Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite

Located between Greybull and Shell, sits a very unique & family-friendly pit stop. It’s a place where visitors can literally walk in the footprints of dinosaurs!

Discovered in 1997, the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite is Wyoming's largest and most unique tracksite. It is one of the only sites that has tracks and fossils from the Middle Jurassic Period found anywhere in the world (160 million to 180 million years old). The discovery of this site supports many geologists' beliefs that the entire Bighorn Basin and most of Wyoming were covered by an ancient ocean called the Sundance Sea.

The length of the tracks varies from 3 1/2 to 8 inches. All of the tracks were created by three-toed dinosaurs that walked on their two hind legs and are thought to be meat-eaters like theropods (ancestors of the Tyrannosaurus rex). Based on the depth of their tracks, the dinosaurs weighed anywhere from 15 to 400 pounds.

The site is located 15 minutes down a well-maintained gravel road off of Hwy 14. There are bathrooms and a set of gazebos at the trailhead that would make for a cool picnic spot. From the parking lot, a boardwalk leads visitors parallel to the tracksite and has a couple of information boards that tell about the discovery and history of the tracksite. The boardwalk also makes this site partially accessible. 

One of the coolest things about this site, and one that kids will go crazy for, is that you are allowed to walk amongst the tracks. Though much of the tracks can be tricky to spot, it makes for a fun challenge to try to figure out the actual path. On the boardwalk, there are 2 viewing tubes that point out a great starting point for tracking the footsteps.