Dinosaurs • Museums • National Parks/Monuments • Utah State Parks • Water activities

Utah Junior Rangers

7 years ago
8 Comments
by Natalie Ockey
(Last Updated On: March 28, 2020)

Did you know that Utah has 45 state parks? We’ve been doing research on state parks, National Parks, and Other National Sites in Utah to find Junior Ranger programs for our kids. Here are a few of the facts we’ve discovered with internal links for our site on parks we’ve visited and reviewed:

Total Utah State Parks: 45

Total State Parks that include Junior Ranger Program: 34
Image from the NPS.

Image from the NPS.

Parks focused on Water Activities (fishing, boating, etc.): 23

Bear Lake State Park

Parks focused on Sightseeing: 8

Goosenecks State park

Parks focused on History: 12

Anasazi State Park

Parks that include Golf: 4
Parks that include Dinosaurs: 2

Red Fleet State Park

*Note: some parks focus on more than one area so the numbers don’t add up.

Parks with focuses other than history, water, or sightseeing:

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

  • Flight Park is specifically for Hang Gliders
  • Veteran’s Memorial Park focuses on Patriotism
  • Coral Pink Sand Dunes focuses on Sand Activities

Parks with Tent Sites: 32

Parks with Cabins: 10

Parks with Yurts: 3

We love the Junior Ranger program!

Along with the state parks, Utah has five well known National Parks, all of which have a Junior Ranger Program:

Utah also has 10 National Monuments/Recreation Areas:

Focus on Water Activities: 3

  • Flaming Gorge
  • Glen Canyon
  • Rainbow Bridge

Focus on Sightseeing/Outdoors: 4

Focus on History: 3

Junior Ranger Programs: 8 (Flaming Gorge doesn’t do Junior Ranger, and Glen Canyon & Grand Staircase share the same program)

Here are just a few of the badges from Utah State Parks.

Here are just a few of the badges from Utah State Parks.

Since I think the patches are much cooler, we usually buy one to go with the state park badges.

Since I think the patches are much cooler, we usually buy one to go with the state park badges.

The federal sites sometimes offer patches, sometimes badges. At Timp Cave, you even get a choice.

The federal sites sometimes offer patches, sometimes badges. At Timp Cave, you even get a choice. You can also see some of the alternative badges available like the Yellowstone Young Scientist, Great Basin Night Explorer, and Craters of the Moon Lunar Ranger. On the left is a generic badge presented for going the extra mile at Golden Spike.

That means that you can gather nearly 50 Junior Ranger badges without leaving Utah!

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8 Comments

    • We had no idea. We have been to the refuge many times, but no one has mentioned a junior ranger program. We will ask next time. Thank you!

      Reply

  • This is the first time I read about this program! I saw a post on Instagram and was wondering who issued the star shaped badges and looked on Google to find this post. What a great resource for reading practice and science learning over the summer!

    Reply

  • Flaming gorge does have a junior ranger program. It was at the Red Point (not sure if that’s the name) visitor center. You get a patch not a badge.

    Reply

  • Are the State Park Ranger Badges all the same? Here in Colorado, it’s one badge at every state park that we have been to so far?

    Reply

    • They are all very similar. Each one has the name of the unique state park on it. The booklets for the Junior Ranger Program can be similar for certain parks. For example, Yuba SP, East Canyon SP, and Palisade SP are all water recreation parks, so they all focus on water safety and life jackets, etc. but the programs are slightly different. The badges are slightly different. I’ll add some badge photos on the post above shortly.

      Reply