Dinosaur Tracks on ceiling?

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birdsnest

birdsnest

Keeper of San Juan Secrets
I have heard that somewhere uplake there is a cave or alcove that has dinosaur tracks visible on a ceiling, is that true? I'm not sure of the process that could create that or the authenticity of the rumor but I've heard about it for almost 20 years. Pretty they weren't walking upside down.
 
After the track was made it was buried in sediment. Normally the top layer of sediment is removed over time to re-expose the track.

In this case the sediment layer containing the track fell away and the "negative" or imprint of the track remained on the ceiling. It's kind of like using plaster of Paris to take an impression of the actual track
 
These images are from Last Chance Bay. Years ago Wayne referenced them here on the forum. That year we took photos of them. The second image is the following year after they had flaked off. Can't recall the year but I think
it was around 2000.


pow2.jpg pow1.jpg pow1.jpg
 
Just when you start to think you know something you find out how much more there is to know. Made countless trips into Last Chance from 1996 to 2000 and never knew those were there. Thanks for the pictures cause that's just gonna have to do!
 
The tracks were just at the entrance to the last cove on the right of Last Chance. Up very high on the right.
 
Anybody know of any other tracks in the south lake area? I'm taking the kids down there this next weekend and would like to show them some.
 
DreamWeaver said:
They passed a law in 2009 making it a federal crime to disclose the location of paleo sites on federal land.
Click to expand...
Could you tell me exactly what law you are referring to?
I believe the PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION ACT of 2009 was incorporated into the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (PUBLIC LAW 111–11—MAR. 30, 2009).

The paleo sections are 6301-6312 of Subtitle D. "Sec. 6309 Confidentiality" is the section of interest regarding the location of paleo sites.

Subtitle D—Paleontological Resources Preservation
Sec. 6301. Definitions.
Sec. 6302. Management.
Sec. 6303. Public awareness and education program.
Sec. 6304. Collection of paleontological resources.
Sec. 6305. Curation of resources.
Sec. 6306. Prohibited acts; criminal penalties.
Sec. 6307. Civil penalties.
Sec. 6308. Rewards and forfeiture.
SEC. 6309. CONFIDENTIALITY.
Click to expand...
Information concerning the nature and specific location of a
paleontological resource shall be exempt from disclosure under section
552 of title 5, United States Code, and any other law unless
the Secretary determines that disclosure would—
Click to expand...
(1) further the purposes of this subtitle;
(2) not create risk of harm to or theft or destruction of
the resource or the site containing the resource; and
(3) be in accordance with other applicable laws.​
Click to expand...
​
Sec. 6310. Regulations.
Sec. 6311. Savings provisions.
Sec. 6312. Authorization of appropriations.

Is this the 'law' you are referring to? As such it simply exempts federal agencies from required disclosure of paleo sites. It in no way addresses prohibition of disclosure by federal agencies but I'm sure that may follow as policy or regs......But no disclosure by a private individual or even business is addressed or prohibited.

Hopefully we have not entered 1984 and are now being told what we can say or not say as a private individual.

There is a nice dino footprint at the viewing area of Rainbow Bridge. Did I just break federal law? I hope that I did not.:(

Check 6,
Goblin
 
Hi Goblin,
There was an extensive thread about Dino track site disclosure a number of years ago on the old site. As I recall, Jim Kirkland , the Utah State Paleontologist, entered the discussion and brought up the 2009 act. The impression I got at that time was site disclosure was prohibited under the act period. However a closer reading of the act, as you point out,
does not seem to apply to individuals. That old thread was very interesting as it brought out a lot of different views about protection of resources from theft and vandalism verses the public' s right to know about locations of sensitive resources on public lands. Rest easy, It seems that there is a low probability that a swat team will be breaking down your door at 4:00am tomorrow morning for that Rainbow Bridge disclosure
 
I just saw the Tapestry Wall ones a few days ago. There is a probably 50 foot section that appears to have dropped out from underneath many years ago and you can see numerous 3 toed prints along it. Anytime I head North from Bullfrog and go that far I always take whoever is with me by them. It is a site to see and a very strange process how it happens. Rather than viewing the indentation of the print you are viewing a 3D protrusion of the print. Pretty neat.

There is also some pretty nice prints around the mouth of Iceberg Canyon across from the big wall. Pretty easy to find if you've ever seen DreamWeaver's picture.

I think I may have found one on a shelf on the island across from Explorer Canyon once too, but I'm not expert and I couldn't tell for sure.
 
Waterbaby said:
Yep, you had to be sort of floating and gazing upward to see them. I always thought the very back of Last Change was interesting.
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I think the back of last chance is where all the weird stuff happens, maybe even see a dinosaur making tracks
drcalderwood said:
Anybody know of any other tracks in the south lake area? I'm taking the kids down there this next weekend and would like to show them some.
Click to expand...
There are some pretty nice ones on antelope island. If you scan the island shore from mm1 to mm4 just before antelope marina you will see distinct dark(black) areas. They are about 1/2 mile before antelope marine going uplake. There is a a distinctly darker area on the top flat part of the island with some rocky structure visible from the lake. It really is hard to pinpoint it if you haven't been there, Several large and smaller 3 toe prints going the same direction. Mother and baby? They are about 1/3 mile walk from shore. The shoreline in that area allows you to park a boat. No cliffs. I hope the dinosaur police won't come and arrest me.
 
DreamWeaver said:
Hi Goblin,
There was an extensive thread about Dino track site disclosure a number of years ago on the old site. As I recall, Jim Kirkland , the Utah State Paleontologist, entered the discussion and brought up the 2009 act. The impression I got at that time was site disclosure was prohibited under the act period. However a closer reading of the act, as you point out,
does not seem to apply to individuals. That old thread was very interesting as it brought out a lot of different views about protection of resources from theft and vandalism verses the public' s right to know about locations of sensitive resources on public lands. Rest easy, It seems that there is a low probability that a swat team will be breaking down your door at 4:00am tomorrow morning for that Rainbow Bridge disclosure
Click to expand...


That thread came about because of the discussion of the tracks in the back of Last Change which fell into the lake all on their own volition - so a lot of people never saw them and never will see them and as discussed in the thread at the time a person would have to be determined to destroy them to even manage such a feat given their location. As mentioned on the original thread - there is a lot of places specified with photographs of the sites online.

The shame of the whole thing is the odds of anyone who is a visitor to WWs wanting to do harm to any of the tracks within Glen Canyon are slim to none, it is the people who are the one-week warriors with teens w/o the proper training to understand the value of preserving our public lands and artifacts as well as people like the woman who was traveling to all our national parks with the specific mission to graffiti as many as she could manage all the while bragging about it on Facebook. These are the people the Graffiti Tracker spend the summer trying to keep ahead of as they delight in spray painting their names and whatever on our canyon walls, including Crossing of the Fathers which is now off limits to all of us who would simply take photos and leave in peace. It's a lack of respect.
 
This is the first I have heard of this graffiti woman. What a diverse site this is! I have seen more that one desecrated pictogragh/petroglyph and my punishment would probably way outweigh the crime but these people are disgusting, right up there with the dog and cat poisoners.
 
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