Dinosaur, CO and Jensen, UT – The National Park Service today announced the implementation of a temporary ticketed entry system for access to Dinosaur National Monument’s popular Quarry Exhibit Hall beginning July 28. This ticketing system will provide the visiting public a reasonable opportunity to comply with COVID-19 public health guidelines by managing the pace and flow of visitation and reducing crowding.
Park visitors planning their trips to Dinosaur National Monument will be able to reserve a time to visit the Quarry Exhibit Hall—an indoor museum featuring fossilized dinosaur bones in situ—on Recreation.gov for $1 per ticket beginning at 10:00 am MT on July 24. The standard Monument entrance fees are still required in addition to the timed ticket. Tickets will be required for entry beginning on July 28. Additionally, the park is setting aside 40 percent of available tickets for visitors booking at 10 am MT two days prior to their visit for last-minute reservations or visitors unaware of the new policy. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase up to the time of the ticket on the recreation.gov mobile app. For visitors without access to a computer or smart phone, tickets can be purchased through the Recreation.gov call center 1-877-444-6777 which is open from 10 am to midnight ET, seven days a week.
A timed ticket will apply only to access for the shuttle and Quarry Exhibit Hall. All other parts of the monument will be open for recreation as they have in the past, and tickets will not be necessary for anyone river rafting, hiking, camping, scenic driving, stargazing or other park activities. Additionally, Dinosaur National Monument will terminate the ticketing system once the park is able to safely resume normal operations based on state and local public health and Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Dinosaur National Monument’s annual visitation is approximately 300,000 to 325,000. While the monument covers over 210,000 acres, the Quarry Exhibit Hall receives over 90 percent of that annual visitation. Most visitors arrive at the visitor center, then board a shuttle that takes them to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. The visitor center parking lot often fills during the summer, and as many as 3,000 people visit the facilities in a single day. Visitors experience a high level of congestion in the visitor center and the Quarry Exhibit Hall from late-May through mid-September and on weekends.
For more information on Dinosaur National Monument and the temporary timed ticket system see: www.nps.gov/DINO