Triceratops Trail: Dinosaur Tracks and Fossils!

ByChristine Updated on

Triceratops Trail is an about 1.5 miles out and back trail in Golden, Colorado. Here you will be able to see fossilized Triceratops footprints! It’s free to visit and self-guided unless you decide to pay for a guided tour. Don’t miss this short hike if you like dinosaurs or have kids who do!

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The Basics

Triceratops Trail is free to hike. There is no entrance fee, so you can enter and walk at your own pace, exploring the interpretive signs.

You can complete this 1.5 mile walk in about an hour. Dress for the weather whether hot or cold, and bring both water and sunscreen. This location doesn’t have any facilities.

If you’d like to have a more in-depth learning experience though, you have a couple options. You can sign up to take a geologist led tour through the facility at Dinosaur Ridge.

We haven’t taken a tour at Triceratops Ridge as we’ve only walked it self-guided, but the tour at Dinosaur Ridge itself is excellent. I would assume then that these would probably be too. These tours run occasionally and will cost you $28 for a 2 hour tour for those 16 years old and up.

Alternatively you could download the $8 audio guide if you want more information but still want to tour the site on your own.

What You’ll See

First you arrive at the clay pit overlook. From here you are able to walk down into the clay pit. This is where clay mining was done in the past. There are several long and narrow pits between sandstone walls in which dinosaur footprints can be seen.

In the clay pit we saw raindrop impressions, beetle tracks, general dinosaur track bulges as well as an area heavily trampled by dinosaurs. Best of all though in this area were the duck-billed and carnivorous dinosaur tracks.

Some scientists think all these tracks were made by hadrosaurs, but others think a few of them could have been T-Rex tracks. My preference is definitely to assume they are T-Rex tracks. How cool!

Walking further down the trail toward the Triceratops tracks you’ll see more informative signs. Here you have a great view overlooking the city of Golden and surrounding areas. I always think this view looks like the Land Before Time, especially in greener months.

Then you’ll see what you’ve been awaiting the entire walk: Triceratops tracks! There are several of them to view and they do not disappoint.

Triceratops Trail fossilized footprint of a triceratops in a rock wall with a sign with a red arrow and text "Triceratops Track."

You’ll also see numerous palm frond fossils and a bird track to finish off the trail.

Nearby Places To Enjoy Next

If you walk the Triceratops Trail and want to learn more about dinosaurs in the region, plan to also head over to the Morrison Natural History Museum or the aforementioned Dinosaur Ridge.

If you’re looking for more Colorado scenery to enjoy on local walks, two parks near Golden to go to would be Matthews / Winters Park or Golden Gate Canyon State Park. We’ve always enjoyed the hiking and beautiful views from these two parks.

Golden itself is also a must see, with a really nice riverfront walk (Clear Creek Loop Trail), with the Golden History Park to see along the way and a great playground at Lions Park to end up at if you have kids. There are lots of shops and restaurants to enjoy all over town.

If you have kids or want to entertain visitors, take them to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster or tour the Celestial Seasonings Factory in Boulder.

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!