We continue our hunt for fossils by hiking the Dinosaur Trackway in Red Fleet State Park in Utah. We had decided to go to the Dinosaur National Monument and realized that we were driving right by a site where we could literally walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs. According to the information that we could find online, it was only a short hike in Red Fleet State Park to the fossilized tracks of Dilophosaurus.
One artists rendition of a Dilophosaurus.
We missed the turn for the park and had to make a U-turn with our trailer to go back to the park entrance. We payed the $8 day-use fee and parked our camper. We quickley realized that finding the trail was harder than we thought. In the end we had to ask a family that was camping in the state park for directions. Turns out that we had to go back out of the park and come in on a different road. They also pointed to where the actual tracks were located just across the lake.
So close and yet so far away!
They also told us that we would have to leave our camper because there would be no place to park with the trailer or turn around at the trail head. So we had to disconnect and leave it in the parkinglot before driving to the trail.
We could see our camper from the trail.
The trail turned out to be fantastic and we enjoyed every step of the 1.5 mile roundtrip. The kids played some dinosaur tracking game the whole way and we had to remind them to not go to far ahead of us.
Running in persuit of an imaginary dinosaur.
It was a perfect trail for the kids!
This hike would have been well worth it even without the tracks that was the destination and reason for the hike in the first place. The kids got down to the end of the trail ahead of us, and like most kids, they start throwing rocks into the water. I stop them as soon as I can and remind them that these rocks are full of fossil tracks and that it would be very bad if we throw all the rocks with tracks into the lake! It takes a little while to spot the first tracks. The ideal time to see them is in the early morning and late afternoon when the sun is low and create better shaddows in the shallow tracks.
One of the first tracks I spot is very large.
Here is a group of tracks together.
The longer we explore the more tracks we find. It also becomes clear that the top layer that holds the tracks is mostly eroded away. I wonder how long it will be possible to come here and see this unique site with 200 miljon year old dinosaur tracks.
The kids quickley tire of locking and faint tracks in the rocks and continue with their game of dino-something. We enjoy a snack in the sun before starting our treck back to the car.
The kids are braver now and venture further away from the trail.
Peter goes of on his own adventure and "summits" the highest peak he could find.
Peter celebrating reaching the top of this "mountain".
All in all this was a beautiful day and a wonderful hike! Don't miss this gem if you ever have a chanse. The dinosaur tracks were really awesome but as I said earlier the hike alone would have made it a great afternoon.
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