WARNER VALLEY DINOSAUR TRACKS EarthCache
WARNER VALLEY DINOSAUR TRACKS
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Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks
Located in the Warner Valley area of St. George, Utah, this track site is popular with visitors for its relatively easy access and quality of the trackways. Approximately 400* dinosaur tracks can be found at the site in trackways or as isolated footprints.
*Current estimate. The original number of tracks was thought to be only 161, but a site investigation in 2010 lead to the discovery of 400 plus tracks and counting.
The Warner Valley is located in a remote area south-east of St George Utah near the Arizona border. This is a beautiful valley with towering red rock mountains to the north with numerous purple dune shaped hills at their base. It is quite breathtaking.
The dinosaur tracks are located at the base of the red mountains in a wash formed of red brown rock. The rock is fine-grained reddish-brown and white sandstone. There are numerous tracks both large and small. There is one distinct trackway of 6 or 8 large tracks each about 13 inches in length and another of smaller tracks about 6 inches in length.
It is impossible to know for certain which dinosaurs made these tracks. The terms Eubrontes (you-BRONT-tees) and Grallator (GRAL-uh-tore) are ichnogenera. They are groups of dinosaurs categorized together from their assumed characterics based on their fossilized footprints. The Grallator footprints at this site are attributed to coelophysid dinosaurs such as Megapnosaurus (“Syntarsus” or Coelophysis). The Eubrontes footprints are widely accepted as being produced by a Dilophosaurus-sized theropod. Eubrontes and Grallator is the name of the footprints, identified by their shape, and not of the type of dinosaur that made them.
A typical Eubrontes print is from 10 to 20 inches long, with three toes that terminate in sharp claws. They were from biped carnivorous dinosaurs that must have been over three feet high at the hip and from 15 to 20 feet long. The most famous member of this type is the Tyrannosaurus dinosaur.
The name Grallator translates into “stilt walker”, much like the long-legged wading birds, such as storks and herons. Grallator footprints are characteristically three-toed and range from 2 to 6 inches long. From the parking lot there is a short trail to the well marked site.
Getting There
From North on I-15 take Exit 8 to St. George Blvd. Turn left on St. George Blvd. Travel 0.2 miles and turn right on River Road. Travel 1.8 miles and turn left on 1450 South. Travel 2 miles and turn left on 1580 South. Travel 1.5 miles and turn right on Washington Fields Road. Travel 2 miles and turn left. (sign here) Travel 8 miles and turn left. (sign here) Travel 0.5 miles to site parking area (GPS N37.02309, W113.36713). The dinosaur site is located at N37.02494, W113.36597.
From South on I-15 take Exit 8 to St. George Blvd. Turn right on St. George Blvd. Travel 0.1 miles and turn right on River Rd. Travel 1.8 miles and turn left on 1450 South. Travel 2 miles and turn left on 1580 South. Travel 1.5 miles and turn right on Washington Fields Road. Travel 2 miles and turn left. (sign here) Travel 8 miles and turn left. (sign here) Travel .5 miles to site parking area.
Road Condition
The road from St George is a ruff dirt road that a standard car can drive, except for one short section which passes through sand and a couple of tricky washes to cross. You may need a high clearance vehicle or 4 wheel drive.
The Trail
The trail from the parking lot is about 1/6 th of a mile with a short steep hill which can be navigated easily..
- excerpts from www.blm.gov and Don Axford
How to Claim Your Find:
First you MUST answer all of the following questions and the For Science section via email within 48 hours of your posted log. Any missing answers will disqualify your find. Please do not post your answers in your log. This will also disqualify your find. In either case your log will be deleted.
Go to the coordinates listed at the top of the page, read both sides of the info board and answer the following questions:
Send an email to me with the first line reading GC4VYZ3 WARNER VALLEY DINOSAUR TRACKS.
1. There are three different types of track impressions located at the site. Please list all three.
2. The dinosaur tracks can be found at the top of the (blank) (blank) member. This would make the tracks (blank) million years old.
3. Dinosaur tracks with distinct claw marks and pad impressions suggest (blank) (blank) (blank).
4. What other fossilized material was found in the vicinity of the tracks? How does this knowledge change your perception of the area and how it may have looked when the dinosaur tracks were created?
For Science!
For the following requirement you will need a ruler.
Find a set of the LARGE tracks by the diversion wall. Now measure one of the tracks starting at the tip of the center toe and back to the edge of the heel. Do the tracks lengths fall within the range listed above in the body of this page? Now using your own stride walk alongside the tracks (please do not walk on the tracks). Can you match the stride of the dinosaur who made these tracks? With this knowledge estimate how tall you believe the dinosaur was that created the tracks. Add this information to your email. (please do not post any pictures that will give away the measurement)
For FUN!
The following is optional but makes for a better experience. You will need something for scale (anything recognizable will do) and a camera.
Find a track you are most interested in. Place the object next to the the track and take a picture. Please post the picture with your log.
Post A PIC WITH YOUR LOG
As of June 10th, 2019 GC HQ updated the requirements for logging an EarthCache to allow the CO to request the visitor to "…provide a photo of themselves or a personal item to prove they visited the site. A personal item must be an option for those who do not want to photograph themselves. This task is acceptable only as an addition to well-developed logging tasks, not as a substitution."
So as of 06/10/19 "all" logs MUST have a pic attached with either the cacher (or group of cachers) prominently in it OR a personal item (GPS/printed icon/etc.) I will not accept cell phones as a personal item because 1) you more than likely would be using it for the pic 2) Cell phone, in my opinion, is too generic for a "personal item."If you post a group pic you MUST list the cachers names in you log.
Faliure to follow this or any part of the logging tasks will result in disqualification and your log will be "deleted!"
Special thanks to the St George Field Office of the BLM for granting permission to place this cache.
This cache placed by a:
This cache placed by a member of:
Please help protect paleontological sites. It is illegal to dig, remove, or collect vertebrate fossils without a permit. Never make molds or castings, or apply anything to fossils and trackways. Never drive over, walk on or sit on fossils.
- BLM
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Treasures
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