Walking in the footsteps of dinosaurs
Alberta gets all the attention when it comes to fossils, but B.C. had plenty of big beasts
DISTRICT OF TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C.— It’s dusk, which in northern B.C. during the summertime means close to 10 p.m. We’re hiking along a narrow path in the darkened woods, finding our way with headlamps. As we approach the Wolverine River, our guide stops to examine a tree stump where an animal — a rather large animal — has been rooting around in the dirt.
“There’s definitely been a bear here in the last 24 hours,” Anthony Moreau-Coulson, a paramedic who volunteers at the Tumbler Ridge Dinosaur Discovery Gallery, says. He observes this matter-of-factly, without a trace of fear.
Indeed, none of the locals seem to concern themselves with bears; they shrug their shoulders and explain that in these parts, the bears are much more afraid of us than we are of them. Except for, perhaps, myself.
So why exactly are we trudging around in the woods late at night? We’re dinosaur hunting. Well, track hunting, to be more precise, on a dinosaur footprint tour run by the Dinosaur Discovery Gallery.
Alberta gets all the attention for dinosaurs, but there were dinosaurs in B.C., too. The province was first to discover a tyrannosaur trackway (where there’s a “track” of multiple dinosaur footprints, preserved as fossils). Only three known tyrannosaur trackways have been discovered in the world — and all three are in the Peace Region of B.C. It’s also home to the only known brontosaur trackway in Canada.
We make our way onto a shelf of rock beside a rushing river, lit by the moon. It’s difficult to see fossils during the day, when the sun in shining directly on them. But with low-angled lantern light, shapes start to emerge from the rocks.
And here, on this slab of rock, there are more than 80 fossils. As MoreauCoulson positions his lantern at a strategic angle, it’s easy to make out the footprint of an animal that is a heck of a lot bigger than a bear. This is a theropod footprint, he explains, from 94 million years ago.
Northeastern B.C. was a hot spot for dinosaur activity, but it only gained the attention of the scientific community after dinosaur footprints were discovered in 2000 by two local boys. Now the region is also starting to get the attention of tourists.
In 2015, the region was officially recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark, thanks to its 97-million-yearold dinosaur footprints and fossils — with more than 40 bone beds and track sites accessible through a network of hiking trails.
Back at the Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre, one of the lead paleontologists takes us through a set of doors with a staff-only sign. “This is where the magic happens,” Lisa Buckley says. She also serves as the centre’s curator and collections manager when she’s not out on a dig.
Buckley pauses and corrects herself. “Actually, this is where the science happens.”
Buckley points out an Ice Age bison skull that’s being prepared for display in the Dinosaur Discovery Cen- tre. There’s also a mammoth tusk, discovered by workers in a commercial gravel pit near Taylor, B.C. We come across a latex peel stretched across the floor, a replica of a trackway found out in the wild. The real trackway consists of 19 footprints, made by a medium-sized, plant-eating dinosaur; the rest of the trackway is waiting to be unearthed. The latex peel allows researchers to learn more about dinosaur anatomy.
Tumbler Ridge, in the rugged Rockies, was once covered in swampy, coastal forests, which preserved many of these footprints as fossils.
“Even though there’s been a lot of technological advances with finding fossils, a lot of the basic techniques haven’t changed in over 300 years,” Buckley says. “You have to go out and walk areas and physically see them, so we’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours slogging through bog and bush and beaver-dammed areas.”
Fortunately, visitors don’t have to spend hundreds of hours slogging through bush and bogs to see a piece of history from 75 to 100 million years ago. With dinosaur footprint tours at two sites and rotating exhibits at the Dinosaur Discovery Centre, it’s possible to walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs. Vawn Himmelsbach was hosted by Destination B.C., which didn’t review or approve this story.