Diplodocus

Apparently, Diplodocus fossils are more common in the area than some of the other Sauropods, like Brontosaurus. This excellent specimen is in the lobby of the Field Museum.

Diplodocus, Tail

Here's the rear of the same beast. I like how the floor is a map of the local gelogical formations.

Allosaurus

Jurrasic period Allosaurs are the most common local predator fossils. They have them everywhere in the local museums and exibits.

Coelophysis

The Field Museum has a lot of nice reconstructions, like this Coelophysis. I only have pictures of a few of their dino models here.

Ornithomimus

You really get a feel for the close relationship between birds and dinosaurs by looking at these.

Utahraptor

The Utahraptor is much bigger than a Velociraptor. Speilberg's raptors in Jurrasic Park were bigger than real Velociraptors, so when Utahraptor was discovered later, reality sort of caught up with fiction.

Woolly Mammoth

Obviously, not a dinosaur. These guys may have survived up until very recently, so there are people looking for frozen ones in Siberia to clone.

Stegosaurus

This was out in front of the building that covers the quarry in the monument. I like the purely speculative colors.

Quarry Face

The building was erected in 1958. Inside, you can see a huge pane of rock, still chock full of fossils. They do very little excavation here now, so that people can see what a bone quarry looks like.

Sauropod Bone

This is what the fossils left in the rock look like. There are literally thousands of them, some skeletons more or less intact.

Allosaur 2

Again, the ubiquitous Allosaurus. This is a nice one though.

Camarasaurus

This is representative of the unique finds in the quarry. It's a juvenile Camarasurus. It's neck is still bent back from muscle shrinkage after it died.

Morrison Rocks

This is right across from the quarry. You can see why this area is so productive for fossil hunters. Look at the way the layers are tilted up at 45 degrees or so, so you can walk 100 million years in a 100 yards.

Ancient Dunes

Look at the way these sand dunes became solidified, then eventually tossed nearly vertical.

Vernalsaurus

I'd never seen one of these before. Notice the strange, vertical tail. Apparently this creature ate something soft, because it had no teeth at all.

Neckrideasaurus

This unusual suaropod must have had very strong vertebral musculature, because it's reconstructed with a saddle on its neck.

Unknown Theropod

Again, a unique specimen of predator. This creature apparently had very weak legs, and a completely atrophied set of foreclaws, even more useless than the arms of a Tyrannosaur.

Melonosaurus

I found this reproduction perplexing. The primitive, straight teeth of this dinosaur look like the ones you see in certain carnovorous deep-sea fish, so I doubt it ate fruit. It also appears to have an usual hat-like crest feature.

Bibliosaur

This specimen is extremely unusual. Note the odd dental arrangement, perhaps best for straining krill from tidal pools. The creature may have been very intelligent as dinosaurs go, but I think it may be presumptive to assume it was literate.

McConkie Ranch

The McConkie petroglyoph site has the most amazing parking lot fence, consisting of thousands of antlers.

Reception

The petroglyphs are on a private ranch. There are no guides or attendents; you just put some money in a lockbox and go looking yourself.

Entry Gate

Not exactly the most formal of exhibits.

Strata

These are the layers of rock in the cliffs. You can see that the lower layers are by far the weakest, so the petroglyphs are on very unstable stone.

Shamans?

The thing about petroglyphs is that they are absolutely indecipherable. Archaeologists think that these were made about 1,000 years ago by the Fremont people, but nobody is really sure.

Warriors?

What is that figure on the right carrying?

Executioner?

It's difficult to see in this picture, but there is a red pigment that appears to be streaming from the object the right figure is carrying. Could that be a bleeding head?

Fossil Shore

On the way back from the petroglyphs, I saw this boulder. It apears to be a muddy shore that eventually mineralized into rock. Pretty scary when you consder the forces that it took to put the ancient shore almost upside down.