{"id":407074,"date":"2026-08-15T04:38:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407074\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T04:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:38:28","slug":"giant-footprints-found-at-texas-fishing-spot-may-be-prehistoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407074\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant footprints found at Texas fishing spot may be prehistoric"},"content":{"rendered":"

Central Texas<\/a> is no stranger to dinosaur tracks<\/a>. But one person wasn’t looking for prehistoric footprints<\/a> when they spotted two unusual impressions while walking to their usual fishing spot<\/a> along a riverbank in Hutto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of two possible dinosaur tracks discovered along a riverbank in Hutto, Texas. (u\/Expert-Ad-4358)<\/p>\n

“They were way larger than my hands and feet,” they told Chron.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“I saw two very clear tracks only,” they said. “There could be more, but I am not super familiar with dinosaur paws unfortunately.”<\/p>\n

And there’s reason to believe they may have stumbled onto something prehistoric<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A hand provides scale for one of two possible dinosaur tracks found along a riverbank in Hutto, Texas. (u\/Expert-Ad-4358)<\/p>\n

Thomas Adams, a vertebrate paleontologist and chief curator and curator of paleontology at the\u00a0Witte Museum<\/a> in San Antonio<\/a>, reviewed photos of the impressions for Chron and said they do resemble possible dinosaur footprints.<\/p>\n

“They are very weathered, so it is harder to say with certainty without seeing them in person,” Adams said.<\/p>\n

Determining exactly what made the impressions would require a closer look, but Adams said they appear to be\u00a0tridactyl, or three-toed, tracks. They could be theropod footprints, a broad category of tracks left by carnivorous dinosaurs<\/a>, or ornithopod footprints, left by bipedal, plant-eating dinosaurs.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Possible<\/p>\n

Possible dinosaur tracks are visible along the rocky banks of a river in Hutto, Texas. (u\/Expert-Ad-4358)<\/p>\n

Hutto also isn’t far from other places where dinosaur tracks have been documented.<\/p>\n

“There are numerous dinosaur track sites known around the Hill Country<\/a>, including a few around the Austin area<\/a>,” Adams said. “New sites are discovered all of the time, especially after flooding and during droughts.”<\/p>\n

One of Texas’ most famous collections lies about three hours from Hutto at Dinosaur Valley State Park<\/a>, where roughly 113-million-year-old fossilized footprints are preserved in the Paluxy River bed<\/a>. During periods of drought and low water, tracks normally hidden beneath the river can emerge.<\/p>\n

More tracks surfaced in Central Texas<\/a> just last year.<\/p>\n

\"Dinosaur<\/p>\n

Dinosaur tracks were exposed after floodwaters receded in Central Texas in July 2025. (Travis County)<\/p>\n

As floodwaters from the devastating July 4 storms<\/a> receded, volunteers working in Travis County’s Sandy Creek area discovered dinosaur footprints.<\/a> The finds included large tracks believed to have been left by plant-eating dinosaurs<\/a> and another that appeared to come from the large carnivore Acrocanthosaurus.<\/p>\n

Anyone who stumbles across what looks like a dinosaur footprint<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

More Parks & Wildlife<\/p>\n

| Why hundreds keep gathering in a Katy parking lot at sunset<\/a>
Water<\/a> | Rare melon-headed whale strands on Texas beach, prompting rescue<\/a>
Conservation<\/a>\u00a0| 391-acre forest added to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

| East Texas could land the state’s next new state park<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron,\u00a0sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Giant footprints found at Texas fishing spot may be prehistoric<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Texas is no stranger to dinosaur tracks. But one person wasn’t looking for prehistoric footprints when they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2143,96960,13633,27,29,28,142464],"class_list":["post-407074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-central-texas","tag-dinosaur-tracks","tag-hutto","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-thomas-adams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}