Despite a spike in national park visitation, Utah s state parks were as popular as ever in 2021. The year brought more than a million more visitors to the parks than the record-shattering 2020 figure.
Despite a spike in national park visitation, Utah s state parks were as popular as ever in 2021. The year brought more than a million more visitors to the parks than the record-shattering 2020 figure.
The designation of Utahraptor State Park in 2021 answered the wishes of many local and state advocates who hope to see better management of a state-owned parcel of land north
SALT LAKE CITY Construction on Utah s newest state park is expected to begin next year, and a second new state park is also being developed, officials said.
Utahraptor State Park and Lost Creek State Park were both designated earlier this year by the Utah Legislature.
Utahraptor State Park will protect the Dalton Wells area about 15 miles northwest of Moab where its namesake dinosaur fossil was discovered. Lost Creek is planned for an area near Croydon in Morgan County and is already a popular recreation site for paddlecraft and fishing, according to Utah State Parks.
Utahraptor State Park, north of Moab, was designated by Utah lawmakers earlier this year. (Photo: Alex Cabrero, KSL-TV)
If you’ve ever watched
Jurassic Park and thought “that looks pretty cool, except for the part where the people get eaten”, then Utah’s newest state park may be for you.
Located just north of Moab, Utahraptor State Park covers 6,500 acres of trails, campgrounds, and fossil beds with more bones than Dinosaur National Monument. The park’s namesake, the Utahraptor, was first discovered here in 1991, and has since become the state’s official dinosaur. Possibly the largest of all the Cretaceous raptors Utahraptor dwarfed the better-known velociraptor at nearly 20 feet long. Researchers believe it used its 9.5-inch sickle-shaped claws to rip apart prey before tearing in with 2-inch-long serrated teeth. Depictions based on the latest research show Utahraptor as a feathered, bipedal carnivore, sometimes roaming in packs, sometimes alone (there isn’t yet definitive proof that they were group hunters).