morris Ranch are two short canyon trails. These natural corrals were used by Josie as animal enclosures. You can probably guess what one was used for by the name. The other was used for various livestock. All she had to do was build a fence at the small opening of each canyon and they served as excellent pens. They have natural water sources and lots of meadows for grazing.
Box Canyon Trail is the shorter and less impressive though still beautiful trail. It finds its way to the back of a box canyon through a small wooded area and opens up to small glens a few times before reaching the rocks rapidly climbing up the massive cliff faces.
Hog Canyon Trail is similar, but takes a side jaunt to get to it first. This path leads passed the expansive valley fields used for grazing livestock by the homesteader. Eventually, the trail enters a shady grove at the entrance to the canyon enclosure. Through the gate you are now in Josie’s pig corral. The narrow trail meanders through lush meadows with grasses and wildflowers towering to half my height or more. Butterflies dance across this idyllic setting as water trickles through the spring-fed brook.
The trail continues to the back of the canyon over the creek a few times and through more groves of trees. You can find the point at which the water emerges from the rocks and see a species of orchid only found in this place. My biggest recommendation for this trail would be long pants, even when hot, since you’re walking through such tall grass on a narrow path. Children may need to be carried so as not to lose them in the tall foliage.
Harpers Corner Drive
I did take one more of the scenic drives at Dinosaur National Monument before moving on to the Mountains of Colorado. The Harpers Corner Scenic Drive begins in the Colorado section of the park but does end up driving back into Utah. It is 25 miles long and occasionally scenic. Actually, there are only a couple of really scenic sections of the drive—one right at the beginning driving up and around Plug Hat Butte and the other along the last few miles approaching Harpers Corner. The rest is just like you’ll see along the highway almost anywhere in the high desert.
So, would I recommend a visit to this spot? Sort of. If you have the time, the trail at the end of the road to Harpers Corner Overlook is a spectacular view, and if you have a high clearance 4×4 vehicle this is how you access the Echo Park Scenic Drive that looks amazing. Otherwise, you can pass on this.
Ranger Programs
I’ve been to lots of National Parks and Monuments over the years. Some have been for overnight camping trips and many have been just day trips. Prior to my Dinosaur National Monument visit, I didn’t put ranger programs near the top of my list. But the two nights I was at this special place, I participated in two ranger-led “campfire” programs. They were both fun and informative. The first night we played space jeopardy and the second night was all about bats. 
While enjoying these programs with a group of other campers and visitors I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite National Parks quotes:
“Nowhere else do people from all the states mingle in quite the same spirit as they do in their national parks. One sits at dinner, say, between a Missouri farmer and an Idaho miner, and at supper between a New York artist and an Oregon shopkeeper. One climbs mountains with a chance crowd from Vermont, Louisiana, and Texas and sits around the evening campfire with a California grape grower, a locomotive engineer from Massachusetts, and a banker from Michigan. Here the social differences so insisted on at home just don’t exist. Perhaps for the first time, one realizes the common America and loves it. In the national parks, all are just Americans.” – Robert Sterling Yard
2015 marks the 100th anniversary for Dinosaur National Monument and the next stop on my journey from Utah to Texas. In my next post, I’ll tell you about the absolute beauty that is Rocky Mountain National Park. Until then, remember that adventure is out there, so go have one!
For information to plan your visit to Dinosaur National Monument visit www.dinoland.com, the Uintah County Travel and Tourism website. They have great resources for your adventure!
