Central Texas is no stranger to dinosaur tracks. But one person wasn’t looking for prehistoric footprints when they spotted two unusual impressions while walking to their usual fishing spot along a riverbank in Hutto.
The person, who asked to remain anonymous and goes by u/Expert-Ad-4358 on Reddit, discovered the large, foot-shaped impressions on Aug. 8. The two marks, separated by about four feet, immediately stood out.
One of two possible dinosaur tracks discovered along a riverbank in Hutto, Texas. (u/Expert-Ad-4358)
“They were way larger than my hands and feet,” they told Chron.
Without a ruler handy, they used their phone’s measuring feature and estimated the impressions were about 18 and 25 inches long. They later returned to the site to take more photos.
“I saw two very clear tracks only,” they said. “There could be more, but I am not super familiar with dinosaur paws unfortunately.”
And there’s reason to believe they may have stumbled onto something prehistoric.
A hand provides scale for one of two possible dinosaur tracks found along a riverbank in Hutto, Texas. (u/Expert-Ad-4358)
Thomas Adams, a vertebrate paleontologist and chief curator and curator of paleontology at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, reviewed photos of the impressions for Chron and said they do resemble possible dinosaur footprints.
“They are very weathered, so it is harder to say with certainty without seeing them in person,” Adams said.
Determining exactly what made the impressions would require a closer look, but Adams said they appear to be tridactyl, or three-toed, tracks. They could be theropod footprints, a broad category of tracks left by carnivorous dinosaurs, or ornithopod footprints, left by bipedal, plant-eating dinosaurs.
Possible dinosaur tracks are visible along the rocky banks of a river in Hutto, Texas. (u/Expert-Ad-4358)
Hutto also isn’t far from other places where dinosaur tracks have been documented.
“There are numerous dinosaur track sites known around the Hill Country, including a few around the Austin area,” Adams said. “New sites are discovered all of the time, especially after flooding and during droughts.”
One of Texas’ most famous collections lies about three hours from Hutto at Dinosaur Valley State Park, where roughly 113-million-year-old fossilized footprints are preserved in the Paluxy River bed. During periods of drought and low water, tracks normally hidden beneath the river can emerge.
More tracks surfaced in Central Texas just last year.
Dinosaur tracks were exposed after floodwaters receded in Central Texas in July 2025. (Travis County)
As floodwaters from the devastating July 4 storms receded, volunteers working in Travis County’s Sandy Creek area discovered dinosaur footprints. The finds included large tracks believed to have been left by plant-eating dinosaurs and another that appeared to come from the large carnivore Acrocanthosaurus.
Anyone who stumbles across what looks like a dinosaur footprint should document the find. Adams recommends noting the location and taking several photos, including close-ups of the possible tracks and wider shots showing the surrounding area, before contacting a local museum or university to report the discovery.
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This article originally published at Giant footprints found at Texas fishing spot may be prehistoric.