Dinosaur Ridge

Last time I was at Dinosaur Ridge we didn't get to take the bus tour or walk the whole thing.  This time we did it all.  Having a guide made all the difference.  He told us exactly what things were and how they were created.  I tried to write things down and take pictures.  My multitasking has improved a lot but I don't know if I got everything and I don't know if the pictures and stories will match.  I will do my best.  

This is a replica! Not the real thing.  :-) No need to worry about our safety.

Our guide DinoDan or Danosaurs, told us this whole area was under water 92 million years ago. You will see ripple marks in the stone a few pictures down.  The shale we see here was the ocean floor.  The three marks you see in the stone are crocodile claws.

The holes you see in this rock are burrows from something, worms I think.  I am not sure what else would burrow down like that.   This area was eventually called Dinosaur Alley.

Here are the ripple marks and the glare is because I took it through the bus window.

The purple layer was deposited 150 million years ago and the black you see in the rocks was deposited 105 million years ago.

This was the first dinosaur bone we were introduced to.  In 1877 Professor Arthur Lakes discovered it.  Parts of the bone were sent to Yale to verify that it was a dinosaur bone.

How can you tell when you are seeing a dinosaur bone?  It is smoother than the surrounding rock and there will be a definite line separating the bone and the rock.  Dinosaur bones have a different taste than the rock too.  The bones have a metallic taste.

You can see the darker color in this bone.  Easton has his hand on a small bone and the other is the big bone going down the rock.  Dan asked if we wanted to lick the bone and see how it tasted different than the rock.

Yes, I did it.  I licked the bone and the rock.  He was right!  Metallic taste to the bone.

Easton jumped in and tasted it too.  We were the only two takers on this challenge.

After we were done licking the bone Dan told us it was a dinosaur's butt bone.

This is from a stegosaurus!  It is the cross section of what they think was the spine showing the vertebrae of the dinosaur.

This totally fascinated me.  You could see the different layers in the rocks.  If you didn't have a guide to tell you about the layers you would have missed a lot of information.

When the layers are not straight and you see a downward bulge you are seeing the dinosaur's footprint.  Danosaurs was standing under the footprint.  Perhaps this was a brontosaurs.

This footprint is different and from a different type of dinosaur!  Amazing!  Some of these dinosaurs were 90 feet from head to tail and their heart was the size of a human head.

The toes of some of the dinosaurs were the length of a human's elbow to hand.

This is the bottom of a dinosaurs foot.

Another squashed layer of rock from a dinosaur.

Easton and I are getting crushed by a dinosaur!  AHHHH!

They don't know exactly what this is.  Dan said it was too big for any kind of a dinosaur egg.

Here we go looking at a ton of different dinosaur tracks.  This shows a front foot that is small and the back foot which is bigger.

The only way to realize how big these prints are is to put a reference in the picture like Dan's foot.

Before this area was protected some students came and dug out one of the footprints and used it as a door stop in their dorm room.  You can see where it came out right below Dan's leg.  It was eventually returned to Dinosaur Ridge and is now displayed in their museum.

Not sure what type of track this is!

Crocodile track.  These crocs were bigger than a T REX.  We were told if you look up the National Geographic website you can learn about these super crocs.  I haven't done that YET!

We were shown tracks where babies were walking along with their moms and you could see when they started running.  It was totally amazing.

This is a bigger shot of the area where we were seeing multiple tracks.

Ryland's hand is a bit smaller than the foot of a dinosaur.

I stuck my hand on the edge of the track so you could really see how big that footprint was!

As the bus pulled closer to the end of the ride we noticed a red farm house to our right.  Rooney Ridge.  The oldest working ranch in Colorado.  The same family has lived there since 1867.  They called the area the Valley of Peace.  No fighting there.  The Native Americans would come to the Valley of Peace to talk things out.  Some lived in the Valley of Peace.  The Rooney's had a baby that cried all the time.  The Native Americans there were concerned so they replaced the Rooney's baby with one of theirs that didn't cry as much.  The Rooneys got their baby back.  Switching babies is not a good thing! Mrs. Rooney had some pretty good cooking skills and the Native Americans kept coming to get whatever she baked.  I can't remember if it was cookies or bread.  She was getting tired of them eating her food so she baked and added an extra ingredient one time.  They came to get some food from Mrs. Rooney again and that ended them visiting her for food.  What was the extra ingredient?  X-Lax!

There is a fault that runs right along this area called the Golden Fault!  They have run a fence along the fault to make it very clear and obvious to see.  It is a bit difficult to see in this picture because it is white.  I think you can click on the picture and make it bigger.  Give it a try.  If it is like every other fault that fence will be moving with time!

This is a shot of part of the ridge!

We made a quick visit to the museum where Ryland and Easton got to dig for fossils.  This is their find.

This is what this area looked like when it was underwater.

The stolen footprint recovered.

This map shows even more water in the area!

I loved seeing this again and taking the tour which was only about 45 minutes long.  Loved it!  Loved it!  We took a quick stop at a small amusement park on the way back to Parker!

Comforting!

This maze was incredible.  I watched from the top as Ryland, Easton, and Keri disappeared, reappeared and disappeared again.  They did get out safe and sound.

A ride in a huge bubble!

We ended the day of adventure with a train ride.  I am always up for a good train ride.  Chooooo Choooo!

As we got back in the car Keri and I were saying we were tired and needed a nap.  Raise you hand if you need a nap.  We raised our hands but Ryland didn't.  I asked Ryland if he needed a nap.  Ryland said, "I am not really a nap person." There you have it!