National park
National monument · Eastern Utah
Dinosaur National Monument
A wall of about 1,500 dinosaur bones still in the rock, plus wild river canyons on the Green and Yampa. One of the best places in the world to see dinosaur fossils where they were found.
Photo: James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Quarry Exhibit Hall shelters a tilted rock face holding roughly 1,500 dinosaur bones, left where paleontologists exposed them a century ago. You can touch fossilized bones, see the jumbled skeletons of Allosaurus, Stegosaurus and Camarasaurus, and understand how a river sandbar collected them 150 million years ago.
Beyond the quarry, the monument straddles the Utah–Colorado border and protects deep canyons where the Green and Yampa rivers meet. The Tilted Rock drive from the quarry passes petroglyphs at Cub Creek and the homestead of Josie Morris, who lived alone here for decades. River trips through the Canyon of Lodore and Split Mountain are some of the best whitewater in the region.
Vernal, the nearest town, leans into the dinosaur theme with the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum and a pink dinosaur on Main Street.
Don't miss
- Quarry Exhibit HallA wall of about 1,500 dinosaur bones, some within arm’s reach.
- Fossil Discovery TrailA short trail where you can see bones still in the rock outdoors.
- Cub Creek petroglyphsFremont rock art, including large lizard figures, along the Tilted Rock road.
- Josie Morris CabinThe homestead of a woman who ranched here alone for half a century.
- Green River raftingDay trips through Split Mountain or multi-day trips through the Canyon of Lodore.
Good to know
- In busy months, a shuttle carries visitors from the Quarry Visitor Center to the Exhibit Hall; at other times you can drive up. Check the park site.
- River trips through Lodore and the Yampa need permits from a lottery; commercial outfitters in Vernal handle the details.
- The Colorado side, including Harpers Corner, is a long drive from the quarry. Pick one side per day.