Blog Post #4: Canyon Lake Gorge

Canyon Lake Gorge was an amazing experience! We encountered so much of Earth's past events and history on just a small part of Texas! One interesting thing that we learned at the very beginning of our tour was that the words 'canyon' and 'gorge' both mean the same thing. So, the name "Canyon Lake Gorge is redundant. Our guide compared it to saying, "Lake pond." Throughout the journey our guide shared many interesting facts about the gorge and its beginnings, with some mild, nerdy humor to keep us attentive.

The Glen Rose Limestone that exists throughout Texas was deposited over millions of years during the Cretaceous Era, an era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. After the Flood Event of 2002, in just a matter of weeks, powerful water carved a gorge into the landscape below the Canyon Lake Spillway. Canyon Lake Gorge was formed in all its glory, taking more than one hundred million years total!

The gorge is home to hundreds of thousands of fossils and remains of different once living organisms. Molds, casts, and even trace fossils such as the footprints from different dinosaurs living during the time period, can be found throughout the landscape. Although we did not get to see any T-Rex impressions, we discovered the tracks of a carnivorous beast similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, as well as, those of a common long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur. The footprints were definitely the coolest pieces of history I have ever seen! Our guide taught us how scientists determine characteristics of a dinosaur based on its footprints and feet alone. You could determine not only their style of walking, but also how big they were and what they most likely ate.

It still amazes me that we had the opportunity to stand in an area of rocks, faults, and fossils, that used to be part of an ocean! I could just visualize all the creatures that would have been swimming around us, even though I would have been scared out of my mind to be among them! But our world is just too amazing to ignore! We literally walked on history as we investigated the different fossils beneath our feet. We held evidence of the past in our hands and took pictures that would last a life time! Overall, Canyon Lake (Gorge) was a one of a kind field trip that I thoroughly enjoyed.