One of the best aspects of winging our full-time travels is the fact that we can spend as long or as little as we desire in one place. One of those surprisingly stand-out stops for us was Dinosaur National Monument!
This 210,000-acre monument has so much to offer: one of the Earth’s richest dinosaur fossil beds, where you can touch some of the 149-million-year-old fossils; ancient petroglyphs and pictographs; homesteader cabins; river rafting; and miles of fantastic hiking trails!
The park is a remote area on the edge of the Uinta Basin, and straddles the border of Utah and Colorado. On the Utah side, this varied landscape is a treasure trove of Jurassic fossils — remains that are more than 150 million years old. Many of the dinosaurs died near a river’s edge during a severe drought, and when the rain came again, floodwaters carried the bones of more than 500 dinosaurs to this area. While there aren’t any dinosaur fossils on the Colorado side, it’s still a sight that shouldn’t be missed. Here you’ll see the heart of Dinosaur National Monument’s canyon country, with vast scenic views of the Green and Yampa river canyons. (More on that in a few!)
Whether you’re a dino fan or just love panoramic canyon views, here are a few of our favorite reasons to visit Dinosaur National Monument!
Everything to See on the Utah Side
The Quarry Visitor Center & Exhibit Hall
As with any national park or monument visit, we recommend stopping by the Visitor Center. Here you can pick up maps, Junior Ranger booklets for the kids, and ask rangers about the best sights, hikes and more. There’s also a great Stegosaurus statue from the 1964 World’s Fair for photo ops.
From the Quarry Visitor Center, you can take a quick shuttle ride up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall, where you can take in some of the coolest evidence of several species of dinosaurs. There are over 1,500 dinosaur bones in this space, and you can touch some of the fossils! We marveled at the bones from dinosaurs like the Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus. We really enjoyed this aspect of the monument!
The Fossil Discovery Trail
Distance: 2 miles (out and back) | Elevation Change: 150 feet
From the parking lot at the Dinosaur National Monument Visitor Center, you can also take a quick hike through millions of years of geologic time. The Fossil Discovery Trail is a moderate two-mile path that cuts through several tilted rock layers — the Stump Formation, Morrison Formation, Cedar Mountain Formation, Dakota Sandstone, Mowry Shale, Frontier Sandstone and Mancos Shale. (Don’t worry — there isn’t a pop quiz at the end of this post! ? ) These layers expose three fossil areas, as well as a variety of really old rocks. Along the Morrison formation, you can view many eroded small dinosaur fossil bones and bone fragments. At first, some of these may be hard to spot to the untrained eye, but as you catch a glimpse of one, the rest will start popping out to you very easily! I also recommend picking up a trail guide beforehand, which explains what you’re looking at. Oh, and this should be a no-brainer, but please leave all fossils as you found them so others can continue to enjoy this place. ?
Given that you’re trekking through the desert and this trail is completely exposed, make sure that you wear a hat, layer on the sunscreen, bring plenty of water and snacks.
The Cub Creek Area
This area of the park offers up a ton of sights to see, from the ancient petroglyphs and pictographs, to the homesteader cabins. The Cub Creek Road extends for 10 miles from the Quarry Visitor Center to Josie Morris’s cabin. There are plenty of hiking trails along the road as well, like the Sound of Silence Trail (3.2 mile loop, moderate to difficult), the Desert Voices Trail (1.5 mile out and back, moderate), the Box Canyon Trail (0.5 mile out and back, easy) and the Hog Canyon Trail (1.5 miles out and back, easy). Even though we were there for a few days, we didn’t get to hike any of these. It was pretty hot outside, and dogs aren’t allowed on any of these trails.
Green River Trail
Distance: 4 miles (out and back) | Elevation Change: 250 feet
While you can’t hike with dogs on the aforementioned trails, there is a fantastic hike called the River Trail where you can take leashed pets. I took Ruby one afternoon when there was good cloud cover, and we loved it! The trail traverses along the Green River, and provides some pretty epic views of Split Mountain. It also connects the Green River and Split Mountain campgrounds, which is super convenient as you don’t need to drive to the trailhead if you’re camping at one of these. As I mentioned earlier, you’re hiking in the desert, so this one is recommended as an early morning or evening hike to avoid the heat.
Josie’s Cabin
One of our favorite aspects of our public lands is the incredible history that is literally at our fingertips. There are so many historical figures that we might not ever learn about, save for visiting these special places. I felt this way as we explored Josie Bassett Morris’ Cabin.
Josie exemplified the frontier lifestyle. Without any funds to her name, she built a homestead in Cub Creek in 1913. It’s a modest structure, but one that no doubt had its fair share of tales. Daily life consisted of chopping wood, milking cows, tending to the chickens, cooking meals and entertaining guests (like outlaw Butch Cassidy). Her property evokes a sense of simpler times, and you definitely can feel it as you stroll through and around her cabin. Josie herself represented a progressive style of womanhood — with multiple marriages and love affairs — but was well-respected for her ability to live such a remote and rugged lifestyle.
Petroglyphs & Pictographs
It’s wild to think that more than 9,000 years ago, people have called this area of Utah home. What’s even wilder is the ability to see concrete evidence of their presence today through rock carvings and paintings. The Fremont people are the Native American cultural tribe most associated with the rock art at Dinosaur National Monument. While lived minimally and did not build permanent homes, the Fremont people left their mark by carving and painting trapezoidal bodies, bighorn sheep, birds, snakes, lizards and geometric shapes.
There are multiple areas within Dinosaur National Monument where you can see this incredible rock art up close:
- Swelter Shelter (Cub Creek Road, Sign #1)
- Cub Creek (Signs #13 and #14)
- Deluge Shelter on the Jones Hole Trail
- McKee Springs on Island Park Road
- Pool Creek on Echo Park Road and Echo Park Campground
For exact directions on each location, click here.
Jones Hole Creek Area
If you’re in the mood for a peaceful, open-air drive, then we recommend making the one-hour scenic drive to the Jones Hole Creek area. What makes this area unique is the massive canyon carved by a creek that flows into the Green River. The Jones Hole Creek is home to a fish hatchery where rainbow trout, brown trout and brook trout are raised to stock areas in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. If you’re into fishing, bring your gear as this area is the perfect habitat for rainbow and brown trout. You can also hike several trails, including the Jones Hole Trail (4 miles) and Island Park Trail (8 miles).
What You Shouldn’t Miss on the Colorado Side
Harpers Corner Drive
While there aren’t any dinosaur fossils on this side of the park, you can find sweeping overlooks along the 32-mile stretch of Harpers Corner Drive.
Harpers Corner Trail
Distance: 3 miles (out and back) | Elevation Change: 347 feet
If you do one hike in Dinosaur National Monument, make it this one! This is a fairly easy trail that is perfect for families. It’s rated as moderate, but we found this hike to be well-maintained and straightforward. Be sure to pick up a pamphlet at the trailhead if one is available. The $1 guide contains interesting information about what you’ll see at the numbered trail markers along the way. As you make your way to the overlooks, the payoff for this short hike among the pinyon-juniper forest is well worth it. The views of the Green River, Yampa River and Echo Park are beyond spectacular!
Where to Camp
Green River Campground
There are so many places to camp within the national monument, and what’s fascinating is that campgrounds almost never fill up unless it’s a holiday weekend. Dinosaur National Monument has six campgrounds with 120 total sites.
We stayed at the Green River Campground, which is four miles east of the Quarry Visitor Center. It’s the largest of the six campgrounds with 79 sites. We easily found a campsite right along the river in the first-come, first-served section. For reserved sites, visit Recreation.gov. or call 1-877-444-6777. The Green River Campground has flush toilets, but no showers or hookups.
Outlaw Trail RV Park
For those looking for hookups, showers and laundry, we highly recommend staying at Outlaw Trail RV Park. We stayed here for our last day in the area for $15/night in the tent area. We’ve been to a lot of RV parks and campgrounds, and this was one of the cleanest facilities we’ve ever been to! It’s also only seven miles from the monument entrance.
We almost didn’t make the stop to Dinosaur National Monument, but we’re sure glad we did. All in all, we stayed four days exploring everything this incredible land has to offer. Whether your passion is science, adventure, history or scenery, Dinosaur is the place to explore with your family!
Have you ever been to Dinosaur National Monument? We highly recommend it for dino-lovers and history buffs alike! ??
