Dinosaur Ridge

If you’re in the Denver, CO, area, you really should head out to the western end of Alameda Boulevard, where you’ll find Dinosaur Ridge. You can see Apatosaurus footprints, and just possibly, the remains of Tyrannosaur Rex courtship rituals.

I’ve visited Dinosaur Ridge many times since the late 80s, when Alameda made a T-intersection with CO-93 on the west side of the hogback, and you could drive your car over the hogback.

Road access has completely changed. Only tour buses, bicycles and foot traffic are allowed now. The staff and the institution are very respectful of the historical site, the paleontological material, and the visitors. The footprints of ancient animals aren’t a resource to be extracted and exploited, they treat it all as something to be preserved and learned from. Visitors are not marks to be separated from their money.

Unlike some institutions I could think of, Dinosaur Ridge has gotten better since the pandemic. They are better organized, have better tour guides, and have upgraded facilities and protection of the fossils.

The day before we took the tour, a new paper on lekking behavior came out, about ichnofossils at Dinosaur Ridge. As I understand it, some of the fossilized scratches are so large they almost have to have been made by Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Take the bus tour, it’s worth it to have all the little things pointed out. Try to get Parker to be your tour bus guide. He’s the absolute best tour guide I’ve had there.