Dinosaur Ridge in Colorado

While visiting my sister Teri, and brother-in-law Randy, I had the opportunity to hike up the road to Dinosaur Ridge not far from their house.

The ridge was at one time a flat, shallow sea nearly 100 million years ago called, The Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. The seaway split America, as we know it today, from the Gulf of Mexico to the north of Canada. Most of the tracks made in the mud were by large herbivores and carnivores who roamed along the edge of this sea and were preserved for us by an accident of geology.

The animals of the time had walked in the muddy, shallow terrain and their weight depressed the soil that eventually filled in with sand. For millions of years the land slowly rose and tilted upward at an angle. Erosion eventually uncovered some of the prints that we see today, I suspect there are millions more still hidden in the earth, just waiting to be discovered. I had to ask if they enhanced the footprints for easier identification... yes, they use charcoal.

Some of the exhibits almost look fake, but rest assured, these are the real deal! The patterns give paleontologists clues as to what they were, how they moved and behaved.

Here are just a few of the creatures that left prints and bones at Dinosaur Ridge. 

Footprints were not the only thing frozen in time. Here are some fossilized sand patterns caused by water lapping on the shore. 

This looks northeast from near the top of the ridge. Below this ridge is a drag strip and just past the freeway is the start of the central plains of America. I plan on taking the trail all the way to the top.

TA DA! My selfie, because there was no one else up there to record this historic event! Ha Ha