Utahraptor State Park will feature a big dinosaur bone bed

SALT LAKE CITY — The Dalton Wells bone bed will soon become a major feature of the new Utahraptor State Park. The finishing touches are being made to the park, which sits northwest of Moab.

The Utahraptor dinosaur and the armored Gastonia dinosaur were unearthed in the bone bed and State Paleontologist James Kirkland said there may be many more discoveries there.

He said there were at least four floods that washed up the bones and stacked them on top of each other, creating layers of fossils.

“It’s much bigger than Dinosaur National Monument. I mean, it could be excavated for hundreds and hundreds of years at a very high level.”

Utahraptor State Park history and future

The state park designation has been 30 years in the making, Kirkland said. The Utah Legislature created the park in 2021.

Kirkland believes the Utahraptor name will bring people to the park and he hopes it will one day become as well known as the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

During World War II, Japanese Americans were interned in the area. Letters from those internees were found that detail how they also looked for dinosaur bones.

“The state park did dig up letters from the Japanese internees talking about climbing up the hill to look for dinosaur bones.”

The Utahraptor State Park will have 61 full campsites, numerous primitive campsites and 50 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers and OHV riders.

The park’s grand opening is scheduled for this spring.

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