The Wild World of Buck Bray: Danger at the Dinosaur Stomping Grounds
Long barren ridges of deep red rock alternating with stripes of light grayish-tan rock formed walls a hundred feet tall on either side of the canyon floor On top giant rock spires needles and pinnacles stabbed at the sky Some looked like the slightest breeze would be all it would take to topple them to the ground Others looked like armless human shapes with rounded rock heads balancing on wide shoulders of rock bodies They silently towered over the canyon like stone gods guarding ancient secrets As Buck and Toni continued the trail angled away from the arroyo and became steeper winding through a maze of huge freestanding rock formations Look at that rock It looks like a gigantic mushroom Toni had said And those two round ones balanced on top of each other look like double scoops of ice cream That one looks like the curved back of a huge dinosaur Maybe a Brachiosaurus that’s lying down sleeping Buck had said He took a camera from the pocket of his cargo pants and snapped a shot of the massive curved rock Over there are three enormous hamburger buns all
stacked on top of one another Toni said but it’s really all one rock It’s amazing how it eroded away like that See that one with the pointy fins sticking up Buck said It looks like a Stegosaurus and there’s a Triceratops head Those three rock spires are its horns They all look like some kind of dinosaur to you Toni said as Buck took pictures of the rocks Buck shrugged Dinosaurs are cool he said And these rocks are so big you can’t help but think they look like them At least I don’t think they all look like food I guess I’m hungry Toni said as they continued on They hadn’t planned to go far but Buck and Toni seemed to be mysteriously drawn deeper and deeper into the narrowing canyon as its walls closed in on either side of them It was almost as if something compelled them to keep going The canyon had narrowed to about thirty feet wide when Buck noticed a dark crevice ahead to their right The trail seemed to lead straight to it but as he got closer the trail veered to the left going behind a huge rock shaped like a beehive three times as tall as Buck
However a set of boot prints left the trail turning right Buck followed the prints until he reached the crevice It was barely wider than his shoulders Turning sideways Buck slipped between the walls It was dark in there but looking up he saw blue sky gleaming fifty feet above Buck crept back out What’s in there Toni asked Nothing It’s just a crack You can only go in about ten feet But it cuts through all the way to the top I think we’ve gone far enough Toni said This trail could go on forever It’s got to lead to something Buck said Let’s go just a little farther We might be almost there Almost where I don’t know Almost to wherever the trail is taking us Okay five more minutes Then we need to head back They returned to the trail and followed it around the beehive rock It twisted like a snake around several more enormous rock structures but didn’t go far Ahead of them the narrowing canyon dead-ended with a wall of rock that
loomed fifty feet above them I guess this is the end Buck said I told you we didn’t have much farther They both stood looking up at the rock wall in front of them The bottom part was made of layers of uneven ledges but high above them the rock became smooth its sides curving toward the top Wow Buck said it looks like an Allosaurus Everyone likes T rex but Big Al is my favorite dinosaur I don’t see it Toni said looking up Just the body of an Allosaurus not its hind legs Like it’s emerging out of the rock Buck explained See how the rock curves to the top That’s like the sides of the Allosaurus curving to the top of its back and the ridge that just stretches off to the right could be its tail I can see that but why an Allosaurus It could be any dinosaur’s body Toni said Over to the left Buck said pointing where there’s a ridge that’s a little higher that’s its neck And the big bulge that’s Oh I see it Toni interrupted That’s its head It does
