Entry No. 84 — the Grand Junction file — filed under: after-dark

Dinosaur National Monument - Split Mountain Stargazing & Skies Over Dinosaur Festival

Straddling the Colorado-Utah line in the state's remote northwest corner, this certified International Dark Sky Park sits under Bortle Class 1 skies - about as dark as it gets in the Lower 48. Through the summer, rangers run stargazing programs at the back of Split Mountain Campground: telescope viewing, naked-eye sky tours, and red-lamp-lit talks, plus the annual Dark Skies Over Dinosaur astronomy festival in late summer. Far from any city, it's a place where the Milky Way is genuinely blinding and a passing satellite still draws gasps.

The move: Time a visit to a ranger night-hike-under-moonlight or a Split Mountain telescope session and lie back on a desert ridge watching the Milky Way blaze overhead with zero light pollution.

📍 Before you go Roughly 2.5-3 hours from Grand Junction; the ranger-program site (Split Mountain Campground) is on the Utah side, while the Colorado entrance is near the town of Dinosaur. Programs run late June through mid-September; check the park calendar for dates.

• 📍 Dinosaur (Colorado) / Jensen (Utah)
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Low-key
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: Split Mountain Campground, Dinosaur National Monument (Utah side), near Jensen, UT

Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.

⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-23