Danger at the Dinosaur Stomping Grounds

by Judy Young

  “I’ll be there,” Nash said.

  TAKE 5:

  “ALLOSAURUS MEANS ‘DIFFERENT LIZARD’ BECAUSE, WHEN IT WAS NAMED IN 1877, ITS VERTEBRAE WERE A DIFFERENT SHAPE THAN THOSE OF OTHER KNOWN DINOSAURS.”

  SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13

  It was still dark when the alarm on Dad’s phone went off, muffled under Buck’s pillow. Buck quickly turned it off and looked at the time. Three thirty. Quietly, he crawled out of bed. The others had not wanted to be awakened, so Buck had slept in his clothes. Buck pulled his blanket from his bed. He picked up his shoes and a flashlight he had ready near the door and slipped from the Green Beast. Outside, he put on his shoes, turned on the flashlight, and, climbing to the top of the ridge, walked to the end. With his blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Buck sat down, turned off the flashlight, and waited.

  The sky was filled with more stars than Buck had ever seen. Soon something that looked like a star moved steadily across the sky. Buck watched it until it flew out of sight, then lying down, he gazed at the Milky Way. Suddenly the sound of two vehicle doors slamming shut and a motor starting broke the silence. Almost instantly there was the sound of a vehicle crunching over gravel as it started to move. Buck stood up and looked out toward the mushroom rock campsite. The vehicle sounded like it was coming from there, but Buck saw no lights. The noise reduced as the vehicle turned onto pavement, and soon it was directly below Buck on the campground road. Still, no headlights lit the roadway. Buck squinted into the darkness and listened. He could hear the vehicle as it drove past him. It turned left at the base of the ridge, but no lights lit its way as it accelerated toward the main road. Buck stood on the ridge, staring into the night as the vehicle’s sound diminished in the distance. For just a second, brake lights flashed where the campground road met the main road, then it was dark again.

  Buck lay back down and stared at the stars, wondering why the campers were leaving at that hour of night and why they hadn’t turned on their lights. The next thing he knew, something tapped his shoulder. Buck’s eyes flung open. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and Toni was standing above him, tapping him with her toe.

  “What time is it?” Buck asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

  “A little after seven. Everybody is up and Nash is here too. Did you see the space station?”

  “Yeah, and I think I saw Nick and his family leave, too. It was weird. They left in the middle of the night but didn’t even turn on their headlights.”

  “That’s not weird; that’s just considerate,” Toni said. “They probably kept their lights off so they wouldn’t disturb other campers.”

  Toni started to leave but then turned back. “How do you like my hair?”

  She turned around so Buck could see. Usually, her long black hair fell straight over her shoulders. Now it was pulled back and folded like Nash’s, except instead of being bound with white yarn, it was wrapped with a rainbow of colors of embroidery thread.

  Buck shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess.”

  “Nash said he liked it even though it’s a traditional style for boys,” Toni said. She turned and started back across the ridge toward their campsite.

  “You’d better hurry up,” she called over her shoulder. “Your dad is getting impatient.”

  Buck stood up and looked out toward the mushroom rock campsite. The tents were still there.

  “Wait up!” he called out, but Toni kept on walking. Buck gathered his blanket and picked up the flashlight. Running, he caught up with Toni at the end of the ridge and followed her down. A mountain bike was locked to the juniper at the base of the ridge. Ducking under the tree, Buck followed Toni to the picnic table. Dad, Shoop, and Nash were sitting there, coffee cups in front of them. Toni sat down next to Nash, picked up a braided bracelet she had been working on, and continued weaving the colorful threads.

  “Is that your bike, Nash?” Buck asked.

  “Yes,” Nash responded. “I have a car here too, but Terra Cyan doesn’t allow students to drive anywhere once they arrive here.”

  “We have mountain bikes too,” Buck said, pointing to two bikes hanging from a bike rack on the back of the Green Beast.

  “I noticed that,” Nash said, taking a sip of coffee.

  Toni stopped working on the bracelet and looked across the table at her father. “Shoop, can I use your tool?” she asked.

  Shoop opened a leather sheath on his belt and pulled out a fat silver utility tool. He handed it to Toni.

  “I wish I had one of those,” Buck said as he sat down. “Have you ever seen one, Nash? It’s got everything—knives, scissors, screwdrivers . . . even a toothpick.”

  “Yeah,” Nash said. “They’re nice.”

  Toni tied the two ends of the braid together, flipped out a small pair of scissors from the tool, and cut off the remaining threads. Pushing the scissors back in, she set the tool on the table and handed the bracelet to Nash.

  “Thanks,” Nash said. He tried to slide it over his hand, but it was too small.

  “That’s okay,” Toni said, taking the bracelet. She set it on the table, picked up the tool, and cut some more threads. “I’ll make you a bigger one.”

  “Have you e-mailed Jessica about the dinosaur tracks yet, Dad?” Buck asked eagerly. He barely had the words out when Nick came racing in on his bike.

  “Perfect timing,” Nick said, jumping off the bike and letting it drop. “I saw you and Toni up on the ridge, so I knew you were awake. Did I hear you say dinosaur tracks?”

  “Yeah, Nash knows where some are,” Buck said, then turned back to his dad and repeated his question. “Have you e-mailed Jessica?”

  “Yes, we’re meeting her on Tuesday. Now go get washed up and eat some breakfast. We’re leaving in five minutes.”

  “Is there time for me to see inside the Green Beast?” Nick asked.

  “Sure,” Buck said, getting up. “Do you want to see inside too, Nash?”

  “Thanks, but Toni gave me a tour when I got here this morning,” Nash answered.

  Buck and Nick headed toward the camper. “I thought I saw you guys leave in the middle of the night,” Buck stated.

  “Uncle Bob and Wyett did,” Nick said.

  “They left you here by yourself?” Buck asked as he opened the door and let Nick step in first. Instead of answering him, Nick called out, “Wicked sign!”

  Nailed to one of two doors to the left was a white sign with red lettering that read AREA CLOSED—BEAR DANGER.

  “Toni gave me that on our first shoot in Alaska,” Buck said, stepping in behind Nick. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten.”

  He pushed the door open, showing Nick a small room with a bunk bed above a desk. Two computer monitors mounted to the wall were connected to keyboards on the desktop. Two swivel chairs were hooked to the floor.

  “Originally, there were two bunk beds in here,” Buck continued. “After filming the Alaska episode, my dad did a lot of work on the Green Beast so Shoop and Toni didn’t have to rent a separate camper.”

  “That bunk is my bed,” Toni said, stepping in behind them. She opened a desk drawer and tossed the partially finished bracelet into it. “I’m the only girl, so I get my own room.”

  “Only at night,” Buck corrected. “It’s both of ours during the day.”

  “That’s where we do our homework,” Toni told Nick, then turned to Buck. “Or should I say where I do mine and you’re supposed to do yours?”

  “Where do you go to school?” Nick asked.

  “Right here,” Toni answered. “Since we travel all over, we go to school online.”

  “Out here? How?”

  “Thanks to Shoop, the Green Beast has all the latest technology,” Buck said. “The whole camper has Wi-Fi.”

  “Can you get a phone signal?” Nick asked. “I haven’t been able to get one since I got here.”

  “Sure,” Buck said.

  “So how does online school work?” Nick asked.

  “Our teache
r is Mrs. Webster. She’s really nice,” Toni said. “We have to check in with her every so often, but most of the time we download recorded lessons and turn in our work online. It’s not much different from regular school; we just get to set our own hours.”

  “Except we don’t get a fall break like you do,” Buck added.

  “Stop complaining, dude.” Shoop’s voice came through the window. “You’re on a continuous break.”

  Buck looked out the room’s open window. “And we never get privacy,” he added, then slid the window shut and lowered the blinds.

  Nick went back into the main part of the camper, opened the door that was next to the bedroom door, and looked inside.

  “That’s really small,” he said as he closed the bathroom door.

  “Except for showers, Toni’s the only one who uses it,” Buck explained. “The guys use the campground restroom.”

  “So where do the guys sleep?” Nick asked, looking around. There were no other doors and no beds in sight.

  Pushing past Nick, Buck walked through the kitchen area and knocked on the table. “This turns into a bed. That’s where I sleep, but watch this.”

  At the far end, a couch stretched across the width of the camper. Buck pushed a button on the wall. The couch’s seat slid forward and the back went down, making it into a bed. At the same time, a bunk automatically descended from the ceiling above the bed.

  “Dad sleeps there and that bunk is Shoop’s.”

  Buck pushed the button again. The bunk automatically lifted up as the bed moved back into couch position.

  “Awesome,” Nick said. He sat down on the couch and peeked through a window on the wall behind it that looked into the cab.

  “You can’t all fit in there, can you?”

  “No. The cab originally only had two seats. Dad took out the middle console and turned it into a bench seat so three can sit up there when we’re driving,” Buck said. As he spoke, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and reached into the refrigerator for the milk. “He also added that sliding glass window so we can all talk.”

  “So this is home sweet home,” Toni said.

  Dad opened the camper door. “We’re ready to go,” he said.

  The kids said good-bye to one another. As Nick jumped out of the camper, Dad, Shoop, and Nash got into the cab. Toni shut the camper door and sat down at the table. Buck put the milk back in the refrigerator, sat down across from Toni, and looked out the window. Nick had gone over to the picnic table instead of to his bike.

  “What’s he doing?” Buck asked, but before Toni could answer, Nick had turned around. Three coffee cups were in his hands.

  “Wait a second,” he called out. “You forgot these.”

  Toni went to the door and opened it. “Thanks,” she said, taking the cups. “See you later.”

  “See ya,” Nick responded, and closed the door.

  Toni put the cups in the sink and sat back down. As the camper pulled away, she and Buck looked out the window and waved good-bye to Nick.

  TAKE 6:

  “WITH DOZENS OF LONG, RAZOR-SHARP TEETH SERRATED ON BOTH THE FRONT AND REAR EDGES, BIG AL WAS A RUTHLESS TERROR TO CREATURES THAT STEPPED IN HIS PATH.”

  The Green Beast turned left at the end of the campground road. As they drove, Dad explained their plans through the connecting window.

  “We’re going to start where the Green and Colorado Rivers converge. It’s not easy to get to, so most people who come here don’t see it,” he said. “We also need to film some places that are easily accessible. We want our viewers to know they don’t have to be rugged rock climbers or backpackers to enjoy it here. Tomorrow we’ll go for a longer hike to see some pictographs.”

  “And Tuesday to see dinosaur fossils?” Buck added.

  “Yes, Buck,” Dad answered patiently, “dinosaurs on Tuesday.”

  The Green Beast turned onto a rough dirt road barely wide enough for one vehicle. It jerked and jolted over large rocks and deep ruts for more than an hour before finally staggering to a stop. Then they hiked a half mile across an arid flat until they came to the edge of a steep canyon. A thousand feet below them, the two rivers met. Across from them, on the other side of the rivers, another canyon wall rose up just as high as the one they were standing on. Keeping a safe distance from the edge, Shoop set up his tripod and they started filming.

  “Last night I watched the International Space Station fly overhead, carrying people in orbits around the Earth,” Buck recited. “That must be an exciting journey. But now I’m looking down at the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, where another exciting journey took place. In 1869, John Wesley Powell led an expedition over nine hundred miles, crashing over dangerous rapids on the first river exploration of this land of great canyons. And, as if that wasn’t hard enough, Powell did this with only one arm! He had lost his right arm fighting in the Civil War!”

  “That’s a take,” Shoop called out. “I’ll just zoom in on the river and we’ll head on back.”

  “I’m impressed,” Nash told Buck. “You had a lot to memorize and didn’t mess up once.”

  “Thanks. I practice a lot,” Buck said, “and I owe you for the part I added in about the space station.”

  It seemed like forever before the Green Beast finally pulled back onto paved road. Then, in a series of short stops, Buck was filmed enjoying views at vehicle overlooks, pointing out spires called the Needles and marveling at the famous Wooden Shoe Arch. At Pothole Point, he walked across the pocked and pitted slickrock surface, then squatted next to a deep pothole that held a small amount of water from the last rain.

  “Every drop of water here is precious,” Buck said as Shoop zoomed in on the water that wriggled with inch-long shrimp. “These potholes are homes for these tiny fairy shrimp, as well as worms, tadpoles, and insect larvae. But just like these little fellas, you’ll have a hard time surviving in this arid country if you don’t carry plenty of water with you.”

  Back in the Green Beast, Dad drove down the main road, passing the campground road.

  “Where are we going now?” Toni complained. “I don’t think I’ll survive if we don’t stop for lunch.”

  “Grab a snack if you want,” Dad said. “We’ve got two more scenes to shoot before we eat.”

  “Which ones?” Toni asked as she reached into a box of crackers. She stuffed some in her mouth and picked up the notebook of scripts.

  “Cave Spring will be the first one,” Shoop said. “That’s the one with the cowboy camp.”

  Toni turned to the correct page and put the notebook on the table in front of Buck. Buck didn’t even glance at it. Instead he grabbed the box of crackers and pulled out some too.

  “You guys want any?” he asked through the connecting window as Toni poured a glass of milk.

  “No, thanks,” the others said.

  The Green Beast turned right onto another paved road, but it was only a minute before they turned left, this time onto a smooth dirt road. A mile later they stopped at a parking area. Buck grabbed his sunglasses and jumped out of the Green Beast. Picking up the hard black case and head-mounted camera, Toni stood in the doorway.

  “We won’t need these, will we?” she asked, holding them up for Shoop to see. “I’ve been carrying them around all morning, and you haven’t used either of them once.”

  “The camera’s mic has been doing fine,” Shoop said, “but bring them just in case.”

  Toni sighed, put on the head-mounted camera, and came out with the case. Without waiting for the others, Buck started toward a narrow dirt road that turned near the entrance to the parking lot. It didn’t look like much more than a set of rutted tire tracks. Grasses grew up between the ruts. The road went only a few yards before it was blocked by a closed gate. A chain hooked to the gate was wrapped around the gatepost and padlocked.

  “That’s not the way,” Nash called out.

  Buck turned around. The rest were headed toward a foot trail marked by a signpost at the end of the park
ing lot. Buck jogged toward them.

  “Where does that road go?” he asked, catching up with Nash. “And why is there a locked gate?”

  “It leads to some backcountry trailheads and artifact sites,” Nash answered. “You have to have a special permit to drive down it, and a ranger has to unlock the gate.”

  The group followed a short trail that wound through the brush. At one point, Shoop took a close-up of a prickly pear cactus.

  “Don’t touch that,” Nash warned. “Its long spines will stab you, and each of those leaflike pads has hundreds of tiny, hairy barbs that will embed into your skin.”

  They continued on until they came to a split-rail fence. The fence blocked an old cowboy camp situated in a large alcove under a rock formation. Rough, hand-hewn wooden benches, tables, and cabinets with corroded tin cans, rusty cups, and old tools scattered on them were sheltered from sun and rain by the rock overhang. An old cookstove, its chimney pipe sticking out at an odd angle, sat in the dust, a heavy iron frying pan still on it. Old leather bridles, stirrups, and saddlebags were draped across a wooden sawhorse. Buck stood in front of the fence, and Shoop turned on the camera.

  “Take your sunglasses off, dude,” Shoop said. “Just hang them behind you. They won’t show up on camera.”

  Buck turned around and hung his sunglasses from a loop of barbed wire that drooped from a fence post. Then, facing the camera, he told how cowboys once grazed cattle and sheep in the canyons.

  “The cowboys weren’t the only ones camping out in the rough terrain,” Buck said. “Utah’s mazes of canyons were perfect hideouts for outlaws, bank robbers, horse thieves, and cattle rustlers. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were two of the most famous outlaws to hide not too far from what’s now Canyonlands National Park.”

  After shooting, Nash led the way as the trail continued, hugging the base of the rock formation. He went past a wooden bin where the cowboys had stored grain for their horses and stopped at another deep alcove. Buck stepped past him.