Dinosaur National Monument Canyons

Motorcycle Route Author

By GJRonK (2630 McR Points) on Jul 20, 2016

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GJRonK

2630 McR Points

September 8, 2016

Note: The viewpoint of the Green River at Harper'…

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GJRonK

2630 McR Points

February 10, 2020

Just to stress, this is really wide open after…

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Written Directions

On Highway 40, about two miles east of Dinosaur, CO, start your route by turning north in to Dinosaur National Monument (on Google Maps the road shows up as "Canyon Harper Corners Road"). Follow this road into the park as it winds its way north to the end at what is called Harpers Corner. There you'll find a parking area, a trail head and a GREAT scenic overlook (see below)!

Scenery

In 1869, John Wesley Powell traveled down the Green River in Utah and mapped a colorful, wild area known in any detail until then only to native Indians. In 1915, the initial area was made into a national monument. It is now 210,000 acres and is accessed at two points. The western Quarry Area in Utah has the digs for the dinosaur bones and interesting exhibits. There, also, is the 1870's cabin of Josie Basset (of the Butch Cassidy time). The eastern section, called the Canyon Area, has some fun high level riding. That's what this entry is about. Here, you travel along a road on a relatively flat section of the Colorado Plateau at about 7600'. The river is over 3,000' below. There are 23 layers of rock that you can see from a half dozen overlooks of the river carved canyons surrounding the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. From dirt 4WD roads one can visit even more country and places of Indian petroglyphs. If lucky, you may see a bighorn sheep. But from along this sparsely traveled upper road, you can still see deer, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, and the frequent buzzard gliding overhead. At the attractive visitor center, you can see some history of the area and a slide show. There is no charge to enter the monument.