Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 3187 - 3242 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Warner Valley Dino Tracks
Fee: none
Attractions: dinosaur tracksite

The Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks are a Heritage Site managed by the BLM in the desert west of St. George, Utah. The site boasts 23 trackways and over 400 individual dinosaur tracks that paleontologists believe may have been made by Dilophosaurus and Megapnosaurus.

To get there you can either enter Warner Valley Dinosaur Track Site into your driving app or from Interstate 15 take exit 2 for UT-7, the Southern Parkway. Continue for 10.4 miles and take the exit for the Warner Valley Road. Follow the Warner Valley Road for 8 miles and turn left after crossing the cattleguard.

There are a number of ATV trails that might cause some confusion after crossing the cattleguard. If you follow the road all the way on the left along the fence you will pass the BLM sign in this photo and reach the trailhead after a half mile. Under dry conditions the roads are normally accessible by passenger cars.

The trail takes off across the flats as it leaves the parking area.

After a hundred yards or so it turns east and descends into a wash.

The tracks are stretched out upon the slickrock slab that lines the bottom of the wash.

Some of the tracks are obvious but the best thing to do is start at the kiosk and study the map. It makes it easier to identify the less obvious tracks. Out of the more than 400 tracks most people will only be able to recognize a couple dozen that are complete and distinct. The other information on the kiosk about dinosaur tracks in general makes visiting the site a lot more interesting.

The kiosk describes less detailed prints like this one as an undertrack which is nice to know. We have always just called them prints.

This raised track is referred to as a natural cast.

As near as we can tell this is a Grallator ["GRA-luh-tor"] trackway.

And this would be an Eubrontes [you-BRONT-tees] trackway. Eubrontes tracks date from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic.

The Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks are moderately easy to access and should be fun for people of all ages. The more track sites a person visits the more likely they are to recognise unmarked tracks while exploring other areas where they can make their own discoveries. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.