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West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway

United States of America

West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway

The West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite preserves an exceptionally long fossil trackway of a sauropod dinosaur that makes a tight turn and crosses its own path. The site is located high in the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of about 2,835 m (9,301 ft), near Ouray, Colorado, United States. The tracks

are preserved in a very resistant sandstone layer that is probably part of the Bluff Formation and probably dates to the Oxfordian age of the Late Jurassic, which lasted 162 to 155 million years ago. The site was known to locals and hikers at least since the 1950s but was scientifically described only in 2021. Originally located on patented mining claim parcels, the land was acquired by the United States Forest Service in 2024 and incorporated in the Uncompahgre National Forest. It is accessible to the public via a hiking trail.

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