Corral Bluffs progress

Our study of the new Corral Bluffs property, formerly known as the Case Property, has begun. This is a project of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS). Ken Weissenburger and I will be documenting the stratigraphy to connect the Case Property strata with that in Jimmy Camp Creek Park. The importance of that connection is to try to document where the K/T boundary is. Scientists at DMNS have documented within several meters where the boundary is. This means the rock in Jimmy Camp is below the K/T boundary, while the rock in Corral Bluffs is above the Cretaceous extinction. We will also document and collect fossils. We are especially hoping to find fossils of early mammals, as this is one of only a very few places on earth that contain fossils of mammals during the first million years after the extinction of dinosaurs.

Corral Bluffs is an area of subtle beauty. The landscape is basically monochromatic, shades of grays and browns. At first glance the area seems to be much the same wherever you look. but upon closer examination there is a great deal of variety. Each gulley and crest has its own personality, containing surprises only visible when the visitor slows down to observe closely. The layers of rock are actually quite different from one another; some are silt and clay; some are poorly cemented sandstones and some are conglomeratic. Some layers contain hundreds of fossilized twigs while others contain enormous fossil trees. Layers of red, round concretions resembling bowling balls lay on top of sandstone benches, resembling photos of a Martian landscape. The soft sands hold the tracks of modern inhabitants: coyotes, mice, and birds, although seldom do you see the owners of those footprints. This is a land where the ancient and the modern come together. Birds of prey perch upon the fossilized trees while rodents throw crocodile bones out of their burrows.

The views from the tops of the bluffs are spectacular. Pikes Peak looms above the plains with the city hidden in the valley between the bluffs and the mountains. The Sangre de Cristo Range pierces the sky and the Spanish Peaks stand alone to the south. Corral Bluffs is truly a place of peace and solitude, and a place to reaquaint yourself with nature.