There, mixed with the remains of turtles, crocodiles, and clams that lived in the river, the bones were preserved in the sand. This layer itself was not very thick, but thousands more meters of sediments piled up on top of it as the sea crept in and out during the last part of dinosaur times. Dissolved silica percolating through the strata turned the ancient riverbed into a hard sandstone and mineralized the bones buried within it.

When the Rocky Mountains began to rise to the east, this area went along for the ride. Here, the mountain-building did not push up the rock layers from below, but instead it squeezed them from the sides, warping and tilting them, sometimes cracking and shifting them along fault lines. Rain, frost, wind, and gravity slowly but steadily wore away layer after layer of the uppermost strata, revealing the older rocks beneath. In this way, a bit of the long-buried riverbed and its fossil treasure began to show up on the top of a jagged ridge.

Not far from that ridge, the prehistoric Fremont people carved elaborate drawings into the cliffs about 1000 A.D. Fur trader William H Ashley floated down the Green River not far from that ridge in 1825. Explorer/scientist John Wesley Powell followed the same route in 1869. But it remained for Earl Douglass to take a close enough look at the ridge to notice what was weathering out on its surface. Douglass, a paleontologist from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Penna., had not come here by accident. He knew that similar rocks in Colorado and Wyoming had yielded great dinosaur finds, and he began to search this area in 1908. On August 17th 1909, he wrote in his diary: "At last in the top of the ledge ... I saw eight of the tail bones of a Brontosaurus in exact position. It was a beautiful sight. " Those were the first of thousands of bones, including several nearly complete skeletons, that Douglass and his workers dug from this single ridge. Many of them are now on display in the Carnegie Museum.

The quarry site was designated a national monument in 1915, and though Douglass continued to excavate for several more years, he did not remove everything. Today the remainder of the bone-bearing layer forms one wall of the Dinosaur Quarry building. Here the fossil bones are still being exposed in, but not removed from, the sandstone face, creating a unique exhibit of the bones in their natural setting. In the summer, you can watch the Quarry paleontologists as they expose the fossils on high relief.

The canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers were added to the original park in 1938, but, isolated from main traveled routes and perhaps overshadowed by the uniqueness of the Quarry, they have remained relatively unexplored. A few hardy souls settled in the canyons around the turn of the century, but most of the land is still wilderness.

Erosion has stripped away the 'younger' rocks from most of the canyon country, accentuating the contrast, in both time and environments, between past and present. Land that was once a sea floor where corals and shellfish thrived is now far away from moist ocean winds, and a semi-desert climate prevails. The temperature can vary by nearly 85 degrees C (155 degrees F) between January and July, and though snow cloaks the ground in winter, it contains little water. Rain, when it comes, is often in the form of brief, localized thundershowers, drenching the ground in one place and filling the gullies with flash floods, while dust devils rise in the hot breeze nearby. In this setting, life must be tolerant of extremes. Good looks, as humans rate them, are not very important in the desert. Most of the dry basin and plateau land of the park is covered with sagebrush, greasewood, and saltbush, graduating into "pygmy forests" of pinyon pine and juniper at the higher elevations. Drab as these plants may seem to our eyes, they are beautifully adapted for their special tasks: conserving water, resisting extreme temperatures, and eking out a living from poor soils.

Within this arid setting, the rivers and their canyons are linear oases, in which the green of cottonwoods and boxelders seems all the more vivid in contrast to the surroundings. Boaters drifting along a quiet stretch of water may be startled by the sound of a flock of Canada geese taking wing, or by the sight of a bighorn sheep high on a cliff. Around the next bend might be a surprise of another kind, as the river plunges madly into a foaming rapid. Roar-bounce-splash'-who would have expected this in the middle of the desert?

Perhaps the unexpected is what Dinosaur National Monument is all about -- a gallery of dinosaur bones in solid rock, the whisper of flowing water heard from a sun-baked canyon rim, the aroma of Douglas-fir on the high mountain slopes. Time and the rivers have been long at work on this land. Take the time to discover its secrets.

Dinosaur Quarry

Headquarters Visitor Center

Canyon Country

Rougher roads, unsuitable for low-slung vehicles and trailers, lead farther into the backcountry. The most spectacular of these is 21-kilometer (13-mile) Echo Park Road. Before planning any backcountry travel. you should inquire ahead of time for current information.

Campgrounds

Hiking

Red Rock Trail - (2 mile loop), at Split Mountain Campground, passes through open country with moderate to steep hills. Self-guiding leaflets, available at the trailhead or at the Quarry Visitor Center, feature the geology and plant life of the Split Mountain area.

Harpers Corner Trail - (2 miles round trip) starts at the end of the Harpers Corner Scenic Drive, 31 miles north of monument Headquarters. The trail has moderate inclines, but pinyon-juniper woodland provides intermittent shade along the way; the walk takes 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. The trail follows a ridge affording spectacular views of the Green and Yampa River canyons and Echo Park, 2500 feet below. Self-guiding leaflets are available at the trailhead or at Headquarters. Photography is best in the late afternoon.

Plug Hat Trail - (1/2 mile loop) Is adjacent to the Plug Hat Picnic Area, 4 miles from Headquarters on the Harpers Corner Scenic Drive. Exhibits along this easy, level trail describe local history and geology.

Gates of Lodore Trail (1 1/2 mile round trip) follows the Green River from Lodore Campground to the dramatic entrance to the Canyon of Lodore Most of the trail is fairly easy, and it can be walked in 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Self-guiding leaflets are available at the trailhead or the Lodore Ranger Station. Morning light is best for photography.

Jones Hole Trail (8 miles round trip) leads from the Jones Hole Fish Hatchery to the banks of the Green River in Whirlpool Canyon. The trail, much of it easy walking, follows Jones Hole Crook through a deep, picturesque canyon, shady most of the way. Short spur trails lead to prehistoric Indian pictographs (please do not touch, even gently) and a small waterfall on Ely Creek. This is an excellent day hike.

Apple Point Trail (8 miles round trip) begins at the Island Park Overlook on the Harpers Corner Scenic Drive and follows an abandoned 4 Wheel-drive road along the top of Ruple Ridge. The trail has only moderate grades but crosses open, dry terrain; carrying water is essential, and a hat is also a good idea. The trail ends on a rocky point with a spectacular view of Split Mountain Gorge and the Green Rivers.

Echo Park/Sand Canyon hike (about 6 to 8 mile loop depending on exact route) is not a maintained trail, but can be followed by walking up the Yampa River from Echo Park to the mouth of Sand Canyon, up that drainage until it opens out, and then across open benchland to the Echo Park road in lower Pool Creek Canyon. The route may be impassable during high water on the Yampa River (generally late May to late June); also there is some scrambling over rocks in Sand Canyon.

River Running

Fishing

Area Services

Other Internet Resources

Hidden Colorado Canyons: Irish Canyon, Diamond Breaks, Bull Canyon - Three wilderness study areas near Dinosaur National Monument.