We had the girls up early and we were back at the dinosaur park by 9:15. Our centrosaurus quarry hike started at 9:30. Our bus of 24 hikers, was full of people from Canada, the US and Europe. We drove up into the preserve area that is only accessible when you have a guide. We all put our hands on our hearts and put up one finger in the air and promised to only touch anything we saw with that one finger.
As we hiked through the Badlands, they explained to us why the centrosaurus lived, died and were found in this particular area. The theory right now is that it was once a marshland area and the nearby sea, the Bearpaw Sea, divided North America. Storms such as hurricanes would send tidal surges inland and this would kill multiple dinosaurs at the same time. The area we were walking in was a quarry with more than 300 dinosaur skeletons which had been found through various digs. Our guide, Dan, showed us a tooth and a piece of a bone and explained how to actually know if a fossil was real - the lick test! Dan explained that you don't really have to lick the bone but if you wet the end of your finger, place it on the fossil and wait 5 seconds, if there is a slight feeling of suction, you have found a real fossil!
We walked on to the quarry and as I reached the top, I realized that everywhere I looked and everywhere I stepped, I was on fossils. I asked Dan if we should feel badly at we are walking on bones and he said it was great that I cared, but really, there was no choice but to step on them as there were so many! We were given a lot of time to explore, take photos and ask questions. Some bones Dan could not identify as they were just pieces but he was able to show us ribs of a centrosaurus. Dan said that this site isn't excavated anymore because there just aren't enough people or money to carry on the work. Over time, these fossils that are exposed to the elements, will simply break down to nothing and just disappear. That was sad to think about - 75 million years will just be gone.
We hiked back to our bus and were dropped off in the parking lot. We tried to have a picnic but the mosquitos swarmed us so we adapted and ate in the van. After eating we were ready to tackle another hike. We headed up and into more of the Badlands. We were able to find deer and bear tracks but no other fossils. The views were beautiful and it felt wonderful to just breathe in the air and take a moment to be still. A few minutes later, I took a small slip - loose shale - and scraped my knee. No one seemed too worried about me so I just washed and bandaged myself up! Tinsley had a near miss too, and Glen caught it on camera!
We attempted another hike but the bugs were terrible and we turned back after people came running down the path saying the mosquitoes only got worse!
We slowly wound our way out of the park after that stop for Glen and T. By the way, they never did find that geocache! Glen said he wasn't prepared to be bitten by a snake or eaten by any more mosquitos.. Oh well.
We drove back to Brooks but did stop to find another cache along side a lake, just outside Brooks. This time we were successful!
We made it back to the hotel just before a downpour hit. The weather today had been perfect for hiking - overcast but warm and with a bit of a breeze. This is probably why the stupid mosquitoes were so bad!
Back at the hotel and we all relaxed in the hot tub. We were the only ones in the pool and Mairin must have gone down the waterslide 20 times. The hotel is very quiet so we had the pool to ourselves. Everyone was worn out after our adventurous day so pizza was ordered in and it was an early night.
What a great day!!
Jenn
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| Some very muddy areas. |
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| There are bones like this everywhere! |
Looks like tons of fun, minus the bugs!
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI expect you were grateful the mosquitoes weren't prehistoric sized (5 inch wingspan). Of course, then you'd have prehistoric dragonflies with 30 inch wingspans and they could have probably eaten enough to keep them off you.