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Dinosaur Tracks I visited several museums with dinosaur fossils and even an active dig site.  Then I found a book about dinosaur tracks. I became determined to see some of these tracks for myself.  Here I describe the three best sites I visited.  Take your kids. This is amazing.  Remember the dinosaurs lived 100 million years ago.

Clayton, New Mexico Track Way

In the north east corner of New Mexico is the town of Clayton. Why would anyone visit this ranching town? Outside the town, the state built a dam to create  a small fishing lake.  On one end of the dam they built a spillway for seasons with a great deal of rain.  Some time after the lake was built it was discovered that the spillway contained some of the most perfect dinosaur tracks in North America. The state has built an observation platform and boardwalks to enable people to see the tracks.  Unfortunately they do not protect any of this very well.  Signs are defaced with graffiti and thieves have stolen some of the most perfect tracks leaving square holes where they have removed the print. 

 There is a camp ground in the park.  When I arrived the park seemed to be completely on its own.  I paid an entrance fee at a voluntary station.  There were a few campers and few fishermen on the lake in late October.  The lake is very low due to the drought.  If the level of the lake increases, the spillway can be underwater.  This will wash mud out of the tracks and make them more visible when they are once again above water.  Later I stopped at a New Mexico Tourist Station on the Interstate Highway and asked about the tracks.  The people who worked here promoting New Mexico tourist  had never heard of the dinosaur tracks at Clayton.  Wake up New Mexico!

Sign at entrance to the track area. There are 500 fossilized footprints made by at least eight kinds of dinosaurs.  The tracks were made over 100 millions years ago when most of New Mexico was a vast sea.	Looking across the lake to the track area.  The small building on the right is the viewing platform. The platform is a quarter mile walk from the parking lot.
This is the overlook of the spillway from the platform.  You can walk on the boardwalks to get a closer look. In all probability many more tracks are still hidden under the small hill in the background.	Walk along the boardwalks to get a closer view of the prints.
Notice the gravel that has accumulated in the tracks.	One of the most perfect tracks.
	This sign explains how a large dinosaur dragged its trail and made a groove between the prints.  Dinosaurs usually kept their tails off the ground so this kind of track is rare.
	Unfortunately no one will be able to view the perfect track that was stolen by cutting out a block of stone.  Why doesn't New Mexico take better care of this treasure?

Dinosaur Tracks at Glen Rose Texas

In Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, Texas  is a site where some dinosaur tracks have been preserved.  The site was mined for tracks that were taken to the NY Museum of Natural History and to the state museum in Austin, Texas.  You can see an exhibit of these tracks in a small building outside the state museum.

The town of Glen Rose is ambivalent about the tracks.  Just outside the state park is a museum dedicated to "Intelligent Design". As I understand it the Creationists claim that Dinosaurs and Man inhabited the earth at the same time rather than millions of years apart because they insist the world is only 5000 years old.   The museum did not appear to be open when I was there.

The tracks that remain in the park  are partially underwater depending upon the time of the year.  When the water is low, the tracks can be seen through the clear water. Overview of the creek which contains the fossil tracks.	This still water shows the remaining tracks. Further excavation in the area could uncover many more tracks.
This large and well formed print is under water at Dinosaur Valley State Park at Glen Rose, Texas.  The white edge in the lower right is the rocky ledge I was standing on to take the photograph.	Another under water track at Dinosaur Valley.  Leaves in the print.
Since it is very dry some of the tracks are exposed.	Beautifully formed and preserved track.

Dinosaur State Park in Connecticut

Sometimes you roam far and wide only to find you have missed a major attraction right in you own backyard.  After I finished my travels I took my  granddaughter to visit the tracks just south of Hartford, Connecticut at Rocky Hill in Dinosaur State Park and found one of the most perfect sites.  The tracks are covered by an all weather dome so you can visit in the middle of winter.  See their web page http://www.dinosaurstatepark.org/. The park is located one mile east of Exit 23 (West Street, Rocky Hill) on Interstate Highway 91, a few miles south of Hartford, Connecticut. Thanks to careful excation and preservation, the park has one of the largest on-site displays of dinosaur tracks in the entire world.