A boat with plenty of history is worth the stop to see at the Canyon Visitor Center on the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument. “The Loper” was built by Jack Brennan for a river trip in 1946 down the Yampa. Brennan based the boat’s design on another famous boat, “Mexican Hat”, which is on display in the Powell Museum in Green River, UT. After a commercial river trip career, the boat was donated to the National Park Service at Flaming Gorge in the 1960’s before being taken over by the Forest Service in 1968. By the 1980’s, “The Loper” was in bad shape. It was given to Dinosaur and Don Ott was able to restore it to working condition. It was used in 1985 to run the Yampa and later the Green River from Echo Park through Split Mountain before being retired to the Canyon Visitor Center. It was restored to its original colors in 2016 and remains at home at the Canyon Visitor Center, where it can be viewed as a special piece of local river lore history.
