Day 1

Vernal, on the eastern edge of the state, is a good place to begin exploring Utah’s dinosaurs. In particular, start at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park and Museum, with its interesting introductory video and great collection of dinosaur bones and fossilized plants and mammals from the later Eocene Epoch. After a visit to the museum, head north to the northern edge of Red Fleet State Park and take a three-mile round-trip hike to see dinosaur tracks.

Dinosaur National Monument, although a great place to explore, isn’t really a dino-bone highlight these days—its Dinosaur Quarry (a wall of bones) is closed for at least several years due to structural problems.

Day 2

Perhaps you don’t think you’re ready for another dinosaur museum, but get used to it! There are a few along this route, and not a one of them boring. Visit the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price to see locally dug fossils, including the Utahraptor. (Remember Jurassic Park?) After the museum, drive east from Huntington to the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry to see an excavation site.

Day 3

Stop by the Museum of the San Rafael in Castle Dale for more bones and a replica of a fossilized egg, then head east to Moab for a look at tracks of a theropod and meat-eating sauropods. Check out the collection at the Dan O’Laurie Museum, which includes a very gnarly looking dinosaur replica and other historical exhibits—it really is worth a stop.

Days 4–5

OK, so there’s The Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, south of Moab, and an excellent exhibit at the visitors center in remote Big Water, on Hwy. 89 at the southern edge of the Grand Staircase–Excalante National Monument, but for these two days we’ll give you the option of simply exploring the national parks and monuments from Arches, near Moab, to Zion, just east of St. George.

Day 6

Just east of St. George, the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm is a must-see. Recently discovered tracks show early Jurassic dinosaurs absolutely running amok across the former lakebeds here. It’s considered one of the world’s best dinosaur-tracks sites.

Day 7

As you drive north on I-15, pull off at Thanksgiving Point, where the Museum of Ancient Life has a huge collection of dinosaurs and other fossils and shows IMAX movies with computer-generated dinosaurs. Wind up your trip in Salt Lake City, where the Utah Museum of Natural History is pretty darn good, even for the jaded fossil-watcher.

© W.C. McRae and Judy Jewell from Moon Utah, 8th Edition