The Wild World of Buck Bray: Danger at the Dinosaur Stomping Grounds
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
look like an Allosaurus The way the rock has eroded it looks like huge jaws Like its mouth is open Yeah you can almost imagine razor-sharp teeth snapping at us And do you see those two little trees growing almost upside down out of that crack up there Buck added They could be the claws on its little arms reaching out to slice at us Maybe that’s why the trail leads here Maybe there’s another weird person like you who thought it looked like an Allosaurus Toni said jokingly That really is cool though Much cooler than hamburger buns and mushrooms Buck teased He pulled out his camera and took a few steps back I can’t get the whole Allosaurus It’s too big but I can get the head neck arms and a little of its back As Buck snapped the picture Toni turned to leave Wait a second There’s a cairn Buck exclaimed Toni turned back around and looked to where Buck was pointing Five small stones stacked one on top of another sat on a ledge high above their heads Are you sure Toni asked
Stones wouldn’t just naturally stack themselves like that It’s marking a path Let’s see where it goes Buck we need to go back In just a second I think it goes up to the top of the Allosaurus’s back It’ll be easy You just follow the ledges back and forth as you go up Buck stepped up onto the first ledge He walked along it his right shoulder scraping against the rock wall until he reached a point where he could easily step up onto the next ledge He continued zigzagging his way up until he reached the ledge with the cairn Toni stayed down below There’s another cairn you can’t see from down there on a ledge just a little higher up Buck called back to her You shouldn’t climb up there What if you fall I’m not going to fall The ledge is at least two feet wide Aren’t you coming Toni stayed put as Buck found a toehold and climbed up to the other ledge There’s a bunch of cairns marking which ledges to take he called down Come on They’re getting narrower but there’s plenty of room to walk And we’re
