I don't know about you, but I love to spend our Rocky Mountain Summers visitng some of the unique and exciting geologic features of our area, as well as the strange and unusual attractions that I explored as a kid.
Growing up in Colorado, I spent one field trip each year from elementary school through high school exploring the Dinosaur National Monument in Dinosaur, CO. We learned about fossil records, soil layers, and all things dinosaur. I looked forward to these trips with rabid anticipation--what other time is it acceptable to get dirty while digging through soil that dinosaurs stepped on? If you don't believe me, just check out the preserved footprints!
My favorite place of all during these fieldtrips was the Quarry Visitor Center, which was built on unstable soil in 1957. Throughout my fieldtrips to the Visitor Center, it was easy to watch the cracks in the ceiling, floors, and walls expand and increase. In July 2006, the center was closed due to severe health and safety hazzards.
To learn more about the expansive soil that the Quarry Visitor Center has rested on, click here. Otherwise, here is an excerpt from the Dinosaur National Monument's website to answer any of your questions:
"The Quarry Visitor Center is closed – can I still see fossils?
Yes! There is a Temporary Visitor Center near the Quarry Visitor Center that contains real fossils and exhibits. You can take the Fossil Discovery Hike (approx. 1.5 miles round trip) and see a variety of fossils still embedded in rock.
The Plan Your Visit and Things to Do pages have more information on activities within Dinosaur National Monument, including ranger-led programs, hiking, petroglyph viewing, and river rafting.
Project Status
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a $13.1 million investment to demolish and replace condemned portions of the Quarry Visitor Center at Dinosaur National Monument in April, 2009. The Quarry Visitor Center project is one of nearly 800 projects totaling $750 million that can be completed across the country with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Preliminary work for the Quarry Visitor Center has already begun. The National Park Service completed the environmental impact statement for the project in 2008 and finished design development in April, 2009. Work has begun on the construction drawings with the final documents anticipated by fall of 2009. The National Park Service plans to will award the construction contract in early 2010, and ground-breaking may be as early as next spring. Construction is anticipated to take between a year and a year and a half; the reopening the quarry exhibit and visitor center could be as early as summer 2011.
The exhibit hall that protects and provides public access to the 1,500 dinosaur fossils will be rehabilitated. The remainder of the building will be demolished and the visitor center functions will be relocated to a new building approximately ½ mile away." --taken from the Dinosaur National Monument Website.
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