The Morrison Fossil Area: Dinosaur Ridge - Essay Example

The guide is keen to educate visitors. According to him, some of the best-known dinosaurs, diplodocus, stegosaurus, allosaurus, and Apatosaurus were discovered here in the late 1800s. The main entrance of the museum has the fake models of these dinosaurs, which are just thrilling to observe. Though the museum is not as large as one expects after reading about it on the internet, the experience of having to ride on the old rickety mini-bus, the well-versed tour guides and the touching of the bones and the dinosaur tracks on display make the tour amazing.

The place has a great history as the guides made us discover. There is a mountain on the side whose surface looks like the surface of mars, which according to the guides is what the earth looked like back in the dinosaur days. It is gray, hard and crusty and surrounded by the treasures of fossils that made the geologists and paleontologists have the site designated as a natural landmark in order to preserve the fossils in 1989.The guides refer to the tracks as the dinosaur freeway. Though they do not reveal the details of the dinosaurs, they are the most popular and spectacular parts of the ridge.

The mysterious faint prints, massive and three toes announce the earthly presence of the dinosaurs. In most cases, one will find children staring at the mother and baby footprints perhaps wondering how big the dinosaur young ones could have been. According to the guides, the ridge also has interpretive signs at the trail locations, which explain local geology, trace fossils, paleo-ecology, a volcanic ash bed, and how economically, coal, oil, and clay have developed among other paleontological and geologic features.

The tranquility of the ridge makes one almost hear streams flowing or the ancient waves crashing on the Cretaceous beach. The time one takes in the ridge is short as the museum is not very large. The information collected from the ridge is, however, over a million years old and one can pick up pieces of rocks that this old. After the tour, the guide gives free advice on where one can enjoy a hearty meal.