This Amazing World

G and I, in our travels, have seen some pretty amazing things. I have to say, though, that some of the most amazing things have been in our own back yard, right here in Colorado. Like, Mesa Verde. Like the dinosaur footprints out by Red Rocks, outside of Denver.

And like the multiple dinosaur tracks that we saw outside La Junta, in the Purgatoire River Valley.

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the big deals about this area is that the direction (and sheer amount) of these prints suggest that the large plant-eating dinosaurs traveled in herds, or perhaps in family units. The size of the foot prints ranged from large to medium to small, suggesting that perhaps parents and juveniles hung out together.

Here's an idea of the scale of the tracks:

This entire valley used to be a river, and over time the footprints settled into the sediment and then (as we learned about fossils in our science classes) the minerals eventually turned to stone, thus preserving the water ripples, tail marks, and foot prints.

Predator tracks can be seen trailing behind those of the larger herbivores. It was like real live Jurassic Park in action! It was incredible!

Ripple marks from the water

The parallel marks that run from top to bottom in this picture are tail marks. As the dinosaurs walked, the drug their tails and those marks were preserved.

On our tour we also saw a replica of a shoulder/clavicle bone that was found here. The actual bone is on display at the Museum of Nature and Science in Denver.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of our tour on Saturday was the sheer combination of things that we saw in this relatively small valley. We saw petroglyphs from two separate groups of ancient Indians, separated by hundreds of years. We then saw the dinosaur track and geological examples of millions of years of rocks and sediment that shifted and settled. Then we saw a Catholic church and cemetery built in the 1800's, and a ranch that operated from 1871-1971. Seeing these things in close proximity and knowing that they represent such a wide spectrum of time was incredible.

The landscape wasn't bad, either!

I highly recommend this tour if you're ever in La Junta! Now, back to grading papers...