Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colorado allows you to see a variety in-situ dinosaur tracks. There are over 300 dinosaur tracks here!

The Dinosaur Ridge Trail features over 15 interpretive stops highlighting fossils, geologic formations, and dinosaur tracks. Triceratops Trail offers six unique interpretive sites to explore in a shorter, urban setting. The walk is about 2 miles (3.2 km) round-trip, about 1.5 to 2 hours. The Exhibit Hall is near the main visitor center and guided bus tour is also available. Walking/bicycling is free and available from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset every day.

Getting there:

• Trails are open daily from sunrise to sunset
• Free parking is available at the Main Visitor Center:
  16831 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, CO 80465

The cost of admission to the site’s Exhibit Hall, where they have guides who provide insights into the area’s fossils, geology, prehistoric history, etc. is $4.

KEY TIPS: Please be sure to walk along the inside mountain lane and avoid the outside bicycle lane. Please bring water, wear layered clothing, and expect an elevation gain/loss of 300 feet (91.5m). The trail is stroller, wagon, and dog friendly (be mindful of hot asphalt in the warmer months). There’s limited shade and a single port-o-let along the trail.

Geology and Paleontology:

The geology of Dinosaur Ridge tells two distinct stories separated by millions of years. The west side exposes rocks from the widespread Jurassic Morrison Formation where Lakes made his original bone discoveries. Several quarries were subsequently excavated along the Dakota hogback yielding a variety of dinosaur genera and species. The east side reveals Cretaceous Dakota Formation rocks that preserve a different type of evidence—dinosaur tracks rather than bones.

These tracks were discovered in 1937 during construction of Alameda Parkway by WPA workers building access to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. As the original footprints suffered damage over time, additional tracks were intentionally uncovered in later decades. The trackways include mostly Iguanodon-like footprints, possibly from an ornithopod dinosaur called Eolambia. Evidence suggests these were quadrupedal animals, with bipedal tracks from smaller juvenile individuals. The rounded toes and lack of claws indicate a plant-based diet. Adjacent tracks measuring 18 inches and 10 inches provide evidence of parenting behavior. Additional tracks at the site include omnivorous bird-like ornithomimid prints, crocodilian tracks, and large carnivorous theropod tracks.

The Dakota Formation rocks formed during the Cretaceous Period as shore deposits along the Western Interior Seaway, with coastal plain soils building up the Dakota Group. The sandstone preserves numerous trace fossils—irregularities in the rock representing ancient animal burrows and marine plants. Ripple marks indicate wave motion and water currents that once shaped this ancient shoreline. Some surfaces preserve fossilized microbial mats that formed on tidal flats, with degraded areas showing where dinosaur footprints and water currents disturbed the mats before rapid burial initiated fossilization.

The site also preserves unusual “bulges”—natural casts representing the undersides of footprints. Animals walking across soft mud and sand made impressions that filled with additional sediment, creating new layers. These layers lithified into rock over millions of years, and subsequent uplift and erosion revealed the fossilized footprints from below. Bulges at the site include those from large sauropods and smaller bipedal herbivores, possibly Camptosaurus. One removed theropod track, possibly from a young Allosaurus about 11.5 feet tall, was relocated from its original position during 1937 road construction.

The dinosaur bone quarry layer contains rusty brown fossils with smooth texture scattered throughout the Morrison Formation rocks. These include dinosaur ribs, vertebrae, leg bones, teeth, and the first-named Stegosaurus specimens. The bone deposits formed along the inside bend of a fast-moving stream where water deposited sand and bones from decaying animals, creating “point bar” deposits. Over time, multiple point bars developed with various bones encased in sand that eventually fossilized.

Additional geological features include large ball-shaped concretions formed around central nuclei through processes still not fully understood. A white volcanic ash bed interlayered with sandstone was dated by MIT in 2009 to 104.6 million years ago, matching the Cretaceous Period fossil record. This ash originated from volcanic fields far to the west. The ridge itself represents a hogback—a harder layer of resistant Dakota sandstone forming the backbone, with softer layers above eroded away and softer layers below forming an escarpment. The formation parallels the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at elevations ranging from 5,975 to 6,175 feet, creating a transitional ecological zone between the mountains and High Plains.

Site History:

Construction of West Alameda Parkway was finished in 1937. The road cut into the Dakota Hogback uncovered more rock layers with fossilized dinosaur and crocodile footprints. Designated by the National Park Service as a National Natural Landmark in 1973, and named by the State of Colorado as a Colorado Natural Area, Dinosaur Ridge welcomes approximately 250,000 people per year.

Sources:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Ridge

Dinosaur Ridge Website: https://dinoridge.org/