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Dinosaur National Monument Park
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One Monument in Two States
Dinosaur National Monument is spread over 210,000 acres along the Colorado and Utah border. Each part of the monument offers different experiences and things to see.
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If you desire is to see some of the spectacular canyon country scenery, the Colorado side is the place for you. The Harpers Corner Road is a 32 mile scenic drive that includes overlooks of the Yampa and Green rivers. The short Harper’s Corner Trail at the road’s end is a must to get the most dramatic views. For those with a high clearance vehicle, The drive to Echo Park will take you into the depths of the river canyons.
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Visit the current conditions page to find out about the status of any monument roads or trails.
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If you want to see Dinosaur Fossils, the Utah side of the monument is where you will want to go. Utah State Highway 149 takes visitors from US Highway 40 in Jensen, Utah into the monument and to the Quarry Visitor Center. Depending on the season, you may either drive to the Dinosaur Quarry Exhibit Hall or in summer, a shuttle bus will take you.
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A visitor enjoys the view of the Green River entering Lodore Canyon.
Gates of Lodore is located on the northern tip of Dinosaur National Monument. It is a long drive to the area and the wild, remote country adds to its sense of isolation. Here, the Green River, after winding across the broad valley known as Browns Park, turns toward the south and makes a direct path into the mountains in front of it. The Green enters into deep canyons filled with rapids that challenged Major John Wesley Powell who passed through here in 1869 on his voyage down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Powell named the location based upon a poem by Robert Southey entitled “The Cataract of Lodore.”
Powell was not the first person to venture into this land. Trappers and traders had crossed the Browns Park area. Native American tribes hunted and fished in the region for generations. Homesteaders, ranchers and occasional outlaws would eventually call the area home.
How to Get to Gates of Lodore
From Maybell, Colorado, follow US Highway 40 west for approximately 0.4 mile west. Turn right onto CO 318. Follow 318 west or 46.2 miles. Turn left onto Moffat County Road 34N. Follow 34N for 1.7 miles. Turn right onto Moffat County Road 34. Follow 34 for 4.5 miles until you arrive at the ranger station and campground.
Picnic Area
Picnic tables are available in the campground. Visitors are welcome to use unoccupied sites for picnicking. Several tables are located under shade trees and have views of spectacular scenery. The campground has vault toilets. Drinking water is available seasonally (usually early May through late September).
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Photo credit Dan Johnson/ NPS
Looking down the Green River from the Harpers Corner Trail
Located on the Colorado side of the monument, Harpers Corner Drive is a scenic, 32-mile (55-km) road that leads to the heart of Dinosaur National Monument’s canyon country. Overlooks offer sweeping vistas of the Green and Yampa river canyons. The trailheads of three hiking trails are located just off Harpers Corner Drive. On one trail, sharp-eyed hikers can spot fossils of small sea creatures that lived long ago. Visitors prepared for remote driving conditions can access two unimproved roads from Harpers Corner Drive.
The clam-like shell of a brachiopod fossil (upper left) and two crinoid fossils, a stem fragment (center) and a single disk-shaped stem piece (lower right).
Fuel, food, and other services are not available along Harpers Corner Drive. The nearest services are in Dinosaur, Colorado, two miles west of the Canyon Area Visitor Center on Highway 40.
View of Split Mountain Canyon from the end of Ruple Point Trail NPS
Hiking Trails
Situated on top of a butte, the paved, wheelchair accessible Plug Hat Trail introduces visitors to the pinyon-juniper forest and offers sweeping vistas of the Colorado Plateau landscape.
On the Harpers Corner Trail, situated on a ridge above the Green River, hikers can explore the pinyon-juniper forest and enjoy unsurpassed views of Steamboat Rock, the Green and Yampa rivers, and Whirlpool Canyon.
Ruple Point Trail, which begins at the Island Park Overlook, crosses a rolling terrain and terminates at the edge of Split Mountain Canyon, offering hikers breathtaking views of the canyon and Green River.
Picnic table at Canyon Overlook
NPS
Picnic Areas
Picnic tables are located at the following overlooks:
Plug Hat Butte (4 m/6.5 km from the junction of Highway 40 and Harpers Corner Drive)
Canyon Overlook (20 m/32 km from the junction of Highway 40 and Harpers Corner Drive)
Echo Park Overlook (34 m/55 km from the junction of Highway 40 and Harpers Corner Drive)
Green River in winter
NPS
Winter Recreation
During the winter, cross-country skiing and snowmobile use are allowed on the closed portion of Harpers Corner Drive, beyond Plug Hat Butte. Throughout the winter, the first five miles of Harpers Corner Drive remain open and plowed to allow public access to the Plug Hat parking area for snowmobile and cross-country ski enthusiasts. Snowmobiles are not allowed off the road surface and may not go past the Echo Park Road turn-off.
NPS
Fossils
At the end of the Harpers Corner Trail, look closely at the rock underfoot. Those with a keen eye and a bit of patience will find the fossilized remains of small sea creatures that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Look for the clam-like shells of brachiopods and for pieces of the stems of crinoids, ancient relative of the starfish. The rock around these fossils was once mud at the bottom of an ancient sea. There are no dinosaur fossils in the Harpers Corner area.
Upper section of the road to Echo Park
Unimproved Roads
The turnoff for Echo Park Road is located on Harpers Corner Drive, 25 miles (40 km) from Highway 40. The 13-mile (21-km), unpaved Echo Park Road is steep, with hairpin turns for the first several miles. The road ends at Echo Park which has a campground, boat launch, and hiking trails. Echo Park Road is impassable when wet.
The 27-mile (43-km) Yampa Bench Road, recommended for high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles only, can be reached from the Echo Park Road. Overlooks along the Yampa Bench Road offer sweeping panoramas of the Yampa River and its canyons. Yampa Bench Road is impassable when wet.
A map of the unimproved roads that can be accessed from Harpers Corner Drive is available here.
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Planning and preparation will help ensure you have an enjoyable visit and get the most out of your time at Dinosaur National Monument. It can take over four hours to drive from the Quarry Visitor Center in the Utah portion of the monument to the Gates of Lodore area located on the north end of the monument in Colorado. Remember that the nearest fuel, lodging, and other services may be over an hour drive from various points in the monument.
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While your pet is welcome in the monument, pets are not allowed on most trails, in the monument’s backcountry, or in public buildings. Due to the hot summer temperatures, do not planning on leaving pets in a vehicle for any amount of time.
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The Quarry Exhibit Hall, located over the world-famous Carnegie Dinosaur Quarry, is open! The Quarry Exhibit Hall allows visitors to view the wall of approximately 1,500 dinosaur bones in a refurbished, comfortable space. Here, you can gaze upon the remains of numerous different species of dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodicus, and Stegosaurus along with several others. Exhibits, including an 80-foot long mural, reveal the story of these animals and many others that lived in the Morrison environment during the late Jurassic. There are even several places where you can touch real 149 million year old dinosaur fossils!
Rangers are available to answer questions and occasionally give Junior Ranger programs or talks on different topics related to the quarry or dinosaurs throughout the day during the summer.
Accessing the Dinosaur Quarry
To access the Quarry Exhibit Hall, first stop at the Quarry Visitor Center located approximately ¼ mile from the exhibit hall. Depending on the time of year, access may be by shuttle bus or by your personal vehicle. See Operating Hours & Seasons for more information.
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Summers can be very hot and winters bitter cold. Check out the weather page for links to a current forecast and average temperatures throughout the year.
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Contact Us
If you have questions or would like to check availability, call 970.926.0216 or complete the form below.
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