The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm is the museum at 2180 E Riverside Drive that preserves and interprets the Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks discovered on the Sheldon Johnson farm property in 2000. The site is technically a museum rather than a hiking destination, but the grounds include short paved interpretive walks among preserved track surfaces, and several Washington County dinosaur-track itineraries treat it as a destination alongside hiking-trail dinosaur sites like Warner Valley.
Why it's a stub
The "trail" experience at Johnson Farm is short, paved, and primarily indoor — the preserved tracks are inside a climate-controlled museum building, with limited outdoor walking on the grounds. It's not a hiking destination in the trail sense. This page exists so visitors searching for it find current information and so the dinosaur-track trail family on the 435 site has a coherent connection.
What's at the museum
A climate-controlled building over the largest known concentration of Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks in the world (according to museum literature, with cited paleontological backing). The tracks are preserved in their original sediment, with interpretive signage explaining what species made them, what conditions preserved them, and what the early-Jurassic ecosystem of the area looked like. Outdoor exhibits include a few short paved walks among additional preserved track surfaces and a small dinosaur-themed playground for kids.
What the tracks are
The Johnson Farm tracks are from the Lower Jurassic, dated to roughly 198 million years ago. The track-makers include several theropod (carnivorous bipedal) species, ornithischian (bird-hipped) species, and probable swimming traces. The tracksite preserves not just footprints but also tail drags, swim traces, and feeding marks — a rare combination that gives paleontologists detailed evidence of behavior, not just locomotion. Several major scientific papers have been published on the site since its 2000 discovery.
How long to spend
Most visits run 60 to 90 minutes. The museum is small enough to walk through in 30 minutes, but the interpretive content rewards slower attention. School groups and families with elementary-aged kids take longer, often closer to two hours.
Combining with other Washington County dinosaur sites
The Warner Valley dinosaur trackway (separate page, BLM-managed, primitive access) is a real outdoor hiking destination east of Washington City. Combining a Johnson Farm museum visit with a Warner Valley hike makes a complete dinosaur-tracks day in Washington County. The tracks at Warner Valley are from a similar Early Jurassic period; the two sites complement each other (museum interpretation at Johnson Farm, in-situ outdoor experience at Warner Valley).
Heat and seasonality
The museum is climate-controlled and operates year-round. The outdoor walks are short enough that summer heat isn't a real factor. Winter operation is unaffected.
Where it fits
The Dinosaur Discovery Trail at Johnson Farm is the museum-based dinosaur-tracks experience in St. George — paid admission, indoor primary, short outdoor secondary. For parties wanting the dinosaur-tracks story without committing to a desert hike, it's the answer. For parties wanting both the museum context and the outdoor experience, pair with Warner Valley. For parties wanting just the hike, skip the museum and go straight to Warner Valley.