Dinosaur Tracks

More Than Anywhere

The Colorado Plateau covers approximately 130,000 square miles including the southeastern half of Utah, and is a huge landform that’s made up of flat land at a high elevation.

The exposed rock layers of the Colorado Plateau provide scientists with an open book of the earth’s history, especially the layers of the Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs evolved and diversified (252 to 66 million years ago). During that time, this area was far from an arid climate, but a landscape that changed from forests to sand dunes to rivers and wetlands, and finally to tropical shallow seas teeming with prehistoric life.

Through erosion, the soil, sediment, and fossils from these periods were exposed in many areas of the Colorado Plateau, allowing scientists a glimpse back in time.

Thankfully, the area’s current arid climate has preserved fossils in better condition than elsewhere in North America. The fossil beds tell dramatic stories of individual dinosaur lives and how they ended. Imagine an unlucky dinosaur wandering a little too far into a mud hole and struggling unsuccessfully to escape. It’s no wonder that this part of Utah has the highest concentration of dinosaur tracks in the world.

Fossils are fragile, non-renewable, and protected by law. Please follow the laws that protect our fragile and precious resources.

Leave things exactly as you found them. Removing and/or selling dinosaur fossils and tracks from public lands is illegal.

Two Must Stops for Dino Lovers

Moab Giants Dinosaur Park is the first of its kind in the world. This park is both science and adventure. They have unique expertise in the field of fossil footprints and knowledge of the region and why dinosaurs were so prevalent here. Moab Giants actively engages in research, education, and exhibits that teach but are also a scientific resource.

The Tracks Museum is full of entertainment with interactive learning touch screens, games to play, and visually-stunning exhibits that not only fascinate, but educate. Exhibits with cutting-edge technology highlight stories about fossil footprints and their impact on dinosaur science and geology. You can see into their research labs, showcasing research activity in the community and region.

The outdoor trail is half a mile long with more than 100 state-of-the-art, full-size reconstructions of dinosaurs and the tracks they made in the area.
Located at the intersection of US Hwy 191 and Utah Hwy 313. 435-355-0288, MoabGiants.com.

The Dinosaur Museum, located in Blanding, houses life-size dinosaur models (all made by the founders of the museum!), skeletons, fossilized dinosaur skin, eggs, footprints, sculptures of dinosaurs from the Four Corners region and throughout the world, and petrified trees that are more than 280 million years old.

The museum founders are known world-wide as talented museum artists. Their dinosaur sculpture work was commissioned for museums around the world such as The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History; The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences; The Chicago Field Museum; The Museum for Nature in Karlsruhe, Germany; The Natural History Museum of Vienna; Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, Canada; Royal Ontario Museum, Canada; and many others.

They have a 14ft-tall Therizinosaurus, a towering feathered dinosaur with a 20ft wingspan, that dominates the special exhibits room.

The founders of the museum also sculpted dinosaurs for the motion picture industry, so their sculptures of various dinosaurs are truly amazing. There is also an impressive collection of dinosaur movie posters from around the world.

This museum is a perfect stop for the entire family. Open mid-April through mid-October each year. 435-678-3454, Dinosaur-Museum.org.

Tracks of Time

The Potash Road Dinosaur Tracks (also known as the Poison Spider Dinosaur Tracksite) are about six miles from US Hwy 191 along Utah Hwy 279. Two rock slabs contain the tracks of different meat-eating dinosaurs.

Copper Ridge Dinosaur Tracksite features tracks of a Sauropod and a Theropod.

The many different kinds and sizes of dinosaur tracks make Copper Ridge unique. The preservation of the tracks is incredible, and this site is well worth a visit. There are interpretive signs in the area, and parking is less than 100yds from the site. Drive north on US Hwy 191 for 23 miles and turn right about .75 miles past milepost 148 (look for the sign saying Klondike Bluffs). Follow the dirt road for one mile and stay to the left at the fork. The tracks are just over a mile from that point.

Dinosaur Stomping Grounds are near the Copper Ridge site and by the North Klondike mountain bike area. Follow the same driving directions to the Copper Ridge tracksite except take the right fork and continue about a half mile to the North Klondike Mountain Bike parking. Then, start on the pedestrian trail until it branches off from the mountain bike trail. Hike about two miles up the gradual hill following the rock cairns.

The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Bone Trail is just past the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite about a half mile. This short, unpaved trail offers visitors the chance to see real dinosaur bones embedded in the rocks along the trail. Signs have been placed along the way to help visitors recognize what they are seeing. This is a good trail for families with young children. The loop trail is easy and the dinosaur bones are near enough to the ground for children to see them up close.

Map Sales

The Moab Information Center has a pamphlet on tracks and places to see them for sale.