Walk in the literal footsteps of dinosaurs at this Texas state park
A theropod dinosaur footprint at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Photo by Diane Turner and under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, via Wikimedia Commons
The phrase “walking with dinosaurs” may be thrown aroud in paleo-media as a way imagining oneself back in the Mesozoic Era, strolling along with (hopefull herbivorous?) dinosaurs. However, there’s a state park in Texas where visitors can literally walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs.
Located in Glen Rose, Texas, Dinosaur Valley State Park is home to five trackways containing footprints left behind by sauropod (“long neck”) and theropod (“meat eating”) dinosaurs more than a hundred-million years ago. Details on the trackways are available online.
Which dinosaurs made the footprints?
Dinosaur models at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Photos by Larry D. Moore and available under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Dinosaur Valley State Park is adorned with two gigantic dinosaur sculptures, Tyrannosaurus and “Brontosaurus”. The sculptures were created for the 1964 World’s Fair by the Sinclair Oil Corporation and later donated to the park. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the tyrannosaur model once had a moving animatronic jaw that has sadly been removed.
But were these the dinosaurs that made the footprints at the park? Definitely not.
The rock layers at the park that contain the footprints date back to the Early Cretaceous Period, 113 million years ago. This was much too late for Bronto and far too early for T-Rex.
The consensus is that the tracks are likely from Sauroposeidon (the sauropod) and Acrocanthosaurus (the theropod) which were known to have roamed Texas and the Western United States during the time period.
How to visit the park
Dinosaur Valley State Park is readily accessible, even for out-of-state visitors. The park is approximately and hour-and-a-half drive (roughly 80 miles) from the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Texas Parks and Wildlife lists entrance fees online for the park. Currently admission is $8 for adults, and children 12 and under are free.
The Friends of the Dinosaur Valley State Park maintain a park store which offers snacks, refreshments, books and souvenirs.