To the Land of the Dinosaurs!

A park named Dinosaur with an area over 220,000 acres, how many acres would you guess have any dinosaur bones?  How about less than one!  While it was originally established in 1915 to protect a rich quarry of dinosaur bones, the park was enlarged to its current size to protect vast canyons and a split mountain and uplifted land masses dozens of miles long. Compared to many units of the national park system, Dinosaur National Monument is lightly visited, so we headed up there to explore and get some solitude.
We camped in the park with a site right next to the Green River with nice views of the Split Mountain.  We hiked the short trail off the main park road and visited the dinosaur quarry that started it all. We drove some fair distances to explore the more remote corners of the park like the McKee Springs petroglyphs, Island Park, Echo Park and the Harpers Corner overlook hike. This is a beautiful remote park and was definitely worth the long drive there.

If you'd like to see more about these adventures, check out my Outdoor Project articles here:

Echo Park
Jones Hole
Harpers Corner
McKee Springs Petroglyphs
Dinosaur Quarry
Sound of Silence Trail
Desert Voices Trail

Birds-eye view of our campground at Green River

Taking a break on a beautiful desert hike

Prairie dog watching us pass

The dinosaur quarry has yielded over 400 complete dinosaur skeletons to-date

The historic Chew Ranch has been working this land for well over 100 years

McKee Springs petroglyphs

This is Island Park

Heritage cottonwood tree by the Green River

These bighorn sheep were unphased by us 

The view of the Yampa Bench from Harpers Corner Trail

Whirlpool Canyon from the Harpers Corner overlook

Echo Park.  Stopping the dam that was to flood this area was one of the great environmental victories in the 60's