Park Statistics

Dinosaur National Monument Visitation Statistics

  • Year to Date Reports
  • Monthly Public Use Reports
  • Annual Monument Visitation (all years)
  • Visitation by Month/ Year
  • Monument Fiscal Year Report
  • How We Count
  • Visitation Comments by Monument Staff

This information is available on the NPS Stats Website.

 

Important Dates

  • August 17, 1909 - Earl Douglass, Carnegie Museum paleontologist, discovers eight vertebra of an Apatosaurus, the first skeleton discovered and excavated at the Dinosaur Quarry
  • October 4, 1915 - President Woodrow Wilson signs presidential proclamation establishing 80 acres surrounding the Dinosaur Quarry as Dinosaur National Monument
  • July 14, 1938 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Presidential proclamation expanding monument by approximately 200,000 acres to include the canyons of the Green and Yampa rivers
  • June 1, 1958 - Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center is dedicated and opened to the public
  • September 8, 1960 - Congress adjusts and affirms Dinosaur National Monument's boundaries, giving the monument additional statutory protection beyond that afforded by the 1915 and 1938 presidential proclamations
  • 1965 - Monument Headquarters Visitor Center and Harpers Corner tour road are dedicated and opened to the public
  • December 4, 1974 – President Gerald Ford recommends to Congress that 165,341 acres of Dinosaur National Monument be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System
  • May 11, 1978 – An enlarged wilderness recommendation for 205,672 acres is sent to Congress, and becomes Dinosaur’s official Recommended Wilderness
  • October 4, 2011 - The Quarry Exhibit Hall and Quarry Visitor Center are reopened after a 5½ year closure.

Geographic Facts

  • Total Acreage: 210281.92 acres or 328.57 square miles (850.98 square kilometers)
  • Wilderness: Today, over 91 percent of Dinosaur National Monument is administered as Recommended Wilderness
  • Highest elevation: 9,006 feet (2,745 meters) at Zenobia Peak
  • Lowest elevation: 4,740 feet (1,444.75 meters) along Green River in the southwest corner of the monument
  • Elevation at Dinosaur Quarry: 5,000 feet (1,524 meters)
  • Elevation at Monument Headquarters: 5,900 feet (1,798.32 meters)
  • Highest point on Harpers Corner Road: 7,560 feet (2304.29 meters) at Stuntz Ridge
  • Deepest canyon: Canyon of Lodore, over 3,000 feet (914.4 meters) deep from rim to the river in several places
  • Highest cliff: Warm Springs cliff, 1,500 feet (457.2 meters)
  • Yampa River in the monument is 46 miles (74.03 kilometers) long from Deerlodge Park to its confluence with the Green River
  • Green River in the monument is 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) long from Gates of Lodore to Split Mountain Boat Ramp

Last updated: January 5, 2023

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

4545 Hwy 40
Dinosaur, CO 81610

Phone:

435 781-7700

Contact Us