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July 16 Saturday Bicycle touring around Dinosaur Park Alberta Today is Parks Day and everything in the park is free. There is a free pancake breakfast at 8:30. We don't want to be late when there is free food to be had so we head over at quarter past. They are already serving and there is no line-up. Fifteen minutes later a line begins to form. Soon it stretches past the concession stand's boundaries. Already it is scorchingly hot. I begin to see why the old-timer's named this area "Badlands" with its searing sun, baking earth, and relentless bugs. We eat our fill then go and wait half an hour on a bench in the broiling sun so we can go on a free Centrosaurus bone bed hike. The hike is two and a half hours long and rated moderately strenuous. A bus pulls up. We get in line and notice they are taking tickets. Great. We were supposed to get tickets from the field office first. Ordinarily it wouldn't be a problem, but since today is Parks Day and the tour is free, it is therefore "sold out." Somewhat dejectedly we head back to the service centre and get in the fading line-up for another round of free pancakes. They've run out of sausage and orange drink but the pancakes are still going strong. With our ticket stubs we enter our names into the free draw box. Moments later they reach in and pull out Sharon's name. I guess they didn't dig down very far because we just put our tickets in. Sharon wins a well designed "Celebrate Parks Day" T-shirt. Beginning to feel slightly better about our turn of luck we go and re-register for another night at the campground. A Park's ranger tells us the Badlands hike is good, as well as the loop around the non-preserve area. The Badlands hike is close by, so we head out and do the hike. It takes us about an hour after stopping to talk with two parks guys doing summer work. One fellow says he works for an aluminum manufacturer during the winter. I thought it a tad ironic -- being a ranger in the summer, then working for an environmentally unconscious company the rest of the year. A woman with a brightly coloured hat busily sketches the engrossing scene before her. Part of the hike has such unreal scenery we appear to be on another planet. Signs warn in all directions: You are entering the forbidden zone. I was right ... we are on another planet. Everywhere, signs restrict walkers to a narrow path, trying to keep us out of the preserve area. I feel like I'm in a Rod Serling movie. "You are now entering the forbidden zone." We return safely from the Forbidden Zone and go stand in line to get tickets for the free lab tour. While Sharon decides it is too hot to stand in the sun, excuses herself to rest in the tent. I score us three tickets. The lab tour turns out to be very interesting, explaining how everything in the lab works and what the paleotologists do. Even better? The whole place is an air-conditioned heaven. Handing around fossils for us to examine, they explain how long it takes to prepare a fossil for exhibit. A Centrosaurus skull rests on a worktable. It takes a year to carefully chisel away the dirt on it. This tedious and patient work is accomplished with the help of a toothbrush and a dental hygienist pick. We finish off with a video showing Charlie's work, one of the park's first paleontologists. When we return from the lab tour, we discover they are now serving free cake at the service centre, celebrating Parks Day of course. The pieces are small but have a redeeming middle consisting of pudding. We rest in the tent for a while, gathering strength for our next foray to the outside. The weather report is 27º C in the shade. There is no shade and there is zero chance of precipitation to cool things down. Worse, the humidity is stuck at an astonishing 94% -- very unusual for these parts we're assured. Resting in the stifling tent just isn't working out. We go into the air conditioned centre for ice creams. After about an hour we are feeling chipper again. Sharon's heatstroke headache is nearly gone. We grab our bikes and pedal off on a loop tour. We see some dinosaur digs. Glass houses have been built right over them, showing the public how and where the fossils were found. The fossils are just sticking out of the ground. Rain causes more erosion and fossils are being exposed all the time. The Cottonwood Trail is cool, meandering along the river. Happily, we didn't see any rattle snakes. One area has been burned. The trees in this area are protected. It makes up less than one percent of Alberta's habitats. A talk at the field station about snakes is scheduled to be presented by two employees from the Calgary Zoo. We arrive a tad late and have to sit in chairs at the rear of the theatre. I can barely see the speakers or their exhibits ... which is not bad I suppose since they are showing live snakes. I can see the slides of the reptiles on the large screen and thankfully they don't move. Some folks in the front row are getting very real close-up views. Rangers pull more names for the free draw. This time both my name and Susan's get called. We receive free T-shirts. Woo hoo! Now I have something clean to wear. A walk in the moonlight around camp ends our day. We sink off into warm slumber. |
