Where to Walk With the Dinosaurs
Let’s rewind, Texas.
Before Beyoncé dropped “Cowboy Carter.” Before “Dallas” aired on TV. Before Big Tex’s first booming “Howdy, Folks!” at the state fair. Before the Alamo. Even before Native Americans hunted mammoths … more than 100 million years ago, Texas thundered with dinosaurs.
While these giants are long gone, you can still see their footprints and fossils at state parks and museums across the state — an awe-inspiring experience for history buffs of all ages.
Outdoor Dinosaur Excursions
Take a walk in the dinosaurs’ massive footsteps at these state parks.
Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose
Over 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, the area we now call Central Texas was a muddy beach at the edge of an ancient ocean. Today, Dinosaur Valley State Park features some of the world’s most pristine and accessible dinosaur footprints, preserved in the bed of the Paluxy River. There are five main mapped track sites within the park where visitors can walk directly in the tracks left by massive dinosaurs. You can also camp, picnic, mountain bike, swim, or fish in the river while you’re there.
Government Canyon State Natural Area, San Antonio
Amongst the park’s 40 miles of trails are 104-million-year-old footprints left by acrocanthosaurus and sauroposeidon dinosaurs. Sign up for a guided hike to take a fascinating glimpse into Texas’ Cretaceous coastline. While you’re there, stop by the prehistoric midden where ancient people dumped their trash (a treasure trove of archeological information).
San Angelo State Park, San Angelo
Little Foot Draw is a wet-weather runoff feeding the North Concho River and O.C. Fisher Reservoir, but it was a hot, humid swampland in the Permian Era, 300 million years ago. Today, it’s where you can see some of the oldest known dinosaur footprints in the state, from large, primitive amphibians, such as the Eryops, to reptile-like synapsids and sail-backed dimetrodon. The two-mile Dinosaur Trail is great for kids, and the park will loan out an all-terrain wheelchair upon request.
Indoor Dino Digs
All the excitement of a family dinosaur excursion, plus air-conditioning.
The Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country, Canyon Lake
While the museum offers docent-guided tours of 28 dinosaur trackways (featuring over 200 footprints), it also has an extensive Cretaceous fossil collection and Native American artifacts on display indoors.
Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston
In the Morian Hall of Paleontology, you can walk among the towering skeletons of ancient beasts, from the triceratops-eating “Wyrex” to the penguin-like plesiosaurs and a giant “Slothzilla,” which is exactly what you think it is.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas
The T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall houses gargantuan beasts of Texas’ past, including a Tylosaurus found by a child at Lake Ray Hubbard. Don’t miss the Paleo Lab, a glass-enclosed space where you can watch paleontologists process real fossils.
Texas Science & Natural History Museum, Austin
If you thought 300 million years sounded old, check out the 539-million-year-old fossils from the Cambrian Period at this museum. Most of its specimens are the real deal, not replicas, making the 30-foot mosasaur that much more impressive.
Hunt for your own dinosaur fossils at these DIY-digging sites
