Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
We kept seeing that photo of the dinosaur skeleton at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry so we had to check it out. We figured it wouldn't be much of a trail, but it sounded really cool. We found ourselves at the end of the Green River Cutoff in Castle Dale where we gassed up and headed north on Highway 10 to the little town of Cleveland.
Good luck finding the trailhead without a GPS! We knew it was on the south end of town, and we found the tiniest of signs on the main street pointing the way. We took the beginning of the Cedar Mountain trail until we turned north to head to the quarry.
They really, really don't want you to find the place. There are turns here and there that are unmarked, and you don't know the quarry's hours until you are almost there (they closed at 5PM on the Friday we were in the neighborhood). Despite their best efforts, we found the big, developed area and parked.
There were a few cars there with us in the dirt lot, and we decided to eat lunch there. Luckily, we didn't notice the picnic tables until after lunch. We barely had time to set the camp chairs out before it started to rain, so we ended up eating in our Jeeps. It was the start of the festive weather for the day.
There was a break in the rain and we wrapped up lunch to go check out the museum. It was only a few bucks to get in, and the museum was small. We knew we could walk around and see the quarry for free, but we were glad to support the operation. It's a few staffed buildings, picnic tables, and pit toilets out in the middle of nowhere. They need to make a bit of money somehow.
The museum was interesting, though very small. We saw the dinosaur skeleton and then headed outside to walk over to the quarry buildings. Only one was open to the public, and it was pretty cool. There are two doors that lead to two observation areas where you can check out the bones below. It was also a nice place to get out of another round of rain.
Though it was tough to find and the road itself wasn't at all challenging, we were glad we made the trip. On our way out, we watched the weather hit Cedar Mountain, the highest spot in the area and our next destination. We worked our way back to the intersection with that trail and headed up to the mountain.
