Dinosaur Discovery Museum at Johnson Farm

This is a fascinating museum in St. George that has a lot of incredible stuff and is very informative.

There is a $6.00 per person fee.

Boring pictures of museum stuff, mostly dinosaur tracks. Just a warning.

Quick overview: Mr. Johnson was leveling his farm, as he was moving a large slab it fell over and he noticed a footprint. Instead of just continuing on with his day, he called in the experts. They found a lot more. He ended up donating the entire plot which has extremely well preserved dinosaur tracks, thousands of them are condensed into this area. They have since built this great little museum, and I highly recommend you stop and check it out.

I must say that is really awesome that he did that, instead of glossing over it and moving on with his plans. Now we have incredible ancient history to study.

I believe this is ‘the track’ that Mr. Johnson noticed.

One of the fascinating, and unique features of this museum is due to the way these tracks were created they have natural molds and casts of most of the prints. As you can see here. Basically the dinosaur left a footprint in the soft mud on the shores of extinct Lake Dixie. Then sediment filled in. So you have the actual track, and a cast of it.

A couple footprints.

They had 2 or 3 prints that said it was okay to touch. Which means a lot of people touched it. Try not to think about that and just feel something unique. Hand for scale. I forget what kind of dinosaur this was. I think it is the same as the one above, Eubrontes.

Grallator track. I ended up picking up a legal plaster replica of this here at the museum. I just love that it has the claws! I specify legal, because that is what you should do. Let the experts cast it so the original track is not damaged. So many tracks have been damaged due to amateurs illegally attempting to cast them. I would never attempt that, not just due to it being illegal, but also because I would be worried I would damage it. And I am happy to support such an awesome museum. I can’t wait to hang this puppy on my wall.

Big Slab. This one shows the difference between running and walking. Top set walking lower set, running the opposite direction. I believe the same species for both sets.

A track within a track. You can see the middle toe, and claw of the smaller track on the middle toe of the larger track.

Tyrannosaurus Rex track. Well, a replica anyway. this wasn’t found here it was found in New Mexico. Smaller than I expected.

Another rare thing they found here, some tracks left impressions of dinosaur skin. I didn’t know any of that existed before today.

Long set of tracks.

Left by this guy a Eubrontes.

From the front.

Track plus mud cracks.

T-Rex Skull replica.

Which one is the Velociraptor?

If you guessed the one on the right, you’d be wrong. The Jurassic Park raptors were based upon Utahraptors. (right) the Velociraptor (left) was closer to the size of a chicken.

Still one of my all time favorite movies, just an interesting fact.

This was absolutely amazing! Probably my favorite museum I have been to yet! So many interesting things and such a wealth of information. I highly recommend it. It was only $6.00 per person. Not to mention this is a new museum so it is bound to become even more amazing!

My only gripes would be: I didn’t like being compelled to watch the 8 minute video the moment I walked in. I would have watched it eventually, but my excited kid; DINOSAURS!!! brain wanted to explore first. 2nd, I think they could learn a lesson from the Utah Daughters of Pioneer Women Museum. They greeted us friendly, then said: “Most people prefer to just take it in at their own pace, and that is fine, but we are absolutely happy to offer a guided tour if you would like.” THANK YOU! The guy at this museum ran after us after we had made it a few feet in and proceeded to babble at us forever, without a break to allow us to ask if we could just take it in for a minute. Not only that, he then proceeded to spend another 5 minutes explaining a nearby aviation museum he also volunteers at. I appreciate letting us know about it, but come on dude. I appreciate it, I really do, and I get it, give me a moment to go on and on about a nerdy subject that interests me and I will, but I really prefer the other method. Give us the option of self guided vs. guided right off the bat. although, again, kid brain, I wanted to explore.Just let me explore! Meh, I guess it could have been worse.

Anyway, if you like history, dinosaurs, or if your kids like dinosaurs, this is definitely a must see place.