Really, it was more like 1.5 days. We arrived at 7pm on Friday and left for home on Sunday at noon, leaving us with Saturday as our only full day. And actually, that was fine.
Dinosaur National Monument is divided into two main parts – one in Utah, where we were (Quarry and Cub Creek areas) and one in Colorado (Harpers Corner Road area). Plus, there are more remote areas to access from the north. With more time, we would have also visited the Harpers Corner Road area, but we were able to get a good feel for a solid chunk of the Utah portion in our limited time.
Maybe it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to a cooler clime, but the heat and intense sun limited what we could do during the day – even in May. Here’s what we did, while managing our sun exposure.
Mom Favorite: Admire the petroglyphs at Cub Creek
Right off the road there are untouched petroglyphs that I could have looked at for hours. Explaining petroglyphs to kids is tough, so they weren’t as interested. (“Ok, so this is like sidewalk chalk from a really really long time ago…”) There are several petroglyph sites within Dinosaur NM, but I thought the ones at Cub Creek were the best preserved. Here’s a full list of all the sites.
Family Favorite: Fossil Discovery Trail
This is one of those perfect compromises. You can hitch a ride on the free, open-air shuttle that runs from the visitor’s center up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall, then take the trail that meanders 1.2 miles — downhill — back. It gave us a chance to get some fresh air and exercise before our drive home on Sunday, and also provided the kids a chance to hunt for fossils themselves, which they really enjoyed. Plus, they both voted the shuttle ride as the best part of the entire trip.
Kid Favorite: Play near Josie’s Cabin
We drove out to the end of the road to hike Box Canyon, but when the kids saw the small stream, our adventure ended there. They played happily in the stream for a very. long. time. Plus, they had fun running wild in Josie’s cabin – an old homestead cabin, now abandoned but still in perfect shape for the pretend play of the kid crowd.
Must see: Quarry Exhibit Hall
It’s one thing to see dinosaur bones in a museum, but it’s next level to see them in the earth in which they were found. In the 1950s, a building was constructed to preserve this impressive stretch of earth that is naturally home to over 1500 dinosaur bones. It was updated and reopened in 2011 and is an impressive place to be – another place I easily could have spent hours. The kids enjoyed searching for the various fossils, easily spotting a dinosaur skull perched up high in the rock. While in a museum you look from afar behind velvet ropes, here you are actually able to touch the rock and even two of the bones. The hands-on aspect really resonated with my 6 year old, who loved being able to touch an actual dinosaur bone.
