Welcome to the Lily Pond Dinosaur Quarry, the motherlode of dinosaur tracks! A specimen of nearly every dinosaur track we know about from around the Pioneer Valley was found in this quarry, in Barton Cove. Take a hike and find the dinosaur tracks on the trail!
Location
42.60305, -72.53569
Directions
How to Get There
Park in the day camping area in Barton Cove, and follow the road up the hill. Pass the gate to the camping area. Eventually you’ll see a trail on the right going up a hill. When you go down a steep descent and hit a flat area bordered by a cliff, you’ll be in the Lily Pond Quarry. Take the stairs out of the quarry, and you’ll see the track slab at the top!
Marshall: Hello dino track explorers! I’m Marshall.
Lindsay: And I’m Lindsay. Thanks for joining us on our Dino Map Adventure!
M: We’re the hosts of Tumble Science Podcast for Kids and we’re on a mission to share the incredible dinosaur history right here in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. There is so much that scientists have discovered here - and so much left for YOU to discover along with us!
L: Today, we’re going to visit the motherlode of dinosaur tracks.
M: Ohh! But before we get there — if you haven’t already, pause this audio to listen to our how-to track. It will help you be prepared for what you’re about to experience! All right Lindsay, where are we heading now, and what will we find there?
L: We’re going to Barton Cove in Gill, and the Lily Pond Quarry! This is a bit of a hike, but once you’re on the trail, look for a set of stairs that climbs over a steep rock face. When you see the stairs, you’ll be standing in the Lily Pond dinosaur quarry.
M: Wait is this a quarry built by dinosaurs?
L: (Laughs) Or used by dinosaurs!
M: Yeah! When they were building their stone houses!
L: (Laughs) No! It’s a quarry where people dug for dinosaur fossils.
M: Oh! So people… I get it. That makes more sense.
L: Okay! So let’s start by turning back time around 200 years. The place where you will be standing used to be a pond, separated from the Connecticut River before a large dam was built, which flooded the whole area. This pond had been formed by waterfalls that carved through the rocks and formed a deep pool below it, called a “plunge pool.” The waterfalls stopped flowing thousands of years ago. But by cutting through the layers of rocks, they revealed layers of sandstone that are around 200 million years old — much, much older than the Connecticut River. That’s how long ago dinosaurs walked through this area, leaving their footprints behind. In the 1830s, local fossil hunters began digging at Lily Pond, turning it into one of the first “dinosaur quarries.”
M: Wow! So, like all these rocks at the Lily Pond Quarry had, like, tons of dinosaur footprints in them.
L: Yeah! A specimen of nearly every dinosaur track we know about from around the Pioneer Valley was found in this very quarry.
M: Ohh! So that makes it really special! So what should our dino track explorers do once they get here?
L: Once you climb up the stairs out of the quarry, take a few steps down the trail and look down. You’ll see a large, flat rock embedded into the trail. Take a close look. Do you see the dinosaur tracks that are there? There will be a picture on the website if you want to get a sneak peak at what you are looking for.
M: It’s really cool to see dinosaur tracks in the middle of a hike!
L: Yeah, and this is a hike we’ve been on many, many times, always stopping to see the dinosaur tracks.
M: It’s honestly better to see the tracks than to have a Jurassic Park situation.
L: That’s never come up!
M: Yeah, I wouldn’t make Barton Cove my Jurassic Park, to be honest.
L: (Laughs) Alright, let’s tell our dino track explorers how they can do their own field work here! First of all, make some basic observations:
- Do all the tracks you see look the same? Or are there some differences?
- How many toes can you find in the tracks?
- How many tracks can you find?
Once you’ve made your observations, challenge yourself to make educated guesses, or inferences.
M: Think about the dinosaur that made these tracks – what might it have looked like? How big do you think it was? What can you observe from the tracks that might tell you about what they were doing at the time?
L: We can’t wait for you to go to the quarry! It’s going to be so cool.
M: For directions and activities, check out nepm.org/dinomap. Feel free to share your adventure with the hashtag #tumbledinomap!
L: We’ll see you at the next stop!
Download the Dino Map Adventure and the Dino Adventure Journal.