We had grand plans to pursue the 5th and 6th adventures on our list a couple of weeks ago - but big snow in Colorado had other ideas. At least Taz was pleased by the turn of events. He does love a good romp in the snow!
This past weekend, Kendall and I had our chance to get out exploring.
First stop (Adventure #5 of the 70 in 70 quest): the Triceratops Trail in Golden, Colorado!
This is a short trail with astounding fossil finds: triceratops tracks, small mammals, insects, and - my favorite - beaUtiful fern fossils. Signage and markers along the way describe the formations and help point out the fossils to those who travel the trail.
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| Kendall & Taz, ready for the trail |
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| "...explore unique fossil tracks and traces from 68 million years ago... rocks ...from the Late Cretaceous... This area was a marshy delta with lakes, streams,...swamps & scrubby forests..." |
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| Triceratops track |
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| Fern fossil |
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| Fern fossil |
Second stop (Adventure #6 of the 70 in 70 quest): Alfred Packer Grave Site, in Littleton, Colorado
It turns out that the Civil War veteran, shoemaker, mountain guide, and the only man in U.S. history convicted of a crime related to cannibalism - Alfred Packer - is buried in the Littleton Cemetery. We've known of Alfred for quite some time since the University of Colorado has an Alferd Packer Grill (his first name appears with two different spellings throughout written records). Information about CU's Alferd Packer Grill points to this wikipedia entry which has quite a bit of information about Alfred/Alferd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alferd_Packer.
In any case, once we found out he was buried and memorialized in a Denver suburb, well, how could we not put it on our list!
So an odd sort of day - extinct beings and a dead cannibal - but interesting bits of history practically in our own backyard. And speaking of backyards - that's the next adventure! Stay tuned!
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