clayton lake state park

Its really out there. Its really not that far but it looks like there's nothing out there. Get ready to walk to the dinosaur tracks but its worth the walk.

We had been driving for hours and needed to stop and stretch our legs. We enjoyed the dinosaur tracks very much. Loved the ranger... he was very helpful and suggested we stop at another park with the volcano on our way to Pueblo. Unfortunately, we arrived at the volcano just after it had closed. :(

We were very excited to see the "dinosaur tracks", so we made a day of it! Well, you really need to have a good imagination to see them. I guess neither my husband or myself have one, because we didn't see anything more than pits in the ground that didn't look like anything. Thank God we went alone before we got the grandkids excited to them, because they would have been very disappointed! The lake looked really nice, we may go back for a day of fishing & a picnic!

I was excited to see the dinosaur footprints but a little disappointed when we got there. I wish there was more small informative signs pointing out the tracks. I have a good imagination but...

We visited the Clayton Lake State Park specifically to see the dinosaur tracks. I haven't been there since I was a teen and my friends had never seen real, not-in-a-museum tracks before.It's best to visit in low-light conditions. We visited during the early evening (5-7PM).Take some time to admire the lake and fauna. We saw lots of cottontails, jackrabbits, and hawks.

This NM State Park features a 170-acre recreational reservoir and a fossil trackway of dinosaur footprints. We visited in June of 2014 and there were lots of campers and day fishing families as well. The dinosaur footprints are on the other side of the lake which is about a 1/4 mile trek that is pretty level. The footprints were pretty neat although there are really only two that are worthy of photography. Glad we did it.

We were made to feel very welcome by the park ranger, and allowed to select our own RV site. We didn't have any hook-ups at our site (these were all occupied), but we did have a large covered picnic table, and a splendid and uninterrupted view of the lake. Our nearest neighbour was 30m away, and the park was not at all crowded. We did a challenging 90 minute round the lake walk and also saw the dinosaur footprints. Would stay here again.

Well done explanation of the dinosaur tracks. There is a walkway around the area describing the different dinosaur tracks. Well worth the small fee. Betterr to photograph in early morning or late evening light, but still possible to get good photos in the harsh sunlight of mid-day.

Located 15 miles north of Clayton, New Mexico (but close to TX, OK, and CO), this park is definitely off the beaten path but well worth a stop if you are in the area or want to see some 100 million year old dinosaur tracks that are easily accessible and plentiful. This area is also unique in that the dinosaurs' tails also left tracks as is pointed out in the six minute introductory film on tracks at Clayton Lake State Park VC. There is a cast of a huge print in the VC, but for a close up view take the one quarter mile boardwalk out to the dam spillway and learn more.The park also has fishing (trout, walleye and catfish), boating, stargazing (a state of the art observatory was added in 2006 to make use of the clear, dark skies and the wide open spaces), bird watching (Audubon has designated the park an important bird area), and camping.I was really impressed with this park and the friendly and knowledgeable staff. The Superintendent said people come from outside the US to use the observatory. The park is in an area of scenic roads and byways. I saw more pronghorn in the area than I could count. Morning and late afternoon are the best times both for viewing the tracks and for viewing wildlife.

If you are in the area, go see it. If you're camping, the sites are nice with views of the lake and the showers were nice and hot. The park rangers were friendly and helpful. Park and facilities were very clean.

Very pretty but a long way done the road to the lake was very steep to travel eish there would have been a different eay in.

Beautiful little park outside of town. The dinosaur tracks were neat..with your typical worldly view that the earth is millions of years old...

we were so excited to see the dinosaur prints that we went out in ice cold weather too take the walk across the dam to see them, it was a waste of our time, although the lake is beautiful and clean .

This park was quiet, had beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and was not crowded. Really enjoyed it. It is a little remote and there is not a lot to do in Clayton, but we loved it.

This is an out of the way place, to be sure. Even after you get off the main road, you have a 12 mile drive on a twisty back road to get to the park. Once there, there are excellent directional signs and a half mile hike to the dinosaur footprints. Good signs at the site explainingeverything. One of the best sites for preserved dinosaur footprints in the world! Worth the drive.