Off Road in Moab with Kids

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Moab is a great place to make tracks on 4-wheels. Test your off-road driving skills on aptly named 4x4 trails - Metal Masher, Hell’s Revenge and Potato Salad Hill are but three - or sit back and enjoy the thrill on a guided jeep safari or hummer tour. And don’t forget to take in the view. In Moab, boulders and rocks are more than off-road props. They provide a spectacular backdrop in all shades pink, orange and brown. And they harbor tales of times long ago. Keep your eyes peeled for dinosaur tracks and Native American Rock Art.

Off Road in Moab with Kids Photo Gallery

How Dinosaur Tracks are Formed

How Dinosaur Tracks are Formed Photo Gallery

Dinosaur tracks may be fossils but they aren't formed in the same way as fossilized bones. Here's how dinosaur tracks fossilize:

When a dinosaur walks through soft earth or compact sand it leaves a footprint just like you.
As the mud or sand dries it gets hard but isn't yet rock.
Deposits, such as dirt and other sand, then must bury the tracks.
Over millions of years the buried earth lithofies meaning it turns to rock.
Erosion - the movement of rock and soil from one place to another - separates the different layers of earth and exposes the fossilized dinosaur tracks.