Two Times Strange
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022
I’ve hiked quite a bit in the Bighorn Canyon area at varying elevations and this is the only fossilized evidence I’ve seen of ancient sea/lake beds. Not only that, but searching the general area of this sighting yielded only a few other quite small fragments of a similar nature. So it certainly seemed strange to come across an interesting fossil specimen in the middle of a hiking trail. But it was doubly strange to see be two similar sized segments of rock with such different water patterns stacked one on top of the other. When I see such phenomena, my first thought generally is that I wished I knew more about the geology of the area so I could understand the context of what I am looking at. But on reflection, I think perhaps it’s better not to know the hows and whys as it removes all the mystery about the sighting.
Maybe someday the Lost Croc (11/1/2022) will be part of a geological formation that those future hikers will puzzle over.
Yes, and it will be seen as a new kind of fossil.
Hi Larry,
The NPS is interested in any fossils found in Bighorn Canyon. You might want to let them know about your 2 wave pattern fossils, especially if you can tell the rangers what trail you discovered them on.
Kathy
I don’t imagine they are a well-kept secret at all as they lay right in the middle of a trail, in fact a trail loop that on one end is called the State Line trail and on the other end Rangers Delight.