Red Fleet and Steinaker State Park

One of the dino tracks!

Red Fleet and Steinaker State Parks are run as one park. They are both reservoirs very close to each other just north of Vernal. If you are into boating or fishing, you may want to visit one or both of these parks.

We are into hiking and dinosaurs, and Red Fleet State Park holds a special attraction just for us. If you drive north past the entrance to the park, you'll come to a sign that says Red Fleet Dinosaur Track, 2.3 miles. Turn right and drive the 2.3 miles to the restroom. From here, you can embark on a 1.5 mile (3 mile round trip) hike to a dinosaur trackway.

The hike is well marked, but there is a little slick rock, and the trail is considered moderate. Our 3 and 6 year olds did fine, and we did the hike carrying an infant in a backpack. Be careful when you get to the trackway, though as there is a 30 foot drop into the reservoir if you get to close to the edge.

There are black painted dino tracks to mark the trail.

Some slick rock, but nothing we couldn't handle.

The end of the hike is beautiful.

We learned that a trackway consists of "several footprints made by the same dinosaur," but there are many footprints made by many dinosaurs here. There are supposed to be around 200 total tracks, though many of them look more like depressions in the mud. A few are obviously the tracks of a dinosaur (dilophosaurus to be exact).

Dilophosaurus

There is a map directing you to where the tracks are located. (Note on the upper right a drop off
into the reservoir. It goes from 0 to about 30 feet off the right side of the picture).

Love those dino tracks.

Our kids loved looking around for tracks and calling us over when they found one. We also saw a few lizards, a cottontail rabbit, and a loon making it's lonesome call from the reservoir.

This hike was really fun. We enjoyed the length of the hike, the interesting scenery, and the payoff. If your in the Vernal area, make the hike to the dinosaur trackway at Red Fleet State Park.

Cottontail rabbit

Common Loons on the reservoir

One of the two types of lizards we saw