Northglenn teacher finds the first-ever T. rex trackway, and now his students are hooked

Most teachers come back from summer break with a tan and a stack of ungraded papers. Kent Hups came back with a Tyrannosaurus rex. The Northglenn High School science teacher and longtime Denver Museum of Nature & Science volunteer discovered the first-ever trackway made by an adult T. rex while digging in the Hell Creek Formation near Marmarth, North Dakota, starting back in 2025.

So what exactly did he find? Four three-toed footprints, each roughly 3 feet long, stretching about 23 feet across the ancient landscape. Researchers estimate they were made around 66.5 million years ago. Only two isolated adult T. rex footprints had ever been documented before, so this is the first time scientists have described a connected sequence of tracks from the king of the dinosaurs. Museum researchers estimate the animal was walking about 3.5 to 4.5 mph — roughly comparable to a brisk human walking pace. In other words, the most fearsome predator in history was basically out for a mall walk.

For Hups, the real payoff isn’t the headlines — it’s his classroom. “That’s the neat thing about a trackway, it allows you to go back in time and see what the area was like when this thing was walking around,” he said. “It’s the closest you get to a time machine.” He’s already sharing the find with his paleontology club, where students recently painted a 3D model of one of the tracks. Tenth grader Alexandra Acosta summed it up: “Having the privilege now to have a part in this because of Mr. Hups and because I wanted to join the paleontology club is just — it fills my soul with so much joy.” And Coloradans won’t have to travel far to see the real thing: three of the footprints are expected to arrive at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science this fall.

Keep an eye on dmns.org for details on when the tracks go on display.