"Trek Through Time: Dinosaur Ridge Exhibit Hall
In 2008, the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge opened an indoor exhibit - Trek Through Time. Designed as a walk through different environments at different prehistoric dates, five murals were included as a major part of the interpretation of Colorado’s ancient environments.
Entrance fee is $2.00 per person, with kids three and under entering for free!
The Murals and Maps
Five scenes were painted in acrylic by world-renowned paleoartist Michael W. Skrepnik , then digitized, enlarged, and backlit. These scenes, measuring from 5’x5’ to 8’x5’, nearly jump off the wall! The content is based on fossil and geological evidence from Dinosaur Ridge, Triceratops Trail, Green Mountain, and a few other locations in Colorado and Utah.
Together with paleogeographic maps of North America, the scenes and maps demonstrate that the climate and landscape changed, Colorado moved further from the equator and further from Europe, sea level rose and fell on a massive scale, and the assemblages of plant and animal life changed dramatically during the Age of Dinosaurs between 150 and 68 million years ago.
The Fossils
Fossils in glass cases highlight the bones, plants, and footprints from the Dinosaur Ridge area. Several large trackways of dinosaurs, a crocodile, and several wading birds, also from the Dinosaur Ridge area, line the walls in full-size replica displays, all for touching and exploring.
Hands-on Interactives and Exhibits
Kids love Trek Through Time! Interactives like the Goldilocks Footprint Experiment and the Dinosaurs in Our Backyard Computer Kiosk can be manipulated and explored, showing kids concepts such as how footprints are preserved and how layers of rock form.
In 2009, several hands-on Touch Carts were added to the exhibit hall to satiate kids’ desire to poke, prod, and touch things and to provoke questions such as, “What was this unusual thumb used for?” Replica fossils sit atop these carts, including skulls, claws, teeth, horns and tracks. All replicas are meant to be touched and explored! These temporary exhibits are suitable for changing from time to time.
Thank you to Triebold Paleontology for the life-size Pteranodon replica and the Elasmosaurus skull replica." (from (
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