MORRISON, Colo. (May 23, 2026) — Art, science, and 300 million years of Colorado natural history collide in the new “Deep Time Detour” exhibition at the Martin G. Lockley Discovery Center by Dinosaur Ridge. Located at entrance one to Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, this innovative new exhibition takes visitors on a whirlwind tour of Colorado’s geological and biological past. In the first weeks of the exhibit’s opening, more than a thousand visitors have already experienced Deep Time Detour for themselves.
“Kids are really embracing Deep Time Detour, and parents love that everything is interactive and meant for kids to touch and explore,” said Friends of Dinosaur Ridge Board Chair Lorraine Alcott, who spent five hours speaking with visitors on Deep Time Detour’s opening day. “One mom told me this is the first time she has taken her four and seven year olds to a science museum where they were fully engaged the whole time.”
Guests of all ages are encouraged to touch and explore scientifically accurate artistic models from sculptor Keegan Kuhn as you travel through six dramatically different deep time scenes from prehistoric Colorado. Find yourself face-to-face with lifelike replicas of creatures that thrived on land (and underwater) here long before people were on scene, and in most cases before the Rocky Mountains had uplifted. In this family-friendly small museum, exhibits are designed to be touched!
The timing of this new museum experience coincides with a special anniversary for American paleontology, noted Dinosaur Ridge Executive Director Jeff Lamontagne. “Colorado is celebrating a sesquicentennial and so is Dino Ridge. In 1876, Colorado’s first dinosaur fossils were spotted by a local geologist on the hogback now called Dinosaur Ridge, including the first ever bones of our state fossil, the Stegosaurus. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate 150 years of discovery than with a visually stunning new exhibition focused on Colorado’s rich fossil record.”
“People will be immersed in scenes that were familiar to the dinosaurs, and be surprised by how much life and landscapes have changed over millions of years – starting with a time when Colorado was more like Florida,” Lamontagne said.
The Deep Time Detour exhibition is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are available online, priced at $12 for adults, $10 for kids ages 3-12 and free for children 2 and under. Online reservations are encouraged, with walk-up tickets available as capacity allows. Weekend visitors can utilize the new free Westracks shuttle, which runs between Golden and Morrison on weekends and holidays from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. with a stop at the Martin G. Lockley Discovery Center every 15 minutes (Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend).
