About one hundred million years ago, the Rocky Mountains rose, pushing the plains up to a 45-degree incline, Warren explains. Highway construction then exposed the face of those slanted rocks. What the visitor sees at Stop 4 are tracks from Cretaceous dinosaurs, probably ornithopods, an ostrich-like carnivore and theropods, an herbivore. Two sets of theropod footprints one large, one small run side by side, possibly that of mother and offspring. The footprints, which are eroding, have been darkened so that they can be more easily discerned.
Solar panels illuminate the site at night.
Three hundred and six footprints have been mapped and measured so far. In addition to erosion, Warren says, Vandalism is our biggest problem. Fences have been erected around the footprints although researchers, including some college students, are allowed to study the area up close. Money raised by Friends of Dinosaur Ridge has gone toward erecting numerous signs, building a podium for use by guides and establishing and expanding the visitors center. A former residence purchased by Jefferson County, on property that abuts the ridge, serves as the visitors center and includes office space and a gift shop with dinosaur-related merchandise including plaster casts of footprints.