Rainbow Park Campground

Rainbow Park Campground is 28 miles (45 km) from the Quarry Visitor Center in the Utah portion of Dinosaur National Monument. It is located on a rugged dirt road that is impassable when wet. The campground is open year-round, but there is no winter maintenance on the unpaved road. The campground sits beside the Green River near the Rainbow Park Boat Ramp at the head of Split Mountain Canyon, and it has wonderful views of geologic features such as the Mitten Park Fault. Vault toilets are available year round. There is no potable water at this campground, so you must bring all the water you need for drinking, washing and everything else. There are no hookups, dump stations, or facilities for filling an RV water tank anywhere in Dinosaur National Monument. 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, with hiking trails allowing in-depth exploration. There are miles of trails for hiking and cross-country travel, and several roads provide access to key destinations and scenic sites, letting the windshield visitor see spectacular geology. 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.