Group Tour Programs

The Dinosaur Depot Museum offers a variety of experiences that can significantly enhance our visitor's understanding of where the dinosaurs fossils were found and how they were recovered.  The rich history of fossil collecting in the Cañon City area can be explored.  Cañon City Basin geology and the part it plays in the fossil heritage is always a part of our programs  The Dinosaur Depot Museum tailors its programs for any age group.  They are available at any time of the year.

Dinosaur Depot Museum

Click here to print the Dinosaur Depot Liability Release Form

Regrettably, the Dinosaur Depot Museum is no longer offering guided tours of the Garden Park Fossil Area or the Skyline Drive Trackway Site.  This decision is the result of escalating liability insurance costs.  Please contact us regarding alternatives including self-guided tour opportunities.  Guided tours of the Museum will continue to be offered

Garden Park Fossil Area

The Garden Park Fossil Area is 12 miles north of Cañon City on the Shelf Road, an historic stage coach road connecting Cañon City to the mining communities of Cripple Creek and Victor.  The Fossil Area has produced world-class dinosaur fossils that are in Museums throughout the country.  It played a major role in the "Great Dinosaur Race", a vigorous "scientific" competition that occurred between 1877 and 1890 between Professors Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh.  They had teams of collectors ad excavators all over the west in order to get "the first, the biggest, the best and the most" dinosaur skeletons into their respective museums.  The race was one of the most of the scientifically productive and colorful parts of our paleontological heritage.  

The Dinosaur Depot offers a program the highlights the Garden Park Fossil Area.  The program begins in the Dinosaur Depot Museum to insure an a clear understanding of the background and importance of discoveries made in the Fossil Area.   The field component of the program includes stops at both the Felch/Marsh Quarry and the Cleveland Quarry.  Programs are led by experienced volunteers that adjust the presentation to the age and interest of the group.  They are well versed in the history of the Fossil Area both in recent times as well as in the geologic past.  Groups should allow a minimum of 3 hours for this tour

Skyline Drive is on the Dakota Group Hogback just west of Cañon City.  It offers spectacular views of Cañon City to the east, the Pikes Peak region to the north and the Wet Mountains to the south.  Dinosaur  tracks were discovered by Cañon City resident William Kurtz.   In early 2000, the Dinosaur Depot began excavating the tracks and developed the Skyline Drive Trackway Site as a public interpretive display.

The Skyline Drive Trackway Site reveals a early Cretaceous estuary where a group dinosaurs walked through, possibly eating the plants or traveling along the sea coast, moving to another feeding ground.   Other trace fossils including root structures, log imprints and burrows can be seen at the Trackway Site.

The Dinosaur Depot offers programs that include traveling to the Skyline Drive Trackway Site.  The program starts in the Dinosaur Depot Museum to be sure that participants have a clear understanding of the fossil discoveries made in the area.  In the field, we stop at the Trackway Site and includes an orientation to the geology of the area including what caused the hogback.  Groups are led by experienced volunteers that adjust the presentation to the age and interest of the group.    A minimum of 3 hours should be allow for this program.