If you like getting up close and personal with history instead of peering at it through a glass case in a museum, you’ll enjoy the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail outside of Moab, Utah. Although short, this self-guided trail goes a long way in preserving the bones of dinosaurs that thrived here in swampy conditions 150 million years ago. These fossils are in situ, so you can’t any more authentic than seeing Jurassic-era Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Camarasaurus, and other bones in their natural surroundings. You’ll also find fossilized wood. To get the whole story, follow the numbered interpretive signs along the trail, which used to be a river channel.

Above photo is the tail vertebrae of a Camarasaurus. This beast was a very large, heavy bodied, four-footed plant-eating dinosaur. It had a short skull with a blunt snout and a fairly long neck and tail. Camarasaurus grew to a length of 60 feet and its four pillar-like legs may have supported a weight of nearly 20 tons.

The photo above is of an incomplete scapula (shoulder blade) and several ribs of a sauropod. Six feet to the left are more leg bones.

The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail gets part of its name from a mill that processed copper ores (azurite and malachite) here in the late 1800s. You’ll see remnants of the operation and tailings piles toward the end of the route. Limited quantities of ore and fluctuating prices probably made the venture economically unfeasible and the mill was abandoned.

The remains of the Halfway Stage Station are located east of the Dinosaur Trail. The Halfway Stage Station served the traveling public between Moab and the railroad at Thompson. The first passenger train went through Thompson to Salt Lake in April of 1883. The railroad was 35 miles from Moab. The trip from Moab to the train took eight hours for passengers, so travelers stopped at the station for lunch. Slower freighters spent the night on a two-day trip. To drive to the stage station, follow the signs.

For more information, call the BLM Moab Field Office at (435) 259-2100 or download a trail brochure at http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/more/cultural/Paleontology/utah_paleontology/canyon_country_paleontology/mill_canyon.html

Driving Directions: Drive 15 miles north of Moab on U.S. 191, the turn left onto Mill Canyon. This dirt road is just north of highway milepost 141. Proceed .6 miles on this dirt road to a "Y" intersection and then turn left. Continue .5 miles to another intersection and turn right. The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail is .6 miles farther ahead. Interpretive signs are located at the parking area and along the trail.