Blue Heron Mining Community — Attraction in Monticello

We visited on a Thursday morning in early April. The site was completely empty. We were the only car in the parking lot for the 90 mins we were there. It's a outdoor museum. There is a park office here and there are some exhibits that are closed behind metal gates but for the most part everything is outside. There is a lot of cover. A lot of the original buildings no longer exist so they have these platforms that you walk to and each has it's own information plaque and most of them have audio that you can push a button and take a seat and listen to the locals talk about different aspects of the community. Some of the buttons were not working at the different platforms.

There are junior ranger questions here for Big South Fork but know that currently there is construction going on behind the concession stand area and the platform where the "school" is located is not available. Also one of the questions required the audio from one of the platforms but that particular one was not working while we were there. All the buildings are closed now and I believe will open in the summer time. There is lots of shade and picnic tables so I can imagine it would be a nice place to visit and have a picnic in the summer. There are currently 2 portable toilets in the parking lot while the rest of it is closed. There looks to be a little gift store store as well when it's opened.

We walked the entire trail up the hill and even over the bridge. We didn't realize it when we arrived but the building over the train cars is also a bridge to go over the river. If you're afraid of heights you may want to avoid this part as it is very high up. We were luckily and while standing on the bridge there was a bald eagle perched on a upper tree branch not more than 75 feet from us. We did the entire trail in about 90 mins while taking our time and stopping for a couple pictures.

This would probably be a great place to visit again when all the other amenities are...

Took my 8 year old Daughter on a hike with a group of people from our homeschool group. I will have to say for a rainy wet day in December our trip could not have been any better. It is the off season at the facilities this time of year. We had a NP Ranger that led us on our hike. Thanks to our friends that set this up it was a memorable day for both I and my daughter. Personally I think I would rather hit this in its off season. There is a self exhibit and as you walk the short beautiful trail, you have an opportunity to set back and listen to audio, experiencing a taste of what it, could probably have been working and living in this remote area. While providing the energy that built this "GREAT Nation". I regret not sharing any photos, but if I put them on here it's seems, I don't own...

I spent like an hour and a half here going down two different secluded, overgrown trails trying to find the scenic overlooks, which were actually a few miles away. Don't bother going on these trailed shown in the photos. There are quite a few signs for trails and trail heads/trails for horses but they are not worth much for a hiker. Look instead for Devil's Jump Overlook pin on Google Maps, NOT the Blue Heron Overlook pin. Once I figured out the overlooks I was looking for are probably not here, I asked a ranger for help, and she was very kind and informative. Should have done that to begin with!

There is a tall bridge over a lazy river that looked fun, and the historical mining information may be interesting, though I...