Mantle Ranch - Colorado, Moffat County, Dinosaur

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Located in northwestern Colorado, the Mantle Ranch is a private pristine ranch surrounded by the 225,000 acre Dinosaur National Monument. The land is beautiful, secluded, historic and replete with recreational and cultural resources. The ranch consists of two parcels totaling approximately 525 deeded acres, and complemented by a federal statutory “grazing right” created in 1960. The estimated 35,000-acre grazing right runs some 17 miles east-west and 6-7 miles north-south along the Yampa Bench and includes canyons, cliffs, plateaus, grasslands and access to water resources. The views from the ranch are without parallel especially for those that favor scenic river canyons, dramatic sandstone cliffs, unique geological formations, mountain views, remote lands and pre-Columbian rock art. The ranch displays sand beaches, deep colorful canyons and ideal habitat for native plants and animals. Located within the Dinosaur National Monument, it provides intriguing archeological elements and hikes along the river reveal ancient fossils, prehistoric Native American ruins, and petroglyphs carved into cliff walls. The ranch is located in an astonishingly beautiful and serene river corridor with vertical 1,000-foot high canyon walls of yellow and red streaked with desert varnish.

The two deeded parcels of land are separated by two miles and located entirely within the Dinosaur National Monument. The Castle Park parcel (165 acres) lies along the banks of the Yampa River in a stunning sandstone canyon, with towering canyon walls, caves and rock art dating back thousands of years. This parcel is located just off of Hells Canyon and Castle Rock, two renowned geographic features in the Monument and is just upstream from the famed Warm Springs Falls. Castle Park has historic water rights out of the Yampa which provide water to irrigate hay fields and a small orchard surrounding the homestead. The Castle Park parcel is improved with an older but very appealing log residence originally constructed in 1940 set inside a grove of cottonwood trees, a newer and attractive barn incorporating the native sandstone, a shop/bunkhouse with four guestrooms and dining area and kitchen, agricultural outbuildings, corrals, an irrigation system and a spring used for domestic water.

The Red Rocks parcel (361 acres) is just west of Castle Park and is located on a bench a few hundred feet above the Yampa River. It lies within Red Rock Canyon and its natural springs attract vast herds of wintering elk, deer, big horn sheep and mountain lions. Red Rocks is unimproved but includes some springs and ponds and a small sub-irrigated valley that slopes down toward the river.

Elevations of the ranch range from 5,120 feet along the Yampa River to 5,980 feet along the canyon rim. The changes in elevation are dramatic as the river has carved a deep channel, depositing sands and soils along the channel bottom where the majority of the level land is located on Castle Peak.

The historic log home built by Charley Mantle for his family on the Castle Park property has approximately 1,080 square feet of enclosed area and a basement. The main level of the residence includes a kitchen, screen-enclosed dining porch, two bedrooms and a living room. The basement includes a sleeping area and storage. Potable water is from the Hells Creek spring via a pipeline. There is no electric or telephone service to the ranch and it is heated by wood stoves and lighting by propane lanterns. The ranch is an ideal candidate for solar, wind or other renewable sources.

The wood frame shop/bunk house contains approximately 2,500 square feet of enclosed finished space made partly from the rock overhang and includes four guest sleeping rooms, a common dining/kitchen area, and mezzanine storage space. There is also a covered equipment storage area.

The deeded ground is approved for subdivision with the Castle Park platted as the Mantle Ranch Subdivision allowing 21 single family residential lots and the Red Rock ranch allowing 53 single family lots.


Both parcels are accessed by roads within the Dinosaur National Monument. Starting near Dinosaur, Colorado from the Monument Headquarters Visitor Center (intersection of U.S. Highway 40 and Harpers Corner Road) travel north along Harpers Corner Road 24 miles to Echo Park Road and head east along Echo Park and Yampa Bench Road (Moffat County Road 14N) 15 miles. Red Rocks is accessed on a private road to the south of Yampa Bench and the entrance to Castle Park is at the mouth of Hells Canyon along a private drive through the canyon to the ranch entrance. Landowners are provided keys from the Park Service to any gates along the way.

The Mantle Ranch is secluded and the closest access to towns and airports are as follows:

• 45 miles to Dinosaur, Colorado, and Highway 40
  
• 80 mile to Vernal, Utah and the Vernal Regional Airport
  
• 130 miles to Craig, Colorado
  
• 150 miles to Hayden, Colorado and the Yampa Valley Airport
  
• 340 miles to Denver, Colorado

Spanning western Colorado and eastern Utah, Dinosaur National Monument exists in a cradle of North American history. Captured here is one of the world’s largest concentrations of fossilized dinosaur bones. Discovered in 1909 the fossils are encased in the same sandstone into which they were deposited by the river 150 million years ago. The Monument was originally created in 1915 and now includes over 210,000 acres of scenic river canyons, mountains, basins and archeological sites. The area includes an interesting blend of wildlife, wilderness, solitude, and history that has changed little over the last 1,000 years.


Your backyard includes the Yampa River Canyon with its vertical yellow and red sandstone walls towering 1,000 feet and narrow gorges carved by the river with tiger striped walls with clear creeks tumbling out of shady side canyons sheltering hidden sandstone canyons. A number of trails from the ranch lead to waterfalls, caves, petroglyphs, old cowboy sites and side canyon oases. The area has an incredible collection of archeological sites with prehistoric camps, cave sites and rock art. The Yampa River is one of the last largely natural and untamed river ecosystems in the entire Colorado River drainage. The river canyon is extremely popular with white-water boaters and the river contains unique and endangered fish species. A few miles downstream is Echo Park and the confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers. The Green River is also rich in history, scenery and recreation and the famed Gates of Lodore are situated just upstream from the confluence.

Dinosaur, Colorado with a population of approximately 300 is 45 miles away. The town offers a number of limited services. The closest larger town is Vernal, Utah, population of about 9,100 and county seat if Uintah County. The town has a number of grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, banks, hospital, vetinary services, farm equipment dealers and feed stores. It also has a regional airport with service to Denver and Salt Lake City.


Climactically and biologically, the ranch is part of the Great Basin Desert, but its weather, plants and animals are more diverse than the term suggests. Surrounded by high elevation peaks, the Castle Park climate is mediterranean with high relative humidity and moderate seasonal moisture. Summer temperatures can range from 60 to 90 degrees but in the winter the temperatures can drop from 32 degrees to zero. Sunlight warming the canyon walls contributes to thermal warming of the soils and bedrock as the base of cliffs. This is desert or semi-desert and it is dry with average annual precipitation from a low of 10 inches to up to 13 inches depending on altitude.