Dinosaurland

Dinosaurland covers the northeastern corner of Utah, the Uinta Basin country running from the Wasatch Range east to the Colorado line. The terrain is layered — the Uinta Mountains rising along the northern edge to over 13,000 feet at Kings Peak (the highest point in Utah), the rolling Uinta Basin in the middle, and the high-desert canyon country of Dinosaur National Monument in the east. The Green and White rivers cut through the southern half. Daggett, Duchesne, and Uintah counties cover the region. Uintah holds Vernal (the largest city, with the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum); Duchesne holds Roosevelt and the Ute Indian Reservation; Daggett holds Manila and Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Dinosaur National Monument (with its quarry wall preserving over 1,500 dinosaur bones in situ), Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, the High Uintas Wilderness, and the John Jarvie Historic Site anchor the major attractions. Most trips here center on dinosaurs and Flaming Gorge. Dinosaur National Monument draws the largest single-stream visitor traffic — the Quarry Exhibit Hall, the Echo Park and Yampa River canyons; Flaming Gorge runs houseboat-and-fishing visits to the 91-mile-long reservoir; the Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Loop carries a one-day scenic-driving itinerary; Vernal anchors the route as the gateway to all of it.