Diggin' Up Bones LbNA #48589
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Add Location| Owner: | Boots Tex  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jul 2, 2009 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Glen Rose |
| County: | Somervell |
| State: | Texas |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | photopam |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Aug 15, 2016 |
| Status: | FFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Jul 2, 2009 |
Pleurocoelus (Ploo-row-see-lus) has served ably as the official dinosaur of Texas. Sure, it was a plant-noshing herbivore in a fiercely barbecue-proud state, but the sauropod dwarfed most other dinos and lumbered with a 20-ton swagger. Then he was exposed as an East Coaster. The discovery in 2007 led a Fort Worth lawmaker to file a resolution in the Legislature that seeks to send Pleurocoelus packing and transfer the state dinosaur title to a very similar but more uniquely Texas species, newly dubbed Paluxysaurus jonesi. That's paluxysaurus as in the Paluxy River in Central Texas, where a graduate student found the dinosaur crowned by state lawmakers in 1997 that was really a 112-million-year-old impostor. "It's important to get things right," said Aaron Pan, curator of science for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. "If it's not the same thing, you can't really call it that." Passage of the measure is a virtual guarantee, while the Legislature struggles with the recession, shortfalls in tax revenue and paying for hurricane damage. The resolution repairs what is largely a case of mistaken identity. Pleurocoelus and paluxysaurus were both giraffe-necked and enormous four-footed herbivores, with a close resemblance to the more widely known brachiosaurus. But leave it to a Detroit-area native to uncover that Texas backed the wrong dinosaur. Peter Rose was studying at Southern Methodist University when he began scrutinizing fossils - thought to belong to Pleurocoelus - that littered a Hood County ranch. The prevalence of the remains helped sell the sauropod as state's official dinosaur in the first place. Paleontologists had long accepted the fossils belonged to pleurocoelus, whose bones were first dug up in Maryland. But Rose found the juvenile pleurocoelus specimens in Maryland didn't match the adult bones found in Texas. Rose determined he had a whole new dinosaur on his hands. After tinkering with the name, he settled on incorporating Paluxy and stamped the species as jonesi, in a tribute to the Jones Ranch and its rich collection of fossils. He then published a paper in 2007 explaining how Texas had been duped. I beg to differ. I believe the dinosaur scientific community was duped. Anyway, these bones belonged to the same animal (well, maybe not the exact same individual) that made a lot of the tracks in the bed of the Paluxy that can now be seen in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. This letterbox is dedicated to the true Texas State Dinosaur, Paluxysaurus Jonesi. (Information borrowed from an Associated Press article)
Directions:
Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, Texas, is a 1524.72 acre, scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. The land for the park was acquired from private owners undet the State Parks Bond Program during 1968 and opened to the public in 1972. The park is located 4 miles west of Glen Rose. Take US Highway 67 to FM 205 for 4 miles to Park Road 59, then go one mile to the headquarters. Go in and pay your entry fee and get a park map. Take the first right, before you get to the dinosaurs, then the next right toward the camping area, look for the trailhead parking lot. Park here and start at the trailhead signboard for the Cedar Brakes Trail.
To the box:
This is a long walk, almost 3 miles round trip with maybe a 300 foot rise (my guess). Walk along the path down to the river. Across the river you will see the beginning of a trail, noted as the White Trail on the map. Make your way to it. When we were there, the river was almost dry. Sometimes, there will be water, but you should be able to using the big rocks as stepping stones. Use care. Be sure to watch for the white paint patches on trees, stumps and rocks to guide your way. At trail marker “A”, turn right and go a short way to a T-junction. Take the direction indicated by the white arrow and go to trail marker “H”. Take the Blue Trail (look for blue marks), to trail marker “I”. Stay to the left on the blue trail, past trail marker “J” all the way up to trail marker “K”. Just to the left of “K”, you’ll continue on the blue trail almost to Primitive Camp Site 4. Look for a small stone bench on the left. If the camping site is occupied, you might want to announce your presence and tell them you’re hiking and that you’re going to sit on the bench for a few minutes. While sitting on the bench looking at the view back down the trail, you’ll see a good-sized live oak tree to the right. It’s the only oak among the ashe-junipers. The box is behind the tree at its base, covered with rocks. This letterbox was placed with the permission of park staff and is properly permitted. Be sure to recover it with the rocks so it can’t be seen from the trail.
Directions:
Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, Texas, is a 1524.72 acre, scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. The land for the park was acquired from private owners undet the State Parks Bond Program during 1968 and opened to the public in 1972. The park is located 4 miles west of Glen Rose. Take US Highway 67 to FM 205 for 4 miles to Park Road 59, then go one mile to the headquarters. Go in and pay your entry fee and get a park map. Take the first right, before you get to the dinosaurs, then the next right toward the camping area, look for the trailhead parking lot. Park here and start at the trailhead signboard for the Cedar Brakes Trail.
To the box:
This is a long walk, almost 3 miles round trip with maybe a 300 foot rise (my guess). Walk along the path down to the river. Across the river you will see the beginning of a trail, noted as the White Trail on the map. Make your way to it. When we were there, the river was almost dry. Sometimes, there will be water, but you should be able to using the big rocks as stepping stones. Use care. Be sure to watch for the white paint patches on trees, stumps and rocks to guide your way. At trail marker “A”, turn right and go a short way to a T-junction. Take the direction indicated by the white arrow and go to trail marker “H”. Take the Blue Trail (look for blue marks), to trail marker “I”. Stay to the left on the blue trail, past trail marker “J” all the way up to trail marker “K”. Just to the left of “K”, you’ll continue on the blue trail almost to Primitive Camp Site 4. Look for a small stone bench on the left. If the camping site is occupied, you might want to announce your presence and tell them you’re hiking and that you’re going to sit on the bench for a few minutes. While sitting on the bench looking at the view back down the trail, you’ll see a good-sized live oak tree to the right. It’s the only oak among the ashe-junipers. The box is behind the tree at its base, covered with rocks. This letterbox was placed with the permission of park staff and is properly permitted. Be sure to recover it with the rocks so it can’t be seen from the trail.