Dinosaur National Monument has been on my bucket list from the Instant that I learned about it many years ago. Now it goes right back on it. I need to spend a LOT more time there.
The main attraction at DNM is the quarry. In the very early 1900s, dinosaur bones were discovered in the Morrison formation, approximately 140 million years old. The discovery was monumental, no pun intended, as it included hundreds of nearly complete skeletons of camarasaurs, allosaurs, stegasaurs, and other large dinosaurs that roamed the Green River and environs—all piled up together in one place due to ancient floods. A large excavation began. By the 1920s, after hundreds of tons of fossils had been removed from the excavation, scientists realized that the site needed to be preserved rather that completely dismantled. The “wall of bones” that we can see today has over 400 individual specimens. It’s assumed that there are many times more behind and underneath the part of the wall that is visible. To a dinosaur person, this is as good as it gets, except for the possibility of traveling back in time and seeing where they came from.
The monument lands are exceptionally beautiful as well, featuring a number of petroglyph sites from the Fremont people, vast sculpted sandstone formations, and many opportunities for hiking.
A few images.
