Where to camp in Utah with dinosaurs in mind

[Meadowlark]

We're considering a trip to Utah in May 24, with the goal of going to several of the dinosaur museums and parks. Looking at a map of Utah campgrounds is a bewildering experience, it seems there's tons of campgrounds but which ones are specifically oriented to dinosaurs, I don't know.

We'll be towing our 17' Casita

We'll be looking for electric and water sites, but can also do dry camping as we have solar panels. Our 2011 Tundra isn't four wheel drive and I am not one to do off road shenanigans. A broken tie rod is no fun in the back country.


Advice would be greatly appreciated!

[ShelbyM]

There are some campgrounds in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument. IIRC we camped at Green River. Typical NPS campground. Nice location but few amenities. https://www.nps.gov/dino/planyourvisit/directions.htm The Quarry Visitor Center is very cool. I'm not familiar with any other dinosaur sites in Utah but there is plenty to see otherwise.

[HVance]

My suggestion is Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, far enough from civilisation to get away from crowds but not a 4x4 adventure. I strongly suggest you coordinate your visit with the rangers as they are not open anything like normal business hours. Also, check out the museum in Price, UT

Hugh

[Rzrbrn]

Try to find a Geological map of Utah or the area where you want to spend the most time. The Dino's are found in the Morrison Formation. If you boondock and come across Dino fossils, take a pic and try to locate using your GPS. Then go to the Museum and let them know what you found. Don't chip away and try to take something home. Could be a valuable find. I did this; found a nice hitherto unknown fossil area and got a nice letter noting the find, what it was, etc.

[thrifty bill]

Dry camping in Utah in May means no AC unless you have a generator. Much of Utah is HOT by May.

There is a dinosaur museum in St George and Snow Canyon SP (in SG) has some hookup sites.

[John in Santa Cruz]

When we were exploring southern Utah a couple years ago, we tried to find a dinosaur foot print site on the Grand Staircase area but missed the turnoff. This was on dirt roads, but they were wide and well graded, we didn't need 4x4 until we got much farther into a slot canyon road that we ended up on.

This was the dinosaur footprint site,
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tw...xkc4?entry=ttu

which is about 17 miles down the well graded Hole in the Wall Rd, which starts about 5 miles east of Escalante. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GO THROUGH THE LEFT HAND COLLET ROAD MUCH FARTHER THAN THE TURNOFF TO THE DINO PRINTS.... We did, and it was a hella long and gnarly 4x4 adventure in our F250 longbed diesel which has all terrain tires. A 2WD Tundra would have no problems going to the dino footprints, Devil's Garden off the Hole in the Wall Rd is a must stop, too.




We were camping at Kodachrome Basin State Park, which is HIGHLY recommended, and has some full hookup sites, although we were dry camping.




OH, also stop at the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Visitors Center thats just west of the town of Escante. get maps from them if you want to try and find the Dino footprints site, we didn't and there's zero cell service once you're off the beaten path, live and learn.

[Meadowlark]

Thank you, everyone, for the advice. Especially the road conditions. I don't do gnarly, for instance. I used to own land in the badlands of Montana, just east of a town called Winnett. I learned that the best way of making a Montanan wet his pants in fear is to say the word "gumbo".

[John in Santa Cruz]

oh, I forgot about this Dinosaur Museum we stopped at in SW Utah, https://utahdinosaurs.org/

it was definitely worth a couple hours wandering around.