The state of Colorado shares about 270 miles of border with its neighboring state, Utah. This border starts in the south at the Four Corners and then goes directly north. It passes Canyons of the Ancients, straddles the La Sal Mountains, cuts across the Colorado River, and then crosses the White River. The border then carries on into vast expanses of brush land that make up much of the northwestern USA. The border terminates at an isolated edge of Wyoming, but not before drawing a last-minute dividing line through Dinosaur National Monument.

Dinosaur presented novel territory for us. We had never been to the northwest corner of Colorado, though we had gotten somewhat close on previous spelunking trips. Set on seeing someplace new, we left Denver early one morning with a car full of camping gear in tow.

After about a 5-hour drive we set up camp on a dusty side road outside the monument. We climbed the nearby hills to see what we could see, observed a vast expanse of emptiness and, in turning about to take it all in, noticed that our tent was blowing away. That ended the evening’s venture as we ran down the hill to set everything back in place and weigh the tent down with a series of large rocks.

One of the tent’s poles had snapped during its tumbleweed impression, and we were stuck with a lopsided rain fly when a small storm rolled through that night.

By some measure of luck we woke up dry, but shivering slightly in the cool morning air. Trusting that our camp was isolated enough to go undisturbed for the day, we placed additional rocks on everything we left behind and drove up the winding Harper’s Corner Road into Dinosaur National Monument.

The day’s hike – the Ruple Point Trail – started at the Island Park Overlook. Pulling into the parking area, we were greeted with a shockingly green landscape which had been woken up by the previous night’s rain. Lingering cloud cover shielded the sun and we found ourselves walking into the sagebrush fields with the best weather we’d had in a long time for an adventure.

The early trail dipped up and down over rolling hills. Compared to our typical altitude gain, this made for easy breathing. That, combined with a complete absence of other hikers, meant that we were happily having an easy, stress-free morning.

Dinosaur National Monument encompasses the canyons around the confluence of the Yampa and Green rivers, as well as a large part of the surrounding landscape. Sadly, the rivers were out of view for most of the hike. The actual views, mostly historical or contemporary graze lands for cattle, were somewhat less impressive. However, the last couple miles of trail brought us into groves of old juniper trees, and into a hidden Ponderosa pine forest.

Twisting and turning through the Ponderosas brought us finally to the trail’s terminus. A sudden break in the trees revealed the top edge of a massive canyon wall. The trail became muddled here, and began to more closely resemble the trails of Moab.

Meaning, the trail turned into following a series of cairns. Missing a cairn in Moab might mean getting lost in the desert forever, but luckily here near Ruple Point there was a pretty clear line to follow. The Point was less than a mile from where we first encountered the canyon rim, and finally we could get a good look at the river.

Ruple Point also made for a pleasant enough place to rest. We sat for a short time and watched the specks of a few rafters drift by below. Once rested, we began the rapid hike back to Island Park, during which time we passed only one other pair of hikers. It had been maybe one of the quietest hikes we had ever been on.

We took our time driving out of the monument. There was no shortage of overlooks along the road, and each one was well worth a stop. Vehicle limitations kept us from journeying down one of the dirt side roads which would take us further into the canyons, and so we departed without much more exploring. We had a campsite to pack up and a long drive back to Denver ahead.

Was Dinosaur National Monument worth it? From the small section we saw, absolutely. Online accounts indicate that what we saw wasn’t even the best part of the monument, and so we hope that someday we can get back to that quiet corner of Colorado to explore more.

Thanks for reading!

~Sky & Ty