Elk Run Inn

12/04/2020

Please welcome new owners, Rajbir & Sandy Grewal. Good luck and welcome to Craig!

11/26/2020

When this is finished it will hang in the Museum of Northwest Colorado in downtown Craig.

An artist in Craig, commissioned by the Museum of Northwest Colorado, is painting the largest watercolor in the world.

11/24/2020

Don’t forget the rafting lottery! December 1st.

It has been cold and gray, but its time to think about summer rafting. The 2021 Green River and Yampa River multi-day river trip lottery opens at 12:00 am Mountain Standard Time on December 1!

The lottery closes at 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time on January 31st. All applications must be submitted through Recreation.gov. Good Luck!

For more information on river trips, visit
www.nps.gov/dino/planyourvisit/boating-and-rafting.htm

11/09/2020

Enjoying the much-needed
snow that has been falling all day at the Quarry Exhibit Hall in Jensen, UT!

Road conditions: muddy conditions prevail on the last two miles of the Cub Creek Road and is now closed to vehicles, including two petroglyph sites & Josie's Cabin.

10/08/2020

Picasso is being honored in Golden!

LARGE SCALE PICASSO MURAL IN DEVELOPMENT FOR DOWNTOWN GOLDEN
We are delighted to share news that America’s wild mustang of Moffat County’s Sand Wash Basin is to be honored by the City of Golden, Colorado, with the creation of a new mural 'Picasso: Spirit of the West' by local artist Christina Morrison, who will reproduce my best known photograph of the world famous pinto stallion on the NELI Building in downtown Washington Street.
Christina will begin work on the large-scale piece on Monday October 12th. The project will take around 3 weeks to complete. The image shown here is a visualization of how the finished mural will look.
Christina is donating a generous portion of her award commission from the city to SWAT (Sand Wash Advocacy Team), to help support the team’s volunteer work in Sand Wash Basin, home to Colorado’s largest population of free roaming wild mustangs.
Christiana’s website: https://www.artnsoulartistry.com/
https://www.visitmoffatcounty.com/wild-horses.php

09/25/2020

Coming for boaters next year!

Boat Ramp Revitalized!
The Boat Ramp on the Yampa River just South of Craig, Colorado at Loudy-Simpson Park will be open soon. The re-constructed Boat Ramp is quite an improvement and will be welcomed by the river running community. The Boat Ramp was made possible through a “Fishing is Fun” grant through the State of Colorado and was initialed by the Moffat County Commissioners. Jessica Counts and Roy Tipton are to be congratulated on their work on this important improvement.
Visit Moffat County will let boaters know when the construction is complete. Questions: 970.824.2335.

09/16/2020

Get away from the crowds and lights to experience the sky!

Edited to use a photo that illustrates the reality of light pollution in night sky photography.

If you've ever camped in Dinosaur National Monument and had the luck of a clear moonless night, you've seen the jaw-dropping night sky that the monument protects. Yet, if you felt dismayed as you tried to take a picture of the dense Milky Way and what came out was a black screen, then this post is for you! These tips come from Luis Garcia Falcon, a Science Communication and Resource Management intern with the that has been focusing on Monarch butterflies by day, and dark skies by night.

For , you'll need either a smartphone or a camera that you can manually adjust the camera settings and a tripod to keep everything sturdy. Once you have those things, you will need to plan out your photo trip. For the best shots, you'll ideally want a clear, moonless night, away from sources of light pollution, since that's when the stars are the brightest. This photo shows a couple small light domes from artificial lights on the horizon with the Milky Way rising above. Also worth noting, in the Northern Hemisphere the bright core of the Milky Way is only visible from late March to early October.

Once you're out photographing the night sky, you will want to secure your smartphone or camera to your tripod and go into your photo settings. In the settings, you'll want to keep your ISO around 3,000, the smallest aperture possible, and a shutter speed of 10-15 seconds. After that, focus your camera on the brightest star you see and take some images.

Play around with the settings and having different scenes in the foreground and don't be afraid to experiment. This post is a simple breakdown of astrophotography, if you wish to learn more there is a wealth of resources online to check out.

Have you taken a night time photo in or around Dinosaur National Monument you are really proud of? Share it with us using the hashtag . Or do you have a night sky scene that is forever saved in your mind? Please describe it in the comments.

This photo of the night sky from the Green River Overlook was taken by Luis Garcia Falcon on the Cub Creek Road in August 2020.

09/10/2020

Here is a video about the Little Snake River.

09/05/2020

We love Dinosaur National Monument!

A mesmerizing sunset alights rugged cliffs as a winding Green River meanders its way through the middle of Split Mountain.
⛰⛅You, too, can see this gorgeous view at the end of Ruple Trail. Bring a barrel of water and catch the trailhead at the Island Park Overlook on Harpers Corner Road (9.5 mile round-trip hike) on the Colorado side of the monument.

Photo thanks to Louis Kamler.