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113
million year old Dinosaur Tracks in the Paluxy River bed.
US Highway 67 to FM 205 for 4 miles to Park Road 59; then one mile
to the park headquarters
Book Your Hotel Here & Save
Glen
Rose Hotels |
From The
Plight of the Pleurocoeleus by Clay Coppedge
"... Near Glen
Rose, at the appropriately named Dinosaur Valley State Park, on
the banks of the Paluxy River and in the riverbed itself, are some
remarkably well preserved Pleurocoeleus tracks. These are some of
the best dinosaur tracks in the world, which is why paleontologists
love the park and have ever since Roland T. Bird of the American Museum
of Natural History visited the site in 1938. Bird realized that a
set of double tracks showed a herbivorous sauropod —most likely our
boy, the Pleurocoeleus — being chased by a meat-eating carnosaur.
This was the first time sauropod tracks had been discovered anywhere
in the world, which caused no small amount of excitement back in New
York. The Glen
Rose tracks were duly sent to New York and displayed at the American
Museum of Natural History. The Pleurocoeleus obviously couldn't get
away from the site fast enough on that particular day, but since then
its tracks have been scattered hither and yon, to the Texas Memorial
Museum in Austin and, unfortunately,
into the private residences of many amateurs, or vandals, depending
on how you look at these things.
The dinocaur tracks are a major wonder but it’s a small wonder that
any tracks are left here at all. People complain that all the “good”
tracks have been removed from the Paluxy River valley. A woman in
Glen
Rose told me that a lot of area families have a quarried dinosaur
track or two in their homes. “You usually see them on people’s living
room wall,” she said.
It took a special set of circumstances to preserve the tracks for
all these millions of years. Scientists believe that a violent storm
blew across the shoreline a few days before the tracks were made and
created a series of sand and lime-laden mudflats. A herd of Pleurocoeleus
came ambling across the sticky and still-wet mud in search of a primordal
salad, followed in interested pursuit by the carnosaurs looking for
some fresh sauropods; the Pleurocoeleus qualified.
True to their pacifistic nature, the Pleurocoeleus tried to run away
but we don't know if they won that particular footrace or not. No
intact skeleton remains were ever found, just huge saucer-like depressions
from their hind feet and smaller tracks, much like horseshoes, from
their front legs.
The primal, existential struggle for food and survival was preserved
in stone when the seashore turned to stone, leaving behind the rocks
we see in the park today, including the ones with the dinosaur prints...
more"
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Dinosaur
Valley State Park Information
P O Box
396 Glen Rose TX 76043
254-897-4588
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/dinosaur/
See Glen
Rose, Texas
More Texas State Parks |
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| Recommended
Books |
| Official
Guide to Texas State Parks |
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| Camper's
Guide to Texas Parks, Lakes, and Forests, 5th Edition : Where
to Go and How to Get There |
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| Hiking
and Backpacking Trails of Texas: Walking, Hiking, and Biking
Trails for All Ages and Abilities! |
|
| Texas
Atlas and Gazetteer (Texas Atlas & Gazetteer) by Delorme |
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