1 dia / 35 milhas / 1 hora e 13 minutos
Harpers Corner Scenic Drive is a paved road that offers wheelchair-accessible overlooks with spectacular views of Dinosaur's rivers and canyons. Along the way, visitors can enjoy picnic areas, as well as several paved paths and hiking trails.
Dia 1
9:05 - 0.1 milhas / 1 minuto - 9:05
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About 4 miles north of the Canyon Visitor Center, stop at the pullout on the right. Here, you can view a layer of deep red mudstone sandwiched between two lightercolored sandstones. This feature reminded an early traveler of a derby hat and inspired the name Plug Hat Butte, with a “crown” of Entrada Sandstone and a “band” of red Carmel Formation. As you drive around the butte, look for sweeping cross-beds of fine sand grains in the “brim” of Nugget Sandstone, indicating that this rock layer began as windblown desert sand dunes.
9:53 - 0.6 milhas / 1 minuto - 9:54
At the Plug Hat Butte picnic area, several viewpoints and short walks introduce you to the Colorado Plateau. Sedimentary rock layers across Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona were uplifted to form a table-like region, or plateau, drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The scene before you is typical of the plateau’s colorful strata, flat topped mesas, buttes, and sheer walled canyons. Lack of soil and plant cover contributes to the visibility of these landforms.
9:59 - 0.1 milhas / 1 minuto - 10:00
Located on top of a butte, the Plug Hat Trail offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. The trail is paved and winds through a forest of pinyon pine and Utah juniper trees. Signs along the way provide information about the local community of plants and animals. Benches are available at scenic areas. Although the trail is wheelchair accessible, some assistance may be needed. A wheelchair accessible picnic area is located across the road from the trailhead. Leashed pets are allowed on this trail.
10:30 - 3.9 milhas / 8 minutos - 10:38
The broad valley before you, ringed by mountains, is called the Uinta Basin. Here, animals and plants from the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, and Rocky Mountains come together to form a unique mix of ecosystems. The diversity of life within Dinosaur is enhanced by drastic elevation changes, ranging from 4750 to 9000 feet (1448 to 2743 m).
Some plants, like manzanita (a green, round-leafed shrub), have very specific habitat needs. The only place within the monument with the right combination of soil type, sun exposure, and moisture level to support manzanita is here at Escalante Overlook. Some species, like arrowleaf balsamroot (a yellow-flowering plant with wavy arrow-shaped leaves), are less picky and more widespread.10:43 - 12.4 milhas / 25 minutos - 11:08
Upper Canyon OverlookDinosaur National Monument
Off to the right of the overlook, you can see Round Top Mountain, which is home to a fire lookout tower staffed during the summer. Summer thunderstorms keep the lookout busy reporting “smokes” produced by lightning strikes. Fire plays a natural role in the ecosystem and helps maintain a healthy diversity of plant and animal life. The goal of fire management at Dinosaur is to mimic the frequency, timing, and size of fires as they would have occurred prior to the late 1800s.
11:13 - 0.4 milhas / 1 minuto - 11:14
The vegetation here is markedly different from that of the surrounding sagebrush steppe. This north facing slope experiences less direct sunlight and therefore retains more moisture. These conditions encourage the growth of large trees, like aspens and Douglas-firs. This montane forest is only found over 7000 feet elevation and covers less than 5% of Dinosaur’s
211,000 acres.
Douglas-fir trees live an incredibly long time; some are hundreds of years old. Over the years, they have survived many harsh winters and provided animals with food and shelter. Each cone contains 20 to 30 winged seeds, dispersed by wind. These seeds provide critical nourishment to a variety of birds and small mammals like mice, voles, shrews, and chipmunks.
Aspen trees have also adapted to this higher elevation. The thin white layer of outer bark conceals a green layer underneath. This part of the bark is photosynthetic, allowing these trees to produce energy throughout the winter when leaves are absent. An entire stand of trees is often only one individual organism sharing an interconnected root system. As conifers grow and eventually replace aspen trees, the root system remains dormant underground for years. While a forest fire may destroy a conifer stand, it provides aspens with an opportunity to regrow, beginning the cycle anew.11:19 - 0.0 milhas / 1 minuto - 11:19
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There is a good chance that you will see cattle along the road, and may even encounter local ranchers driving their herds to better pasture. Over the last century, grazing has been a primary use of the land in and around Dinosaur National Monument. Today, grazing is still allowed at certain locations within the monument’s boundary. Many of the families permitted to pasture their animals here originally homesteaded in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, prior to the establishment of the monument.
In those days, cattle rustling was a common trade in this part of the country. Trail Draw, the small canyon before you, was part of what is now known as the Outlaw Trail. This famous backcountry route snaked through desolate, rugged terrain from Montana to New Mexico, linking well-known hideouts such as Hole in the Wall and Robber’s Roost. The most notorious outlaws that used this route were known as the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Legend holds that the infamous duo originally met in Browns Park, an area just north of the monument. Abundant grasslands and relatively warm winters attracted settlers to Browns Park as early as the 1870s. Outlaws frequented this isolated valley to rest and resupply.
Two local residents, Ann and Josie, also known as the Bassett sisters, befriended the Wild Bunch. The Bassett family was on good terms with the outlaws, and even joined them for a Thanksgiving dinner, alongside other residents of the valley. Their friendship with the Wild Bunch may have deterred other local outlaws from rustling the Bassett’s cattle. Eventually, Josie moved to the base of Split Mountain where her homestead still stands today.11:42 - 0.3 milhas / 1 minuto - 11:43
The Echo Park Road is a 14-mile (one way) unpaved road that takes drivers from the Harpers Corner Road to the banks of the Green River at Echo Park. While much of this road is graded and covered with gravel, high clearance vehicles and four-wheel-drive are strongly recommended.
11:48 - 0.7 milhas / 1 minuto - 11:50
Ruple Point Trail is one of the longer maintained trails in Dinosaur National Monument. For most of its length, this trail crosses a rolling terrain filled with sagebrush and juniper trees. Towards the end of the trail, a short descent through a pinyon pine forest rewards hikers with cliffs offering breathtaking views of Split Mountain Canyon and the Green River 2,500 feet (762 meters) below. No pets allowed.
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Island Park is below you, just out of sight. There, between Whirlpool Canyon and Split Mountain Canyon, the Green River flows placidly in island dotted channels. This grassy area near the river features abundant forage, attracting many early settlers, including the Ruple family. In April 1883, Henry and May Ruple homesteaded in Island Park and established a cattle ranch. They built a multi-story cabin with a stone fireplace—a fine house for anyone in such a remote area. After they finished construction, they were 18 miles from the nearest neighbors. The family ran cattle from Island Park to Wild Mountain, 10 miles away. In 1915, the Ruple’s son Hod took over the property and switched from cattle to sheep ranching. Sheep were better suited to the harsh, high desert climate and were an important part of the region’s early economy. The Ruples sold the majority of the property in 1945, but the family still retains a portion of the original homestead outside of the monument boundary.
15:55 - 1.6 milhas / 3 minutos - 15:59
At an elevation of 7600 feet, the rock under your feet is the same layer of rock that is exposed at river level about 2600 feet below. How is that possible? Two large blocks of land have slipped downward along the Yampa Fault and the Red Rock Fault, forming giant steps, or benches. Although the underlying rock of each bench is the same Weber Sandstone, differences in elevation and moisture dramatically affect the vegetation. Sagebrush and grasses dominate the lower benches, while pinyon pines and juniper trees forest this area. The pinyon-juniper landscape at this stop is a hallmark of many arid areas in the West. At Dinosaur, these forests support diverse native vegetation and can be very old. Intense fires, capable of altering entire stands of trees, are fairly rare here; some pinyons are over 700 years old. Today, pinyons and junipers are almost always associated with each other and are expected to be seen together, but this has not always been the case. Junipers actually arrived in the area about 9000 years ago. Pinyons arrived much later, around the mid-1200s.
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From here you can see directly down into Echo Park. Beyond Steamboat Rock, just out of sight, is the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers. Both are part of the Upper Colorado River system, and each has its own unique story.
From almost the beginning of American settlement in the West, demand for water has exceeded availability. In 1950, the United States Bureau of Reclamation presented the Colorado River Storage Project, a proposal to construct several dams throughout the Colorado River system. The initial project included a dam downstream of Echo Park that would have flooded both the Green and Yampa rivers, destroying many of the natural and cultural features that had been protected as part of Dinosaur National Monument since a boundary expansion in 1938.
This proposed dam had the potential to set a precedent that put every national park and monument at risk of development, and environmental groups took a strong stand against it. The movement to defeat the Echo Park Dam garnered tremendous public support and ultimately was successful. However, a dam was still built upstream on the Green River at Flaming Gorge.
In its natural state, the Green River flooded almost every spring, carrying loads of silt and scouring its banks. Life in the river was so well-adapted to this environment that many organisms depended on this seasonal influx of water and sediment to survive. In 1964, the Flaming Gorge Dam was completed, trapping silt behind its walls and regulating water flow at a constant rate. Native species, ill-adapted to this cold, clear water, began to suffer.
Today, the dam regulates water releases in an attempt to mimic the natural rhythms of the Green River and aid in the recovery of native species.
The Yampa River stands in contrast to the today’s Green River. The Yampa is the last major free-flowing tributary in the Colorado River System. It serves as a sanctuary to native fish and invertebrates, like mayflies, that are adapted to its natural fluctuations. Where the two rivers meet at Echo Park, the Yampa rejuvenates the Green with its warm, silty waters for miles downstream, effectively creating a hybrid river, both regulated and wild.16:16 - 0.0 milhas / 1 minuto - 16:16
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Trail starts with a short descent but is then fairly level with a few moderate ups and downs. The end of the trail features an overlook with sweeping views of the river canyons with the Green River 2,500 feet (762 meters) below.
17:53 - 0.1 milhas / 1 minuto - 17:53
Broad sage-covered plateaus eventually give way to an increasingly narrow ridge. This promontory of land was named Harpers Corner after a local rancher who used it as a natural corral. A short length of fence across one end was enough to confine his livestock, as the other three sides fall away in sheer cliffs to the canyons below.