The town has about eleven thousand people, with a long main street, a few motels and diners, and a museum of natural history with a collection of dinosaur skeletons, including a life-size model garden with creatures that appear to lurk beside the road. The surrounding country is red and tan rock, sagebrush, and dry river valleys, with the high, snowy Uinta Mountains standing to the north.
Dinosaur National Monument, about thirty kilometres east, is the main reason to come. Its quarry wall, protected beneath a roof, holds the exposed bones of hundreds of dinosaurs, embedded in the rock where they were laid down in a river bar some one hundred and fifty million years ago, and visitors can see and touch the fossils. The monument also protects the canyons of the Green and Yampa rivers, which are popular with rafters. The Uintas, the only major mountain range in the United States that runs east to west, include Kings Peak, the highest in Utah at 13,528 feet.
The road north from Vernal, US 191, climbs over Diamond Mountain and descends to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, passing a series of geological layers that are visible in the road cuts, each one a different colour, and the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, a side road that shows layers of rock tilted on their sides. The riding is excellent, with long, smooth curves, big views and a quiet road. Summer afternoons bring heat and sometimes thunderstorms, while winter closes the higher roads with snow, so check conditions. Wildlife, including deer, elk and pronghorn, appear at dawn and dusk, and care is needed.
Fuel, food and coffee are all easy in Vernal, with petrol stations, supermarkets and restaurants on the main street, and services thin out beyond. Fill the tank before heading into the mountains, since stations are far apart. Local diners serve big breakfasts and burgers, and the ice cream at the old drug store is a local tradition.
Take the time to stand beside the dinosaur quarry wall, if you can. It is a humbling sight, and a reminder of the age of the land you are about to ride through. Early morning is the best time to start, with cool air and long shadows.