Thirteen brave and curious men and women began the trip with a dinner of smoked Brontosaurus provided by the wagon masters, Tom and Sandy Gormley, and Don and Jean Kaplan. The dinner just gave us all more impetus to begin the search for the prehistoric giants. Before we started the actual hunt, we had to learn more about the locale. Our education began the next morning at the John W Rawlings Heritage Center in Las Animas to get the lay of the land and learn a little about the history of the area. By the time we left the museum, we needed sustenance and headed to the Copper Kitchen for a taste of the local cuisine where the locals told us about the dangers of hunting dinosaurs. There were apparently giant spiders and poisonous snakes to contend with, along with colossal wasps that like to kill and eat the giant spiders! We had to be careful or not all of us would make it out of the area alive.
After filling our bellies with food and our minds with thoughts of dangerous creatures, we made our way to the Otero Museum to see what else we could learn before beginning the hunt. While studying the local history, we also learned about a highly poisonous plant growing in the area, Datura Solanaceae, belonging to the nightshade family. One more thing to be wary of along our journey. We returned to the campground to try to get a good nights sleep, a bit difficult after learning about all the dangers we could encounter.
Friday morning we woke to sunny skies and a grand sense of adventure. Fifteen of us journeyed to Bent’s Old Fort to see if we could get any help from the soldiers. We were disappointed to find out that there were no soldiers at the Fort and never had been! What is the purpose of a fort without military? When we learned that it was mainly used as a trading post and stagecoach stop, we were a little dismayed, but that did not hinder our enjoyment of the fort and the picnic lunch that followed. The afternoon schedule was light, and many took advantage of the free time to rest or just go for a drive in the country before beginning the quest for dinosaurs the next day. Some ventured out that evening to scout for the giant spiders, regaling us later with their tales of siting over 28 of these creatures, along with a badger, a rattlesnake and many antelope. All were concerned about the possible dangers lurking on the morrow.
Saturday began with an overcast sky, which was appreciated after the hot days we had suffered here, but all were worried about the trail to the dinosaurs. We were all in our 4-wheel drive vehicles, which were required. But if it rained, the mud would still make the road impassable, and our adventure would be for naught. Our luck held and after meeting at the rendezvous point, we were off to find the beasts we had come to see. We had a knowledgeable guide who seemed to know his stuff and we were all trusting him to lead us to the dinosaurs.
The ride out was pretty easy, but we were glad we had our 4 wheel drives. We all brought lots of water, snacks and lunch, but were afraid to drink too much as we only had 3 bathroom stops all day. None of us were getting any younger and bathroom stops were important at our age. We made the most of everyone. On the way, our guide stopped to let us view petroglyphs. While there, a colossal tarantula hawk wasp landed on one of our travelers. As he wasn’t a giant spider, it flew off causing no harm. We were excited to see it, but our minds were obsessed with the dinosaurs. We just wanted to see one. We were so close we could taste it!
It seemed like it took forever to get there on the dry and dusty road, but finally we arrived and were more than just excited to be in the territory of the magnificent beasts. Our guide instructed us to follow him as we crossed the dry riverbed. It was now starting to sprinkle, and we were concerned about our safety. What would happen if we got stuck on the far side of the river and couldn’t get back? The dinosaurs rumored to be here were not just the vegetarian type.
Upon reaching the other side we spotted the tracks. Hundreds of tracks! We knew we were close now and tried to remain calm in the face of the knowledge that any moment we would see what we had come to find. The tracks were impressive with some showing the signs of families of dinosaurs walking together. Others showed possible stalking of the veggie eaters by the meat eaters! When we finally saw one of the creatures, we were surprised by their size! We expected giant beasts, but these were relatively small. Cute, but small and not ferocious looking at all! We were excited to see them none the less and were extremely pleased with ourselves at being able to spot them. We took many pictures because we knew no one would believe us otherwise.
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