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Yampa Canyon: The Yampa River in DinosaurlandYampa Canyon: The Yampa River in Dinosaurland

Yampa Canyon: The Yampa River in Dinosaurland

Floating Across Dinosaur National Monument | Friday – Tuesday, May 5-9, 2023

For years, Jackson and I have wanted to float the lower section of the wild and scenic Yampa River that carves its way through Dinosaur National Monument, so we have been entering the lottery each winter for a chance to obtain that hard-to-get permit hoping that maybe we would eventually get lucky. This year after we were unsuccessful in the lottery yet again, we decided it was time to actively try harder to get a permit and Jackson was able to secure a Low-Use Season permit for early May just a few days before the High-Use season would begin. This was actually great timing for me since I have been spending the first weekend of May in Dinosaurland these past couple of years and now I could look forward to spending that same timeframe floating across Dinosaur National Monument on the Yampa River this year!

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Final Trails in Dinosaur National MonumentFinal Trails in Dinosaur National Monument

Final Trails in Dinosaur National Monument

Friday – Sunday, April 29 – May 1, 2022

It has been almost exactly one year since I started working towards my goal of finishing all of the ‘official trails‘ within Dinosaur National Monument that I had not hiked yet, and this weekend I planned to head back so I could finally complete it. Although the two trails left on my list probably wouldn’t be considered official trails by most people, I guess I’m a completist when it comes to hiking and thought they were important enough to be included. Plus, they would bring me into new parts of the park I had not explored yet, which is always an added bonus. However, they each also happened to be located on completely opposite ends of the park, so I’d have to cover a lot of ground this weekend! I left a little early from work on Friday afternoon and drove over Douglas Pass as I made my way to Island Park on the Utah side of Dinosaurland to get my weekend started.

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Dinosaurland: Ruple Point to the Yampa BenchDinosaurland: Ruple Point to the Yampa Bench

Dinosaurland: Ruple Point to the Yampa Bench

Friday – Sunday, April 30 – May 2, 2021

After spending last weekend backpacking in Salt Creek Canyon I was looking to take it a little easier this weekend, especially since that trip didn’t start out so great. I wasn’t quite sure where I wanted to go, but I did know that I was done with driving through Moab this season and didn’t want to deal with that traffic again for a while. Late in the week I made a last minute decision to head north to Dinosaur National Monument and planned to spend my time in the eastern portion of the park, which is mostly in Colorado. I figured this part of the park away from the Dinosaur Quarry probably wouldn’t be very crowded and it would be a good opportunity for me to spend some time hiking the remaining trails in the park that I have not been on before. Hopefully I will be able to complete them all in the near future like I did in The Needles and the Island in the Sky. It’s been a little while since I last visited Dinosaurland, especially on the Colorado side, so I was looking forward to getting back again!

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Dinosaur Memorial WeekendDinosaur Memorial Weekend

Dinosaur Memorial Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend | Thursday – Monday, May 24-28, 2018

After four years of going on our annual Maze Memorial Weekend trip we decided it was time to move that trip up into early April for cooler temperatures and less bugs, which meant that we needed to find somewhere else to explore over the Memorial Day weekend this year.  After some thought we settled on visiting Dinosaur National Monument because we hoped it would be a little cooler at this time of the year and I felt it was time to finally start getting to know this area of Utah and Colorado a little more intimately. Plus, there are a lot of places around Dinosaur that I’ve wanted to revisit and I was pretty sure that the park wouldn’t be too busy away from the main Dinosaur Bone Quarry. Little did we know that this weekend was going to be pretty warm all over the Colorado Plateau!

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Jones Hole to Whirlpool CanyonJones Hole

Jones Hole to Whirlpool Canyon

Saturday & Sunday, April 22-23, 2017

I have wanted to hike into Jones Hole within Dinosaur National Monument for a long time but have always put it off since getting there is a little out of the way for me. I finally decided it was time to get up there and check it out, but instead of doing it as a day hike, I figured that I would do it as an easy overnight trip and camp along the Green River in Whirlpool Canyon. I really wish I hadn’t waited so long to visit Jones Hole because it was an amazing experience. This hike had it all- hiking through a beautiful lush green canyon along a clear and cold stream, Fremont pictographs, wildlife, a nice waterfall and an awesome campsite on a sandy beach under the shade of a cottonwood tree. What more could you ask for?

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