Deerlodge Park Campground

Deerlodge Park Campground is located 51 miles (85 km) east of the Canyon Visitor Center and 80 miles (129 km) from the Quarry Visitor Center. The campground sits on the Yampa River by the boat ramp at the head of Yampa Canyon, in a large flat open area underneath large cottonwood trees. It is open year-round, but winter access can be very difficult due to snow, and when the Yampa River exceeds an 18,000 cfs flow rate, typically during the late spring runoff, the campground will flood. The campground has seven shady walk-in sites suitable for tents, all with picnic tables and campfire rings. Vault toilets and drinking water spigots are available seasonally, but there are no showers. Dinosaur National Monument covers over 210,000 acres (84,984 ha) and features two visitor centers, one in Colorado and one in Utah. You can see over 1,500 dinosaur fossils still in the rock inside the Quarry Exhibit Hall in Jensen, Utah. Numerous cultural sites reveal stories of the people who lived here before and include Fremont petroglyphs, homestead cabins and former ranches. There are miles of trails for hiking and cross-country travel, and several roads provide access to key destinations and scenic sites. Whitewater rafting, both commercial and private, is popular on the Green and Yampa Rivers. Multi-day Yampa River rafting trips begin at Deerlodge Park, where the river rushes downstream 44 miles (71 km) to join the Green River at Echo Park; boaters continue downstream on the Green River to the take-out at the Split Mountain boat ramp. The Yampa is the largest free-flowing tributary within the Colorado River system, so it has a shorter season marked by fluctuations in water level resulting from snow received in the winter, and it is characterized by famous rapids such as Teepee, Big Joe and Warm Springs. Raft trips must be arranged in advance, and private river trips require a permit.