Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, New Mexico

Prehistoric Trackways National Monument is a preserved fossil site in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. It covers 5,280 acres (21.37 sq km) and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It was established as a national monument on 30 March, 2009.

The most significant feature of Prehistoric Trackways National Monument are the preserved foot prints of land animals, sea creatures and insects of the Paleozoic Era. These foot prints, called the fossil mega-trackways, were created around 280 million years ago but animals that are now long extinct, among them the Dimetrodon, Eryops, Edaphosaurus and different types of pelycosaurs.

Prehistoric Trackway
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prehistoric-trackways-01.gif
Author: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management


The fossil megatracks were discovered quite recently, in 1987 by Jerry Paul MacDonald, who authored a book on dinosaurs called "Behold the Behemoth".

Visiting Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, New Mexico

The site is best reached on 4WD vehicle. If you're coming from Albuquerque, head south on Interstate 25 and turn off at Exit 9 (Doña Ana Exit) then head west on Thorpe Road till the end. Then turn right onto State Route 185 for half a mile, then turn left to Shalem Colony Trail and head west again. After the road crosses the Rio Grande, make a turn to the right to Rocky Acres Trail. A short distance later (app. a quarter mile), you will see a turning to the left only a dirt road. Take this dirt road. Cross a cattleguard and continue heading west to arrive at the site.

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