Field Trip: Dinosaur Footprints, Holyoke, MA

Well, it was a bit of a haul for a short visit, but, since none of us had ever seen fossil footprints up close and personal, the trip to Dinosaur Footprints was worth it. Four different species of two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs left traces in the sloping slab of sandstone in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts.

A very smart friend of mine told me to bring water to pour in the footprints so they could be seen more easily, and it made an amazing difference! These footprints were on a hill, so they dribbled a bit, but you get the general effect.

The Connecticut River

If we'd waited a couple of weeks the foliage would have been spectacular! I was surprised how green everything still was in early October. There is supposedly a "River Walk" we could have taken (we looked for it earlier, but are not sure where it was as it wasn't marked), but one of the kids took an unplanned swim right after this last photo was taken, and was too uncomfortable for us to do anything but head home. We'll go back if we're back in the area in the near future.