Natural History Museum Of Utah

The new Natural History Museum of Utah is absolutely amazing! I can’t get over how modern and fantastic everything was. They have actually been in this building since 2011, so it has been a long time since we have come by seeing as the last time we did, way back in 2008, it was in the old building. It was a pretty cold, and very blustery day. We have hiked on cold blustery days, and it’s not the best so we decided to do the museum instead.

Quick Details:

Cost: Adults: $14.95. Seniors and young adults (13 - 24) $12.95. Children 3-12 $9.95. Under 3 are free.
Hours: Sun - Sat 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Wednesday until 9:00 PM
Reservation Required: No.



I spotted the old aviation tower on top of Mt Wire on the way in (PSP). That's been on my list for a while but we haven’t made it yet.



The new building is quite lovely (PSP).



The Bonneville Shoreline Trail runs right in front of it. We actually come down this way after doing the Red Butte Skyline Trail.



The front.



The first little room we went into was called Our Backyard and it had some creepy crawlies. Here are some giant cockroaches.



Tiger Salamander. These are Utahs only salamander. We tend to see them we when do Cecret Lake. Though, we have yet to see one in adult form yet.



Some toads.



Gopher snake. I found one of these when I was a teenager and kept it as a pet. Pretty chill guy, though adult me wishes I had let him live his life free.

The next section was Past Worlds




Green River Fossils. This reminds me of the fossil room the Utah Field House Museum of natural History in Vernal.



Footprint.



The first of many dinosaur replicas.



Utah’s Gore King, Lythronax argestes. A newly discovered Tyrannosaur species found in Grand Staircase National Monument in 2013. Not particularly huge but certainly fierce looking.



They have an entire excavation site that you walk over.





I think this is a Tyrannosaurus Rex actual fossil left, and replica right. I might be mistaken.





I am in love with all the dinosaurs they have.



Utahceratops. I knew we had a Utahrapter, but this is new to me.



Triceratops and related species heads. We’ll get closer to them shortly.



I didn’t catch the name of this gigantic sauropod, something with a b.



More.



Another fossil site you walk over.



I liked that they put the carnivore scrambling over the giant beast.



Skulls.



SO. MANY. DINOSAURS!!

Seriously, I revert into 10 year old me when I see dinosaurs. I don’t know why. I guess that was my whole world when I was little.



Back to the various ceratops.





Giant crocodile looking guy.



Regular size one (I think) to the right.



This has to be a mistake… it does not look right haha.



Giant sloth.



Woolly Mammoth and Giant Bear.



Honestly the giant sloth is kind of terrifying.



The next segment is The Great Salt Lake exhibit. There is a giant representation on the floor.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures here, but it was a cool and informative exhibit.



The next exhibit was the First Peoples. Here is a recreation excavation site.



Some pottery.

Side note, before climbing to the next floor, be sure to cross the bridge to the Special Exhibits Gallery. we missed it at first and had to come back.



The design of this amazing new building allows you to view the lower exhibits.
The next segment is the Land Exhibit.



Yellow-bellied marmot skull.



Owl.



Panoramic of the dinosaurs below.



Outside terrace. They were all closed at the moment.



I forgot what these are but I do remember they have been around, unchanged for a very long time.





Different rock layers.  You can see these in all their glory in Dinosaur National Monument and in particular on the Green River, or on the Jones Hole trail.

Next is the Life Exhibit.



They had a cool little alcove for all the zones, alpine, desert etc. I think this is the montane one.



Corvids. This is cool to see how all the different sizes compare.



Skulls.



Great horned owl skull.



Different aged wolf skulls.



Bugs. I think I see some of the butterflies we saw at the Butterfly Biosphere.



Water lily. Allowing you to see what you don’t normally see.



Porcupine and beaver.



More animals. I was interested in the flying squirrel.



Great horned owl.



Great blue heron. We see these fairly regularly in winter in places like the Eccles Wildlife Education Center.




Brine shrimp.

Moving up to Level 5 to the Sky Exhibit.



Neat dark sky display.



Out on the Sky Terrace there is a pretty amazing view of downtown and the valley.



Panoramic.



Mount Van Cott.



Fulgarite. This is created from lightning hitting sand.

Also on the 5th floor is the Native Voices exhibit.



I didn’t take a lot of pictures in here.

While on the 4th floor we realized we missed the Aztec Exhibit on the 3rd floor. So we headed back down towards that.



We missed this on our first pass through here. They have actual petroglyphs! Which even they acknowledge is unusual. A land owner in Tooele donated the boulder to the museum because he feared it would be vandalized on his property. That's pretty cool.



To get to the Special Exhibit Gallery you have to cross this sky bridge over the Canyon Lobby. That is the Collections Wall to the left there. It holds samples of all the exhibits.



This room appears to be their private collection storage area.



HUGE quartz crystal.



The current special exhibit is Maya.



Beautiful columns.



City reproduction.





Amazing.



Cool archway.



Cave.



Incense burner.



Cool art.

There was also a lot of interactive exhibits that were kind of fun.



I got a printout of my birthday as a Maya Date.



Cool mural. After the Maya Exhibit we decided we were about done. But, we decided to go back down through the Past Worlds Exhibit.



A couple more of the minerals from the Gems and Minerals display.



Dinosaurs!!!



Little alligator, huge alligator.



#14 is named after me! Not really, but my name is in it’s name. Protoceratops Andrewsi.



Guide to the skulls.



The skulls again.



More dinosaurs. Can you tell what my favorite exhibit was yet?





Fun little dig site for the kids.



More fossils.



Utahceratops.



Akainacephalus Jonsoni. An Ankylosauripod. Those were my favorites when I was little. They always looked so formidable in the books I had.



Back to the Gore King.



Green River fossils, back side with plant life.



Front side with animals.



I liked the stingray.



Recreation fossils in stone.

We were having a great time but decided it was time to find something to eat.



Donation dinosaur by the ticket desk.



Back outside they have little pillars representing the different epochs.



Landis noticed this seemingly random number on the ground. I guessed current elevation.



Confirmed as we went down a little ways.



One last shot of the pretty building.



Pretty sun rays.



I picked up a couple crack your own geodes.



I think I hit it a little too hard haha. But that is super fun to find crystals in such an unassuming looking rock.

That was a fun day. I can’t get over how incredible to new building is. It is way better than the old building. I guess I am kind of used to museums well, being museums. Looking like what they did some 50 years before I was alive, so it's really amazing to see such a modern one! I love it. Kind of kicking myself for not coming out sooner. Definitely a fun adventure, and one that is worth repeating.

As for difficulty, its 5 floors, but there are ramps and elevators. I don't think there is anywhere that requires you to take stairs. Pretty easy going.