Dinosaur National Monument - Island Park

(Above: Island Park panorama. Click on the image to view a larger version.)

I spent the last day and a half at Dinosaur National Monument, which was totally unplanned but turned out to be a wonderful decision! Most visitors to Dinosaur National Monument are concerned with one thing: visiting the dinosaur quarry and seeing dinosaur bones. The fact of the matter is that the dinosaur quarry makes up only a fraction of what this park has to offer (besides that, the dinosaur quarry is currently closed due to structural damage to the facility).





Dinosaur is actually a very large park with amazing backcountry areas and what seems like about a hundred miles of gravel roads that bring you into the interior of the park. The park consists of two entrance areas: one in Dinosaur, Colorado and the other in Jensen, Utah. There really isn't much to see at the Dinosaur, CO entrance right now as the main park road is closed only after a few miles. This was disappointing for me as I was hoping to drive to the end of that road and see Echo Park, which I've heard is a "must-see" place. I was told that the road might be open by easter weekend, so who knows I may head back and visit that part of the park on my way home in another two weeks.





I concentrated my visit on the Jensen, Utah side of the park. I drove the main entrance road past the visitor center to see Split Mountain, and to see what that part of the park had to offer. While it was an impressive drive with lovely views, the part of the park that I fell in love with was the back road that goes to Island Park (its actually called Island Park Road), an amazing location with a spectacular horseshoe curve in the Green River and flanked by mountains to the south. Island Park is at the end of a rather long gravel road, but the drive is well worth it! I can only imagine how beautiful this location would be in the summer, once the trees along the river have leafed out.



Along the way to Island Park there is a terrific collection of Fremont Indian petroglyphs at the site of Mckee Spring. These petroglyphs are easily the most impressive that I have seen and have stood the test of time quite well. There is a short trail up a hillside to the petroglyphs, and once you've hiked to the top of the trail they are easy to spot. A wide-angle lens is a must if you want to include the petroglyphs and a partial view of the valley.





After my visit to Dinosaur I was hooked on the park... and I only saw a small fraction of what the park has to offer! Hopefully when I come back through on my way home the road to Echo Park will be open, as I am dying to see that part of the park as well. I will definitely be back. If not on this trip, then the next one!