The Dinosaur Stomp – Part 1

Rolling hills, middle of nowhere location, rolling rivers and dinosaur footprints? We are all in for this adventure!

The Dinosaur Print Search

The Rentfro Family went out celebrating our friends’ wedding in Dublin, Tx a few weekend ago. Neil had the glowing realization that we were about 45 minutes away from Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX. From the stories Neil told us and strong urging from my Dad, I knew we HAD to check it out.

This place has ACTUAL Dinosaur footprints in the river that you can explore with your kids! Or by yourself…I know I was more excited than both Neil AND Kaya on this trip.

Neil visited this place about 25 years ago and knew he wanted to share this experience with Kaya. After we decided we were going to explore the park, Kaya and I got into the spirit by listening to Blippi’s Dinosaur Song.

I’m sure Neil was thankful he drove his own truck.

We got there and, to Kaya’s squealing delight, there were giant dinosaur statues greeting us as we drove in. Back in the day, you could climb the dinosaurs, these days they’re fenced off and prohibit climbing.

The Dinosaur Walk

After checking in with headquarters, it was a short hike through the woods down to the river. On the walk to the prints, it was all talk of dinosaurs- how they walked, how they “talked”, when they lived, what they ate, if they pooped, etc.

Once we made it to the river, we could not wait to get our feet in the water to search for stomps! I’ll admit, we were no where near prepared with swim gear/dry clothes or really anything we actually needed since we were just in town for the wedding.

We found two different types of dinosaur prints. One dinosaur print is from an early relative of the T-Rex, called an Acrocanthasaurus and the other is from a late relative of the Brontosaurous, called a Sauroposeidon. It is so cool to put our feet inside of their prints and splash around in the river. Be forewarned if bringing toddlers, the hardest part about the entire experience is corralling them back to headquarters to clean up!

We will definitely be back to camp and explore when we can plan a little more in advance. The park has so many other amenities such as primitive camping and spots for groups. That being said, it was well worth the detour on our way back home from Dublin, TX.

Travel Tips

$7 per vehicle (at time of article), bring water (or buy it at the little store for $2/bottle), pack swim gear! As always…carry extra swim diapers, outfits, sunblock, pullups, PJs and water in your diaper bag!

Check out Dinosaur Valley State Park website on Texas Parks and Wildlife for more information!

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