Find dinosaur tracks, camp, picnic, hike, mountain bike, swim, fish and paddle in the river, watch for wildlife, look for a geocache, ride your horse, or visit our interpretive center.

Stay at one of our campsites. Explore 20 miles of trails. Shop our park store for souvenirs, camping and fishing supplies, books and much more. 

Discover dinosaur tracks
It’s easy to find dinosaur tracks in the park – just head to the river!

Dinosaur Valley State Park — Dinosaur Valley State Park

This was our first trip in our new RV and we couldn’t have picked a better park. We stayed at site 26 and had a reasonably private and shaded spot. Easy access to bathroom and dumpsters. Nice and quiet at night. My 7 year old had a fantastic time exploring the trails, climbing rocks on the shore, wading and swimming in the river. The best thing about staying there was exploring the park in the mornings and evenings when the day visitors leave. Had swim holes and foot print sites completely to ourselves. Even when it’s busy there are lot’s of places to access the river and find your own spot.. We definitely got  our nature fix!

Lives up to the hype!

This is one of the better parks Texas has to offer just in terms of the hiking and unique features.  Along the water there are places where you can see dinosaur footprints in the rock.  There is also a river to play in and miles of amazing hiking.  If you want to camp, you need to book plenty in advance since the park is so popular.

A lot of fun and learning 

Geocaching takes us on many adventures. We're adding this one to our memory banks.... Near Glen Rose, this campground is close enough for comfort, but offers some truly unique things- Dinosaurs!  What a fun trip!

Great for geocaching.

It is an awesome Park. I didn't camp because I was passing through that area. I did check it out. It is an awesome place for children especially. My grandson loves everything about dinosaurs. I can't wait to plan a camping trip there with my grandson. It's a lot of fun wading down the creek looking for dinosaur footprints. It's cool to walk were dinosaurs walked 150 million years ago. I saw human foot prints too. Maybe neanderthals? You  can wade a long ways. It was very hot, so I only stayed about 4 hours. I didn't get pictures my phone battery was dying. I plan on going back soon and will take many pictures. The access fee was $7 pp but we'll worth it. The campground looked nice and clean. I liked all the dinosaur statues and the exhibit. A unique Park for sure. If your ever down by Glenrose I would recommend stopping there.

Walk were the dinosaurs did.

This is such a great place for kids to explore! There's only about 50 camp spots but plenty of primitive area if you're willing to hike a bit. Check out the fiberglass dinos and look for tracks down by the river. Plenty of trails to venture down, and be sure to see the Blue Hole.

Dino Explore

This was our first hike-in primitive camping trips. We had a great time minus the unbearble heat. I dont recomend camping here durrinf the summer. We packed out 5 gallons and killed it in a day, but the trail to hike it was alot of fun. We hiked up farther from our campsite and found a nice creek. We stayed in camp site 1 i think right off the trail and that was a mistake we hiked to 2 and wish we wouldve gone to that one instead. It was more off the trail. We had two groups come up on us and one biker almost hit us in the morning. We made sure to put ourselves away from the trail how he ended up in our space is beyond me.

Texas. I dont know a better word for it. 

Love Dino! It’s one of our local go to camp/hiking places. If you go primitive camping go to sites 4, 5, or 6\. We stayed at 5 and it was the best spot. Water shoes are a must (Chacos for us) to make a easy safe trip across the river. Which is wonderful during the summer.

So fun! River, hiking, biking, camping!

Dinosaur Valley lives up to its name! Anyone can easily access the river and see the dinosaur footprints this park is know for. Dinosaur Valley has trails for the experienced hiker and family oriented as well as plenty of room along the river to swim and escape the Texas heat. Campsites are a good size and offer shade. I’ve been many many times and keep coming back! It’s also nice for you dog!

Go back in time...

The Trails, swimming holes, and fossils are awesome!! The campsites are large with a fire ring and picnic table; however, the showers were disgusting. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and it appeared as though the showers hadn’t been cleaned over the weekend.

Disgusting restrooms and showers 

We had a blast participating in the Texas Outdoor Family camping program!! We learned how to cook with Dutch ovens, went geocaching and found dinosaur footprints in the river. It was truly a wonderful experience. Even when it got cold and we had a hard time starting our fire, the amazing park rangers came over to help us get a blaze going. We’ve recommended this site to many friends already and will definitely return. Great for families with kiddos who are especially into dinosaurs!

The Outdoor Family Program is Fantastic!

This is a great place to bring kids. There is an on-site store, as well as galleries that talk about what it was like when dinosaurs roamed N Texas. The tracks don’t disappoint! There is also a great swimming spot at the first track site.

The drive-in campgrounds aren’t very private... and the tails around the campground make it easy for people to walk through your site. Something to keep in mind if you camp with your pets, or want privacy.

Kid Friendly Swimming Hole - Educational, too!

This place is SO gorgeous. The campsites are beautiful and affordable with water access for showers as well as swimming. The dinosaur tracks in the river are so awesome! It's such a great experience for kids. My son had a blast.

Stunning and unique

"Dinosaurs may be extinct from the face of the Earth, but they are alive and well in our imaginations."

This Texas state parks is one of favorites. I have been quite a few times since I was a kid and it never gets old. It is just inside of Glen Rose, Texas, located along the Paluxy river. This park will bring out your inner child.

Let's start with the facilities. Sosome of the bathrooms are old, but they are well maintained even with all the traffic. This park gets very busy in the summer. So we tent camped but we stayed at an RC site because they don't have water only sites and with a 4 year old and my grandmother, I didn't want to have a walk-in (no bathrooms nearby) or a backpack site. There is quite a bit of shade around the campsites, and there are awesome playgrounds for children.

Now there are a LOT of trails. They will give you a map that is very helpful and let's you know where all of the track sites and overlooks are. The main track sites are along the river and are so cool see! There is also information things everywhere that tell you about the tracks that were excavated so make sure to check those out!

The one problem I had was that we went during a drought, so the river is very low and makes it hard to view some of the tracks, also swimming was a bust. So make sure you check the river advisory on their website to see what your getting into. Especially in the hotter months you definitely want to get in the river to cool off.

This place is larger than life, so make sure you plan your hikes beforehand. My favorite trail is the Buckeye trails. It is about 2 miles, so good for kids, and it is up through the woods. Lots of shade and variety in the path. Don't miss out on this adventure.

Who doesn't love dinosaurs?!

My wife and kids went camping here with some friends and we had a blast. We stayed in the RV/car camping area and the only thing that I would say remotely critical, is that the sites are right on top of each other. That being said, we went on an awesome 3 to 4 mile hike with the four kids that ranged from 4 to 8. The views were awesome and a blast. They’ve got a handful of activities for kids, like painting with a Ranger, or a guided hike. I wish I could give a 4.75 rating cause the only negative was the right sites. 

Small campsite but amazing views

This is a beautiful State Park with miles of trails, year round family activities, and dinosaur foot prints.

Most of the trails, and primitive camp sites, are accessed by fording the river. This can be impossible depending on recent rain.

Beautiful

The facilities and campgrounds here are nice because they all include and electric outlet. But the real beauty of this park lies in it's natural history. In the Creek bed you can find dinosaur tracks for which the park was named. The paluxy river provides a beautiful backdrop for the hikes of the park as well.

Good camping, cool natural history 

Lots of great hiking with so many Dino tracks in the river. To get to my campsite I had to hike in a mile and a half and cross a river that went up to my knees. It was an awesome experience. Only wish that could’ve stayed longer. I had to leave early because the river became impassable from the storm, so the rangers had to come and get me out. The best time to go see the tracks is in the summer 

Lots of Dino tracks 

We all loved this park! Our sites were good size and perfect for us. We stayed in 17 and 15\. 17 was very large but the table was way away from the pad and people were always walking thru because it was the start of a trail. 15 was nice size but the site to the right was close. We will try for 17 again! We walked to the Dino tracks from our sites too! Fishing was good.

The only really disappointing thing was the store claimed to have a food truck you could eat from and had hours posted but it was not open our entire four day stay in mid June!

What a great vacation spot! 

Nice camping spot for families. I chose to camp in the north primitive hike-in sites across the river. It was pretty hot but I still had a good time exploring the hiking trails. If you go hiking, take a map and of course extra water. My map came in handy a couple of times as I was hiking as the actual trails led me off track a few times.

I stayed in the primitive camping area. You hike between 1-2.5 miles across the river to sites. If the river is too high these sites may be closed. Water is only available at the trailhead. These sites are primitive so they do not have showers, restrooms, picnic tables or water.

Other sites available:

*   Campsites with electricity (Picnic tables, water hookup, electric, fire ring)
*   Walk-in campsites (Fire ring, lantern post)
*   Group camp (fire ring, water nearby, three picnic tables)

Family camping

Went for a day trip with family. Boys had a great time. The staff does a great job of keeping the park clean and they are all super friendly. 

Awesome park

This is absolutely one of my favorite State Parks and campgrounds I’ve ever been to. I have been visiting this park &amp; campground since I was a child. I’ve camped, tube rafted the river, played in the water, found all the dinosaur tracks (yes, real actual dinosaurs were here) and hiked all the trails numerous times.  I have never had a bad experience here. Always lots to do and I end up finding at least one new thing every time I go. The campsites are pretty secluded by trees for privacy. They are clean, well maintained and each have a fire pit and picnic table. There are tent sites as well as full hook-up sites. The public restroom &amp; showers are always clean &amp; well kept. The absolute best thing about this place is that you can actually touch and stand on a REAL dinosaur track!!! There are signs explaining which dinosaur left each particular track and giving all the information about the individual dinosaur and the time frame they lived there. It’s really cool, even for an adult. The water is always clear and cool. There are several swimming “holes” that are very refreshing, one even has a cliff you can jump off of into it because it’s deep &amp; safe. The hiking is superb, with nice groomed trails and beautiful scenery. Easy enough for children but still challenging enough for the adults due to the elevation changes. The outlooks are spectacular views. I see why the dinosaur’s chose to live there. The town of Glen Rose is right down the road and they have stores for anything you might’ve forgotten or need. Also, the town has several good restaurants if you want a night off from cooking. You can’t go wrong with this State Park &amp; campground. I can’t find one negative thing about it. Pure Texas Perfection!! 

Adventures Await

Primitive camping was a mike hike in. Once we got there camping was in a field with other tents and be careful cause voices carry. The park itself was fun. Loved being able to walk where dinosaurs left their footprints. 

Worth it 

One of the best short bike near the DFW area. Good for a day picnic lunch/BBQ there are many picnic table with a grill.
Pretty cool overview you can see the whole park.

Wonderful Hike 

This place was amazing! The hiking is so much fun. You could spend days here and not hike all of the trails. There is also so much to do. The camp sites are very nice and quiet. We were tent camping during January and the bathrooms had heaters. The park rangers are always planning something new. We will definitely be back!

Best Hiking

I remember going here as a kid and going back some 20 years later the park doesn’t disappoint. With a new pavilion that hosts multiple picnic tables great for an afternoon lunch after visiting the track sites or swimming in the river.  At the time that I visited camping still wasn’t open yet but there is tent camping sights set back from the main parking area. The property has multiple grills, picnic tables and even a pavilion that you can rent out with an outdoor fireplace that overlooks the river.

Great fun for the family 

Great place to camp in the RV park next door!  Crystal clear water, swimming pool, Recreation Center.

Beautiful Place to stay with some history!

We decided to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park for multiple reasons. 

  

First, was the fact that it has real dinosaur footprints in the river. We take our daughter to splash in the water and show her where dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time. She loved it. They have HUGE dinosaur replicas right outside the gift shop. It really gives you a feel for how big these giants really were. 

  

Second, we decided to camp here because it was super close to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. If you haven't heard of this place, it is a drive-thru zoo. It is amazing as well. You can feed the animals from your car. It's a must-see if you stay at Dinosaur Valley.

  

Finally, and most importantly, we just wanted to go camping. And for camping, this park is great. They have hiking trails that give you a panoramic view of the park. Playgrounds for the kids. And of course, the river to play in when it's hot outside. If you are there at the right time, they have a gorgeous bloom of bluebonnets throughout the park. 

  

The bathrooms and park store are easy to access, and both kept very clean. 

  

We love this park, and can't wait to go back.

Adventure and education. Fun for the whole family.

I love Dinosaur Valley SP! I’m a kid at heart, and a bit of a fossil nerd, so I always enjoy spending time in the Glen Rose area. Dinosaur Valley SP is great fun for all ages. The site we were in wasn’t as private as other sites we’ve been in, but it was still well worth it. We enjoyed the river...cool, refreshing water on a hot day, lots of dinosaur tracks to see. Lots of shade. 

One of my favorite state parks

This is a nice and different place, plenty of places to hike, but we really only had one day out of four because we had rain for three days out of the four, lucky enough the first day is when we explored the dinosaur sites, also￼ in town there a great and cool BBQ place called (loco coyote)

Walked in the footsteps of dinosaurs

This is one of the better parks we have been to. Lots of trees and shades. Well maintained. Range of easy trails that are kid friendly. Kids loved seeing the tracks, easy access for the kids. Campground clean and comfortable. 

Great park

We loved Dinosaur Valley. Tons of great hiking for young kids to enjoy, our family especially loved exploring the river and finding the dino tracks.

We stayed in a campsite directly next to the bathroom, so we saw a lot of people walking through, but it was quiet at night. The showers and men's room were closed for renovations but the women's restroom was actually incredibly nice, the renovations are gonna be lovely when done.

We will definitely be returning! 

Awesome family camping

We've enjoyed exploring DVSP for several years and have had many great overnight camps. The Pauluxy River runs through the middle of the park and you can find awesome dinosaur tracks along the shallow edge of the river. The camping spots are well maintained and have waking trails that connect the sites to restrooms/showers. Make sure you check the water conditions before visiting as we've seen flood waters in the spring, no water in the fall and water as warm as soup in late summer. We've also enjoyed many days of swimming, splashing and track finding in nice cool waters .

Dino tracks along the Pauluxy River

Spacious walk-out site. Real hot in July (as expected for Texas). Fire ring and lantern like available. Overall lovely site at a great park. 

South Primitive Site 4

Of course as the name suggests, a great way to learn about prehistoric creatures and a chance to see their footprints, it has an amazing river access to swim or relax during the day! The water is clean and not too deep, but gets deeper near the blue hole to swim. 

Awesome river access 

This was our family’s first tent camping trip. We have two young kids (6 and 3), so we wanted to go somewhere with which we were already familiar.

Check-in was easy, the bathrooms and showers were very clean and in excellent condition. The sites are close, but not too close together, and it was very quiet (despite being full!). We felt very safe the entire time. At one point, our 3-year-old got sick (most likely due to the heat and over exertion); the park ranger on duty was so helpful.

It ended up being one of the hottest weekends in June and the tracks were not visible due to recent flooding, but we still had the best time. We still got to swim in the river, go hiking, and make a trip to Fossil Rim. Our kids were begging to go back as soon as we left! We’ll be back for sure.

Great place for first time tent campers

Me and my fiancé always have a great time when coming to D.V. With all the hiking, swimming and camping to do here. Plus the dinosaurs!! Such a great place to take the kids or pets up to you! Hope you love this place as much as we do!

Right in our backyard !

Best camping ground ever!
Bathrooms and restrooms are newly remodeled, everything is clean and organized.
Every camp spot has its own water source and electricity hookup, makes a huge difference at the hot Texas summer days and perfect for spending the nights not in a complete dark in case you’re using only a tent without a generator.
The trails are great even in the Texan summer as many of them are beside the river where you can cool off.
Highly recommended for families with kids all ages!

From website:

Find dinosaur tracks, camp, picnic, hike, mountain bike, swim, fish and paddle in the river, watch for wildlife, look for a geocache, ride your horse, or visit our interpretive center.

Stay at one of our campsites. Explore 20 miles of trails. Shop our park store for souvenirs, camping and fishing supplies, books and much more. 

Discover dinosaur tracks
It’s easy to find dinosaur tracks in the park – just head to the river!

State Park in my back yard

On my quest to visit many different Texas State Parks, this one was a great one and one that I would surely return to! The dinosaurs that were here some 100 million years ago intrigued me as well as the beauty of the park itself. My visit was in November and the weather was great. This park offers many hiking trails of different degrees of difficulty as well as access to biking on most of the trails. The campsites were reasonably spacious and  private. The sites on the outside of the loop offer the most privacy and are typically larger. The bathroom facilities have been updated and are very clean and well maintained. I found the staff to be very friendly and offered great advice on where to hike and to photograph for great views. And yes, seeing the actual dinosaur footprints was an easy hike. It was really amazing to stand and see something so real that actually happened so long ago!!

Yes- There Were Real Dinosaurs Here!! Great State Park

Campground is located on the Paluxi River, there are actual dinosaur footprints still in the rocks in the riverbed!

This is another nice local park

Great sites, privacy, and short walk to one of the greatest bathhouses I’ve visited within the TX SP system.  Great trails and tons of exploring the park. From its Dino tracks in the river to the wide variety of birds and other wildlife.

Beautifully Placed Sites

Great campground with big shaded sites. Site 17 was right by the main walking trail that overlooks the river and there was a way to get down to the river from our site which was amazing. This allowed us to go down to river and explore and find tracks without going to the main area every time we wanted to. The parking slab was kind of short and our length wasn’t even the max size. The bathroom was very clean and the campground was well maintained. Staff was super nice and camp store has some of the basics if you needed it.

Great stay

I have visited this park several times, and it was my first state park to explore when I was a kid. The Paluxy river runs through this park. When there’s been plenty of rain there are lots of places to swim! The blue hole is my favorite swimming area in this park, it has some deep areas, and I’ve heard of some undertows being there, so children should be supervised closely. There are some large rocks jutting out over some deep water in this area that are fun to jump from! To get to the hike in sites, be prepared to wade through the river. I believe it is a 2 mile hike to get to the most remote primitive site. Also, when the river is low you can see lots of dinosaur tracks! If you have extra time in Glen Rose, Fossil Rim is right around the corner! Both Dinosaur Valley and Fossil Rim are great places to take kiddos.

What a great park for families!

We were in site 020, electric only. No shade in this spot! Needed 2 blocks on the left side to level. Play ground, hiking, beautiful river! Many deer walking through the park. We were only here for one night, really wish we had longer to explore!

Trails and Deer!

Dinosaur Valley SP

So wanted to see the dinosaur tracks! But it rained before we arrived and they were all
under water. The trails on the other side of the river were all closed, mud and treacherous terrain. The inner trail takes you along the river and has several signs with information.
The campsites are nestled in the foliage and nice spacing between. You can totally get the crustaceous era feel going. The foliage is also a nice noise damper. Electric and water plus hook thing at each site. 
Didn’t see any modern time critters during our visit, there were raccoon tracks on the trails and one deer track. 
Easy ride (bike) road through the campground. Older but well maintained showerhouse. 
The primitive camping is right on the river and remote sites are available. 
Dinosaur World is right down the road which would be cool with kids. Go learn about and then actually walk where the dinosaurs did. 
I am totally visiting again, I want to see the tracks.

Giants in the Mist

The facilities at the campground are great, but other people there were extremely rude. Dino tracks are very cool! Pretty crappy cell service in our site.