A Quiet Wyoming Stop Where Dinosaur Tracks Meet the Bighorns

Five miles of quiet dirt and gravel road can make a fine prelude to a fossil stop. The route to this Wyoming dinosaur tracksite runs through changing rock formations and alkali-colored hills, with the west face of the Bighorn Mountains rising beyond them.

At the end is an exposed rock surface holding dinosaur footprints more than 100 million years old. It is a modest, self-guided place rather than a large visitor complex, but it has the satisfying pleasure of a discovery: ancient tracks underfoot, a vanished sea written into the stone, and a landscape that still looks big enough to swallow a whole afternoon.

Parking leads to a maintained wooden walkway and ramp that approach the track-bearing rock. The boardwalk has shade coverage, and interpretive signs help make sense of a surface that can initially look like a broad expanse of weathered stone.

Those signs are useful here. They explain the geology of the site and connect the tracks to the prehistoric Sundance Sea, which once covered this portion of Wyoming. Wave ripples remain visible in the exposed rock, a small but wonderful detail once you realize you are looking at an old seabed as well as dinosaur ground.

This is not a place of giant, dramatic footprints that announce themselves from twenty yards away. The tracks are relatively small, with some around four inches across, and several are subtle enough that you need to slow down, study the rock, and let the signs guide your eye.

That close looking pays off. A visible trackway allows you to follow several consecutive steps across the surface, turning a single impression into a brief piece of motion. One moment you are examining a shallow depression; the next, you are tracing the path of an animal that crossed this ground when it was muddy shoreline.

Late-day light can be particularly helpful. As the sun lowers, shadows sharpen the shallow contours and can make prints easier to distinguish from the surrounding stone. Morning can offer similar relief from the hotter, sunnier middle of the day.

The tracks are only one reason to keep looking down. The fossil ripples of the old sea give the rock surface texture, while the striped and layered formations around the site make the approach feel like a quick geology lesson delivered at windshield speed.

The nearby hills offer their own small rewards for careful explorers. Fossilized prehistoric snails, sometimes called devil's toenails, can be found in the exposed terrain. They are the sort of compact, odd little fossil that makes a person crouch down for a second look.

The hills invite a slow wander and close examination, but they are still open Wyoming terrain. Warnings in the area note rattlesnakes and scorpions, so attention belongs on the ground as much as on the scenery.

The observation deck has one unusual feature overhead: a large stick nest built into its rafters. When it is visible, the nest is a reminder that this is not a museum display sealed behind glass. The tracksite is an open place, shared with weather, wildlife and the ordinary business of the surrounding country.

The deck's shade is welcome, especially when the exposed rock is heating up. It also gives visitors a comfortable place to pause over the signs before heading back out to test their new ability to spot a print.

The basic visit is simple: drive in, walk the boardwalk, read the signs and inspect the track surface. It works neatly as a road-trip stop, and there are picnic tables or shaded picnic pavilions for a snack afterward.

People who enjoy fossils, rock formations or a good visual puzzle may linger considerably longer. Families can make a game of comparing ripples, tracks and small fossil shapes, while adults who normally claim not to know much about geology may find themselves studying a patch of stone with surprising concentration.

The access road is generally smooth and maintained in dry conditions, and ordinary vehicles can usually make the trip to the tracksite. After rain, though, it can become rough or muddy. Higher clearance or four-wheel drive matters more in wet weather and on roads continuing beyond the site.

For a remote stop, the on-site basics are solid: ample parking, restrooms, shade, picnic seating, and the boardwalk and ramp leading to the tracks. The visit is free, with no tickets, reservations or scheduled tour required.

There is no food or drinking water on site. Bringing water and a few snacks makes the picnic area more useful, particularly on a hot day.

The scenery remains active after the boardwalk ends. Alkali hills sit close to the road, rock bands shift as the route returns toward the highway, and the Bighorns hold the horizon.

Near sunset, softer light reaches across the hills and the west face of the mountains, while it also helps reveal the shallow tracks back at the site. It is a good pairing of practical timing and plain old Wyoming scenery.