Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway

When you walk along the Trail Through Time, you can literally see remnants of what came before you -- the dinosaurs. Other stunning skeletons, like the Diplodocus, lie along the trail.

If you follow the upper trail of the Trail Through Time, you can see the entire Rabbit Valley.

The onlooker can easily imagine outlaws riding to ambush the train passing through Castle Gate below this prominent pillar-- which is just what Butch Cassidy and his gang did to another train a century or so ago!

The Trail Through Time features fossils of dinosaurs, including ones of the Diplodocus.

In Buckhorn Wash, 600-year-old paintings by ancient Indian civilizations are well preserved at the base of a redrock cliff.

A motorcyclist zooms beneath sunset-lit cliffs on the Colorado River near Moab.

A skeletal replica of the Giant Ground Sloth that existed during the last Ice Age in the area of The Energy Loop: Huntington/Eccles Canyons Scenic Byway.

Park Avenue at Arches N.P. with dark gray storm clouds rising behind and sunlight strong on the formations.

Standing at Arches National Park, the outdoor enthusiast can see the La Sal Mountains.

Douglas Pass overlooks a flourishing valley capped by a cloud-filled sky.

A sturdy mountain ram guards his domain in the Museum of the San Rafael.

Twilight settles over the Fisher Towers.

Fremont rock art tells tales of long ago.

Windswept crags add to the scenic beauty of the Fruita Paleo Area.

These goblins stand guard at the Goblin Valley State Park.

Visitors spot goblins by the hoards in Goblin Valley State Park.

Rangely features its own picturesque golf course.

The Green River Overlook leads the eye to even further vistas.

Beautiful colors dominate the landscape in this picture taken near Moab, circa 1975.

Independence Rock stands in magnificient splendor in Colorado National Monument.

This exhibit interprets the challenges early explorers faced in their travels.

Learn more about the explorations of John Wesley Powell.

This exhibit and re-creation of John Wesley Powell's river trip makes one appreciate the convenience of modern travel.

A peaceful overlook invites travelers to stop and rest a while.

The Kenney Reservoir provides electricity and recreational opportunities.

The snow-covered peaks form a stark contrast to the closer red rock formations off of Hwy. 128.

The oft-photographed Mesa Arch frames in the rugged landscape of Canyonlands National Park.

A mannequin models the clothing typically worn by early mountain men.

The Museum of the San Rafael welcomes the traveler with wisdom from the ages.

Museum of the San Rafael cntains treasures from bygone days.

The Mygatt-Moore Quarry offers up treasures of the past.

This old homestead cabin shows the stark realities of life faced by early settlers of the area.

Petroglyphs lead one to wonder about the messages left by the original artists.

Petroglyphs enhance rock walls south of Moab.

Pictographs adorn the walls of Thompson Canyon

Rafters enjoy a lazy afternoon as they float through Ruby Canyon.

The Rangely Museum invites travelers to stop and learn more about the area.

On a cloudy day visitors can seek protection from the elements and learn more about the area at the Rangely Museum.

This plaque commemorates Riggs Hill and the discoveries made there.

Riggs Hill bares the skeleton of an ancient dinosaur.

Cryptic rock art leads one to speculate about the message left for others, long ago.

The sun warms the landscape of the San Rafael Swell.

The Green River lends scenic beauty to the landscape.

Turret Arch invites one to contemplate the beauties of nature and the power of the elements.

The Upper Kenney Reservoir invites a quiet afternoon of recreation.

Atop Dinosaur Hill the rugged terrain and rough beauty catches the eye.

Visitors ponder over a dinosaur skeleton at Dinosaur National Monument.

The Waving Hands panel greets visitors at Canyon Pintado.

Under blue skies, the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway passes through green hills in the Canyon Pintado area.

Dramatic storm clouds break up over the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway.

Visitors will find this unique Kokopelli at Canyon Pintado.

Mist rolls through the trees near Douglas Pass.

The byway winds back down Douglas Pass.

A colorful banner welcomes visitors to historic Fruita, Colorado.

An ironwork statue of Mike the Headless Chicken struts its stuff in Mike's hometown of Fruita, Colorado.

This monolithic sandstone rock formation stands right along the scenic drive through Arches National Park in Utah

A gnarled leafless tree stands beside the red dirt road heading toward sunlight bluffs in Buckhorn Wash in the San Rafael Swell, where amazing pictograph panels drawn by ancient Indian civilizations await.

Oddly-shaped redrock at Fisher Towers near Moab

Double Arch in Arches National Park

Dark photo of the view west from Fisher Towers

Closeup of the Anasazi Ghost pictographs on the canyon walls near the highway north of Moab

Irrigation underway in a field next to the byway in Castle Valley, Utah

The historic Dewey Bridge on the Colorado River with the interpretive sign beside it

Hikers and bikers both enjoy the Slickrock Trail, despite threatening storm clouds from the north

A white painted wooden fence spans the San Rafael River in Buckhorn Wash in a snowless wintertime.

Sunlight slants over the redrock formations of Fisher Towers in this backlit photo.

Kokopelli Trail begins at the historic Dewey Suspension Bridge

The prominent pinnacles of Fisher Towers stand out over the sagebrush fields north of Castle Valley, Utah

Sarahi stands by some petroglyphs and pictographs in Dinosaur National Monument.

Young mountain biker starting from the Slickrock Trail trailhead on a very storm-threatening spring day.

Colorado River bends under a bright sunny sky in very early spring near Castle Valley, Utah

Entering the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah, transports visitors to another time.

Castle Valley area--familiar backdrop to many westerns.

Mouth of Negro Bill's Canyon in early spring

Visitor reads about the colored dinosaur outside the Dinosaur National Monument Visitor Center.

The Colorado River flow past Big Bend campgrounds under an overcast sky in early spring.

The Blue Mountain Ridge creates a majestic backdrop for the landscape along the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway.

La Sal Mountains from Colorado River Gorge lies under a clear blue sky in very early spring before things started greening up.

A replica of a wooly rhinoceros that lived during the last Ice Age is on display at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum.

A BLM sign points the way to the Wedge Overlook and Fuller Hollow in the San Rafael Swell area of central Utah.

Located in an area of central Utah known as the San Rafael Swell is a little-known feature known as Utah's Little Grand Canyon. Carved by the San Rafael River, this canyon is over a thousand feet deep at the Overlook.

This photo shows one of the "legs" of Delicate Arch, which stands atop a high sandstone plateau in Arches National Park.

From near the summit of 13,371 foot Mt. Peale in the LaSal Mountains, a distant winter thunderstorm can be seen.

Huge sandstone boulders weighing many tons litter the base of a monolithe at the entrance to Park Avenue in Arches National Park.

Shadows in the hollows of the rock formations create a wide range of colors at the entrance to Arches National Park.

The thin base of one side of Delicate Arch shows how truly delicate the foundation of this massive structure is.

Sunlight peeking through clouds brings a red sandstone rock formation into prominence below the snowy LaSal Mountains in spring.

Clouds obscure the tops of the LaSal mountains as viewed from off of Rt. 191 south of Moab.

Wind, clouds and snow dust the landscape with white near the summit of Mt. Peale in the LaSal Mountains.

The striking rock formations of the Castle Valley region near Moab, Utah, creates a dramatic landscape at sunset, looking toward the Colorado River and Arches National Park.

The heads of The Three Gossips rise from the far left of this ridge in Arches National Park.

After eons of erosion, Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is all that remains of a plateau of sandstone. The LaSal mountains form a backdrop to this wonder of nature.

This view from the top of Park Avenue shows the vertical pillars of the aptly named Courthouse Towers formation.

Two hikers pause to view some rock pinnacles before beginning the one-mile walk down the scenic Park Avenue trail in Arches National Park.

Known as Utah's Little Grand Canyon, this feature of the San Rafael Swell resulted from the erosive force of the once mighty San Rafael River.

Fins of sandstone remind visitors of skyscrapers lining a city street.

Huge, puffy cumulus clouds generated by unstable spring weather conditions churn above the LaSal Mountains. The LaSal Mountain loop begins along the Colorado River north of Moab and ends at Rt. 191 south of Moab. The road climbs to an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet.

Magnificent cloud formations accompany a storm over Moab and Canyonlands.

Another view of the Delicate Arch shows the huge sandstone bowl sculpted by centuries of wind and water.

The rust red of several buttes and hills form a classic southwestern landscape along the Colorado River north of Moab, Utah.

The sun reflects off of low hanging clouds at sunset, creating a natural light show along the Colorado River north of Moab, Utah

Stormclouds deposit snow on the higher peaks of Horse Thief Canyon, in this view looking east from Utah Rt. 6/191 near Wellington.

The Flaming Gorge-Uintahs Scenic Byway passes through rocky landscape and Jackson Bluff near Vernal, Utah.

Early morning highlights the sandstone buttes that tower over Buckhorn Wash.

Near Big Bend Recreation Area on SR-128, golden bluffs rise above the icy waters of the Colorado River.

A train chugs away below Route 6 as it approaches a narrow point in Barn Canyon alongside the Price River.

A shaded sign at the start of the popular Negro Bill Trailhead provides helpful information for recreating in the canyon.

The layered clouds cast an eerie reflection of the dusty sand in this view from the scenic highway leading from Utah Route 191 to Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park.

The Colorado Welcome Center and an interpretive sign stand alongside the road on the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway.

High above the canyon floor, the San Rafael can be seen snaking its way through the desolate wilderness of the San Rafael Swell.

The rock pillar known as the Cobra rears in front of the majestic Fisher Towers on Highway 128 northeast of Moab, Utah.

A brightly painted wooden sign welcomes visitors to the Indian pictographs at Buckhorn Wash. Several interpretive signs continue along the fenceline at the base of the tall redrock cliffs.

This plaque provides detailed information on the Buckhorn Wash pictographs. The heading says, "Who Created This Magnificent Art On The Buckhorn Wash Panel?" The answer: the Barrier Canyon culture of the Archaic Period (2,000 years ago), and the Fremont Culture (about 1,000 years ago.)

Pictographs decorate the base of a redrock cliff at Buckhorn Wash in the San Rafael Swell.

Rock paintings of manlike figures with triangular bodies and no feet spread across a cliff face at Buckhorn Wash.

These three human figures were painted on the sandstone wall of Buckhorn Wash by one of two ancient Indian cultures, the Barrier Canyon culture or the Fremont culture.

Runoff from the bluff where Delicate Arch rests carved this bowl shaped depression in the sandstone.

After hiking across Utah slickrock, a visitor to Arches National Park captures Delicate Arch for posterity.

Mushroom-like sandstone formations are scattered across the desert floor in the Uintah Basin desert near Roosevelt, UT.

A group hikes down the trail in early spring below gently rounded sandstone cliffs.

A lovely large redrock formation, Morning Glory Arch, awaits the hiker after a 2.5-mile hike alongside a perennial creek in Negro Bill's Canyon near Moab.

A hiker explores the red sand and rocks in the shade below Morning Glory Arch in Negro Bill's Canyon near Moab.

Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway receives their designation plaque at the Designation 2002 event at Union Station in Washington DC.

A triceratops glares at the camera in the Dinosaur Journey Museum.

Gray clouds swirl above the expanse of green in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Green and yellow leaves provide a beautiful contrast against the clear blue sky in Ashley National Forest.

Storm clouds gather above an abandoned store in the ghost town of Cisco, Utah.

A shining stream winds through the rugged hills and green valleys of autumn-tinted Duchesne County.

The old LaSalle Hotel stands against a clear blue sky in Helper, Utah.

Wisps of clouds overlook the striking contrasts of green fields speckled with beautiful purple and blue wildflowers in the Manti-La Sal National Forest.

Colorful vegetation grows at the base of the signature red rocks of Mill Canyon, located just north of Moab, Utah.

The Huntington Mammoth is on display at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price.

Two hikers descend through a red rock pass on the Fisher Towers Trail.

Parriott Mesa and Convent Mesa rise above the green fields of Red Cliffs Ranch near Castle Valley in spring.

Backlit view of Castle Valley, Utah, taken from the road near Fisher Towers

What's cookin' in the Devil's Kitchen? Just ask these watchful sentinels as they stand their eternal watch in the sun, wind, and rain.

A large, pink dinosaur greets visitors at the west end of Vernal.

Three giant red sandstone outcroppings jut up from the landscape, giving the appearance of a fleet of battle ships.

As clouds part along Nine-Mile Canyon near Myton, UT, sunlight shines through.

A handful of pronghorn antelope walk across a desert plain near Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway.

A prickly pear cactus flowers in yellow and pink in the Uintah Basin desert near Roosevelt, UT.

A rainbow cuts across a stormy sky in Fort Duchesne, Utah.

A common sight along Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, pump jacks collect precious crude oil from one of the nation's richest resources.

Many of the redrock formations in Devil's Garden in Arches National Park are in the shape of stone fins, a splendid place to find arches.