Sunland Park Dinosaur Tracks

Dinosaur tracks! InsightsElPaso (atlas obscura user)

In 2003, dinosaur tracks were discovered by geologist Eric Kappus at Cerro de Cristo Rey. These 97 million-year-old footprints speckle the landscape and are a wondrous glimpse of the prehistoric past.

Millions of years ago, the Chihuahuan Desert was a wet, mucky place. And though millennia of geological activity has transformed the area into the dry environment it is today, it’s still possible to see evidence of the dinosaurs that once roamed there.

While exploring the area, you’ll come across tracks made by creatures of the Cretaceous Period. You can see fossil beds and enormous trackways where it looks like a whole herd of dinosaurs once passed through.

Insights El Paso Science Center owns 211 acres of land in Sunland Park that’s full of fossilized tracks near the border of two countries and three states. Their docents lead different tours to the prehistoric footprints.

Know Before You Go

GPS coordinates lead to the science center. Tours can be catered to each particular groups' special interests. Tours last two to three hours and accommodate all ages (subjects including: Earth & Space, Biology, Organisms & Environmental Sciences). Topics covered are: animal tracking basics, aquatic fossils, dinosaurs, trace fossils, how fossils are made, the Rio Grande River Basin, sedimentation and Erosion, volcanism, earthquakes, and tectonic plate activities. Insights offers three different DinoTrack Tour Options: First Sunday public tours, school tours, and private tours. RSVP via the Website: http://www.insightselpaso.org/programs/dinosaur-trackways-tours/