Dinosaur National Monument Fossil Bone Quarry

Entrance to the Utah side of Dinosaur National Monument 

Dinosaur National Monument is a 200,000 acre park that straddles the Utah/Colorado border. Visitors to the park can raft the Green or Yampa Rivers, see petroglyphs, take a hike, camp or explore the Dinosaur Bone Quarry located on the Utah side. 

The Building that Houses the Bone Quarry

Dinosaur bones were discovered here in 1909 by Earl Douglass, a paleontologist representing the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. This quarry is often described as a "wall of bones" as fossils from several species of Jurassic era dinosaurs are embedded in an steeply tilted rock layer that was once a river bed. 

Inside the Bone Quarry

The Wall of Bones in the newly renovated Quarry Exhibit Hall is impressive in size, but it is only a small portion of the whole excavation area originally worked by Earl Douglass who shipped more than 700,000 tons of material to the Carnegie Museum.

The "Wall of Bones" at Diniosaur National Monument

Visitors are invited to touch real fossils in the Dinosaur National Monument Fossil Bone Quarry

Diplodocus leg bone @Dinosaur National Monument

Camarasaurus skull and spine at Dinosaur National Monument Fossil Bone Quarry

The Quarry Exhibit Hall and tram stop overlooks the Green River

Getting ready to hike down the Fossil Discovery Trail from the Quarry Bldg to the Utah side Visitor Ctr

Fossils can be seen at various spots along the Fossil Discovery Trail

Dinosaur National Monument Visitor Center

Sometimes I have to cajole my children into participating in the National Park Junior Ranger Program. Each park has an educational brochure/questionnaire specific to each site. Given the educational focus of this park, no cajoling was needed. My son jumped at the opportunity and really liked the unique, star-shaped paleontology badge.

Related Links:

• Acadia National Park Junior Ranger Program (shannafern.com)
• Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Site (shannafern.com)
• Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry (shannafern.com)
• A Birthday in the Black HIlls (shannafern.com)
• Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point (shannafern.com)

Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

While tagging along on a a work retreat with daddy, we took advantage of the of the ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) Travel Passport Program. We are a member of the Orlando Science Center which participates in the program and allows us to visit other participating museums at free or reduced rates. The list of participating museums and science centers is extensive. 

We took advantage of this program more than once during our week in the Salt Lake City area. Our first stop was the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point, which happened to be right next door to our hotel. 

Since we saved $39 by not having to pay admission, I decided to pay the $4/student fee for the 12 minute Jr. Paleo Lab where the kids were able to use the same type of drill that scientists use to prepare and clean fossils and on a real fossil. 

The Fossil Lab at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

Tree Fern fossils among others

Supersaurus skeleton at the Museum of Ancient Life

This is a fossilized dorsal vertebrae of a Supersaurus

Jonah with an Allosaurus skeleton at the Museum of Ancient Life

The museum had a cast skeleton of an Allosaurus. We found a true fossil from this species on the grounds of the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry only a few days earlier.

Utahsaurus at the Museum of Ancient Life

T-Rex display at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

Smallest mounted mammoth skeleton at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

This baby mammoth was under a year old when it died. It is the smallest mounted mammoth skeleton in existence according to the signage.

Related articles

• Clevendland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry (shannafern.com)
• Summer Day at Utah's Olympic Park (shannafern.com)
• Homeschool Day at the Florida Museum of Natural History (shannafern.com)

Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Visitor Center

On our recent tour of southern Utah, we ventured out to Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. Our son really wanted to visit Dinosaur National Monument in the northeast of the state but it was just too far away from our other stops.  So, when I saw "dinosaur quarry" marked on a road map and that it only required a short detour on our way to Salt Lake City, I thought it would make a decent substitute.

Allosaurus skeleton

It turns out that the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry has been a treasure trove of Jurassic aged dinosaur bones for scientists across the globe. Inside the visitor center are cast molds of dinosaur bones actually found at the site most of them carnivores with the majority being Allosaurus. The fossils found at this site have been sent to museums and universities around the world. 

Trail and terrain at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Jonah and I hiked a portion of the trail on the property. The first stop on the trail pointed out a sauropod rib in the cliff which was pretty cool. But Jonah desired to find a dinosaur fossil himself, so I encouraged him to look in places where water would flow during a rain. 

Fossilized Sauropod rib along trail at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Lo and behold he found a contender. I took a picture and we placed the rock back where we found it. When I showed the picture to the staff member he confirmed that it was a fossil and even said that we may be the first visitors to actually find a true fossilized bone and suggested that it was likely a small rib bone of a young Allosaurus! As far as I'm concerned our mission was accomplished.

Possible small rib of an Allosaurus found at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Related articles

• A dinosaur skeleton just sold for nearly £1 million at an auction in France (businessinsider.com)
• A Birthday in the Black Hills (shannafern.com)
• Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Site (shannamama.blogspot.com)

A Birthday in the Black HIlls

Tuesday was Jonah’s birthday so we let him determine the day's activities. 

We began with a visit to the Black Hills Institute in Hill City. They have a great store that has everything you can think of for “wanna be” geologists and paleontologists, young and old. If you pay an admission, you can also check out their museum which includes one of the most complete fossil skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found, dubbed Stan. 

The institute produces replicas and casts and other displays for museums and interpretive centers around the nation. Five (5) year old and younger are free and since it was Jonah’s birthday they let him in free even though he was turning 6. We were glad we didn’t have to pay for him because he was overwhelmed and quickly lost interest despite being beside himself with enthusiasm the night before when we walked by. I can’t blame him though; there was just so much to take in. Daddy and I enjoyed it, but even I was a bit overwhelmed. Jonah and sister got a token gift in the store and we left for our next destination. 

Before our trip, we watched a PBS documentary on Mount Rushmore with the kids and told them we were going to go there and see it in South Dakota. As a result, Jonah was interested enough to want to go on his birthday, so that was our second stop of the day. Upon arrival, we went directly to the amphitheater and the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center where we watched a short documentary. Then we walked the Presidential Trail that takes you in a loop out to the base of the mountain. We didn’t go very far before we saw mountain goats on the rocks above us and heard them bleating. (A handful were introduced to the adjacent Custer State Park in 1924, but they escaped and now approximately 200 live in the Black Hills area.) 

 After Rushmore, we drove into Rapid City and stopped at the historically significant Dinosaur Park. It was built in the 1930’s as a WPA project that was supported by Rapid City. The dinosaurs seem kind of cheesy until you realize they are solid concrete and steel and consider the age of the park. We stopped here for a late picnic lunch and to enjoy the view from the ridge. 

After lunch, we went to the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. There is free admission and free parking and they have a tremendous collection of actual fossils (no casts or replicas) as they have been sending out paleontological expeditions for more than 100 years – studying the fossil rich area of the upper Midwest and the world. Personally, I enjoyed this stop more than the Black Hills Institute mostly because the displays weren’t on top of each other and I wasn’t trying to figure out which where replicas and which were authentic fossils (all of them were the real deal).  

Plesiosaur Skeleton in foreground and Edmontosaurus in background

T-Rex skull

Fossilized marine reptile

The last thing Jonah wanted to do was the Pirate Cove minigolf. I took the kids last year myself when we were in Bar Harbor, Maine. They both had fond memories from that and were excited to go again with Daddy. They did really well. We tried to give some instruction to help them develop a somewhat consistent swing. By the end they were standing on the correct side of the ball and swinging with the correct hand position and enjoying it. They got the typical souveniers at the end and we won a Pirate Cove shirt for him with the scratch off card at the end.

Since Jonah's a lefty, we are showing him how to swing left handed

He's doing a great job here

Enjoying their booty while Daddy tally's the score card

Afterwards we made a Walmart stop for his gift – I had to get scissors tape and wrapping paper there as well and wrap it in the store. Then we went to Chili’s for dinner where he opened his presents and had a cupcake. 

On our way back to the RV we stopped at Rushmore to see it lit up – we missed the actual lighting ceremony. We left as they were closing down and went home to rest up for an early start the next morning.

I wonder if he'll remember his 6th birthday.........  I know I will.

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Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Site

I first learned about this place last year when I read an article about it (the link isn't the article but related) in The National Geographic magazine. I was amazed when I read that hippos, elephants and three-toed horses once lived in North America. So, when we began planning an RV trip "out west" I kept it on my radar as a potential place to visit.

We traveled about 1hr and 45 min southwest from our campsite at the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area on the Missouri River out to this National Natural Landmark. It was out in the middle on nowhere, but worth the drive if you dig paleontology (pun intended).

Jonah was most interested in the plesiosaur skeleton in the visitor center. It was found on a Sioux reservation on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River - a few miles northeast of Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Site.  

The visitor center had a great interpretive area and displayed many fossil finds from the property including this Saber-toothed Deer.

Outside there was an interactive display that demonstrated how to "uncover" fossils.

From there, we could see the Hubbard Barn - the highlight of the park.  

The building was constructed over an area of the ashfall to protect the fossils so that they can stay in the ground and displayed as shown. Despite being 11 million years old, these fossils are not fossilized like most fossils (i.e. petrified wood). This is because the ash that buried these bones didn't allow water to leach into them and transfer minerals into them. As a result, they are still very bonelike - they are hollow and very brittle, so exposing them to the elements and moving them around is not a good idea.

Number one (1) is a hippo and number two (2) is a fairly large specimen of a three-toed horse.

Here is another complete skeleton of a three-toed horse.  They had a middle hoof with a toe on each side.   

The walls of the barn had images and information on all the animals they have found on the site. Again, it's amazing to think of the diversity of animals that once roamed this area.

Related articles

• On the Trail of Lewis and Clark
• A Birthday in the Black HIlls
• Beautiful Badlands
• South Dakota Here We Come!
• Homeschooling from the Heart with Help from Lewis and Clark