One of our daughters walking in the fossilized footsteps of dinosaurs at the the Dino Cliffs site, located near Washington, Utah. — One of our daughters walking in the footsteps of dinosaurs at the the Dino Cliffs site, located near Washington, Utah.

The area around what is today St. George, Utah was once an arid area of shallow freshwater lakes that had extensive mud flats. As dinosaurs walked along these lakes about 150 million years ago, they left footprints in the mud, which dried out, became fossilized under subsequent layers of mud, sand and pressure. These preserves tracks can now been seen in exposed rock layers is several spots around the St. George area.

The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at St. James Farm is the easiest and most impressive place to find the tracks. The footprints were discovered while construction excavation was taking place on the old farm that was there. The importance of the site was recognized and it was preserved, with the museum building constructed over the top of the footprint laden rock layer. Walkways over the rock allow visitors to explore and interpreters can explain what they see and it’s significance, including the behaviors of dinosaurs.

A full-sized Dilophosaurus that made many of the tracks that can be found at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at St. James Farm. The rock layer he is standing on is the original fossilized mud flat along a lake from the Jurassic period with thousands of preserved foot prints.

The museum displays explain how the footprints can help scientists understand the behavior of dinosaurs. In additional to their foot prints, there are preserved claw marks and trails where they dragged their tails in the mud at the edge of ancient Jurassic period lake. The mud and arid conditions at the time preserved thousands of footprints from reptiles, dinosaurs and what is believed to be an early mammal.

Platform walk ways allow visitors to see the preserved footprints at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at St. James Farm museum. Interpreters also help point out some of the interesting things they found by looking at the marks and footprints in the ancient mud.

The museum has numerous full-size, reproduction dinosaurs to show what the animals that made the prints looked like. There is a fenced in park area outside with activities for the kids as well.
For more information – https://utahdinosaurs.org/

To see footprints in their natural state in the the desert area near St. George, see the two accessible locations below.

The impression of a dinosaur's skin is preserved in parts of this footprint at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at St. James Farm museum. — The impression of a dinosaur’s skin is preserved in parts of this footprint at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at St. James Farm museum.

Hunting Dinosaurs in the Desert Near St. George, Utah

We were really excited to try and track down dinosaur footprints in the Utah desert with the kids. The area around St. George has several sites to see these, and these two are probably the best to get to and are located on public land.

The Dino Cliffs trail near the town of Washington, north of St. George is located less than 2 miles off Interstate 15. However, it requires about a half mile drive down a dirt road along the side of a steep hill. Our rental car made it, but had to choose our path through wash outs carefully and drove slow.

There are numerous preserved footprints in a section of exposed rock at the base of the hill along the path at Dino Cliffs. Following that rock layer along the wash in the surrounding area you can find more prints, but not as impressive.

The Dino tracks are exposed in a valley down a a hill along a red sand trail. It is about 200 yards from parking along the side of the road, but it is a steep downhill walk through mostly sand. There are other tracks less well preserved in the same layer of stone in a nearby wash and neighboring hillside.

The trail continues on if you want a great desert trek. Here is more information – http://www.redcliffsdesertreserve.com/dino-cliffs

There is another location to see dinosaur tracks nearby. The Warner Dinosaur Track site is on Warner Valley Road (note it is a dirt and gravel road but was passible in our rental car) about 5 miles east of Southern Parkway (Route 7). The road became a gravel road just past the exit. For more information – https://www.blm.gov/visit/warner-valley-dinosaur-track-site