Dino Rocks

On yet another lazy-ish day, we decided to go on a little day trip to a nearby feature pointed out on the map.  The map alluded to it being some sort of dinosaur-related archeological site; this was mostly inferred by the cartographer's use of a little purple cartoony T-rex to mark the site.

It was a short hike from the top of Passo Staulanza along a pretty good trail.  My first clue that there wasn't actually anything interesting dinosaur-related was that there were no fences or barriers or signs at the site.  I don't know what I was actually expecting; perhaps a velociraptor encased in tiramisu, half-visible as it writhed in incapacitating mascarpone?

What comprised the attraction was a single (large) rock that had some (ostensibly) dinosaur tracks across it, created by something roughly the size and speed of a running iguana.  In any case, it wasn't even impressive enough for me to take a photo.  Call me a jaded traveler, but I didn't want to waste any film :)

Far more interesting to me, though, was a vein of super-red soil with super-white rocks tumbling out of it.  I briefly risked life and limb to access the small slope, and then spent a few minutes freaking out on it with the camera.













There was also a cool nightstand-sized rock that looked like a scale model of the entire mountain range.  The other sides of the rock were perfectly smooth, and the top surface was created when the rock was split in half, and kinda looked like a cold grilled cheese sandwich pulled apart.  In any event, it was awesome.


Scale model

Disappointed by the lack of dino-ness, we retreated to the ever-present cafe at the top of Staulanza and eradicated our sorrows with beer, sandwiches, and cake.  Ahhhhh, consolation!

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