Three new trees where one once stood.
Although completely mineralized, the Arizona petrified redwood is beautiful.
Searching for clues to the past of the land.
New life from the timbers of the old.
Even moss returns to the land it once knew.
Flourissant Fossil Beds
As I approached
the fossil bed monument in my car I received a sense of vast openness. Here in the parking lot, two rows of cars
seem out of place to the nature surrounding them. Entering the main facility I thought I was
late as a group of students headed up a paved trail. To my relief it was just the beginning of
half our class starting the tour while the half I joined gathered on the cement
lookout behind the facility. From this
point of view the valley was awe inspiring.
There was open land in front and to my right while on my left and behind
started the assent into the mountain which is covered with trees. Our group entered the facility to observe the
exhibits while waiting for a film on the history of the valley to start.
The exhibits are
full of information and provided interactive activities to get visitors more
involved with the history, how the valley was formed, and the creatures that
lived here during that time. I was so
engaged with the exhibits, before I knew it most for my group was already in
the viewing room for the film. The film
was very informative. Presenting us with
graphic images of how the valley was formed by a massive volcano and how
different historical figures discovered this land and fought to preserve
it. After the film it was not quite
ready for our tour so we meandered to a little hut standing by itself south of
the main facility.
In this hut
awaited a young lady to describe the process of discovering fossils. A short demonstration was given and lining
the outer walls of the inner hut where actual exhibits of the different fossils
discovered there. The other half of our
class was done with the tour and it was time to swap.
The tour began with
the explanation of the massive redwood trunks.
The trunk was a slight white color and was held together with band to
preserve the red woods integrity. Our
tour guide explained do to the method of excavation by use of dynamite. The trunks formed pressure cracks that over
time started to make the trunks crumble.
Our next stop was up a hill where a great lake that was formed by the
erupting volcano use to be. Archeologists
were able to determine this because of the layering of clay, ash and diatoms on
the side of a hill indicated where the water line was. We proceeded up the trail into the mountain
where we came across a lighting struck tree.
Fire is a big concern there since it has been suppressed for many years
that there is too much fuel for a small fire to get out of control. Measures have been taking to prevent this by
gathering and collecting the dry brush and disposing of it. Our last stop on the tour was a perfect
depiction of the circle of life. On a
trunk of a dead red wood was the growth of another tree sprouting from it and
moss that grew along the side for the dead red wood. Although the redwoods no longer grow in this
valley they still provide a place for people to marvel in their sheer size and
provide other plant life to flourish.
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