Our Hawk Watch site is located west of Denver on Dinosaur Ridge, an iconic segment of the Dakota Hogback geological formation at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Jefferson County, Colorado.
Named for its world-renowned fossil beds, Dinosaur Ridge is also a window into the seasonal movement of birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, falcons and more, over Colorado's Front Range. These raptors migrate in the spring along the eastern mountainous edge of the Rockies in part because mountain updrafts enable them to soar and conserve energy during their long journeys north to their breeding grounds.
Access to Dinosaur Ridge Hawk Watch begins at the Stegosaurus parking lot off Interstate 70 and Jefferson County Road 93. The lot is at the southeast corner of Exit 259 from the freeway. Take the trail leading upslope from the southeast corner of the parking lot, (trail markers are located along the trail) then proceed south along Dinosaur Ridge to the ridge top.The trail is approximately 0.6 miles long.