Danger at the Dinosaur Stomping Grounds Page 10

  “Hey, look,” Buck said, pointing to painted blue stripes. “We could have ridden all the way up here.”

  “Don’t you remember?” Toni asked. She walked over to the signpost map and pointed to the blue line. “The blue trail goes all along the top of the bluffs.”

  “Most people bike up,” Jessica said. “They take the pink trail south and turn east on the green trail and then north on the blue. When they get here, they walk down to the tracks.”

  “That explains why that information sign at the stomping grounds seemed to be facing the wrong direction,” Buck said.

  “I wonder why they didn’t have an information sign about the tracks at the bottom of the trail,” Toni said.

  “I’m glad they didn’t,” Buck said. “I didn’t know what to expect, and it really felt like I was the first to discover them.”

  “I felt the same way when I first saw them,” Jessica said. “Come over here, though. You guys have to see the view.”

  They walked a few more yards before reaching the edge of cliffs that dropped over two hundred feet to a wide, seemingly flat valley. Miles across, another bluff rose up with rows of thin rock spires on top, stretching to the sky.

  “That ridge,” Jessica said, “is the western boundary of Arches National Park.”

  “How far away is it?” Toni asked.

  “It’s about four miles across to Arches,” Jessica said, “but if you look up the valley toward the north, those mountains are probably thirty miles away or more.”

  “Is that a road down there?” Buck asked, standing near the edge as Shoop panned the valley with his camera. Stretching through the middle of the barren valley was a thin line, just a slightly lighter color than the land around it.

  “Yes,” Jessica said. “That’s Salt Valley Road.”

  A sudden glint of light flashed several miles to the north and was instantly gone, but a trail of dust moved slowly south along the road.

  “Someone’s driving down there,” Buck said. “I saw the sun reflect off a windshield. Where would they be going?”

  “It’s a back way into Arches,” Jessica said. “The road is really rough, and then there’s a pretty strenuous climb to get into the park. It’s not the regular entrance, and very few people go that way. Mostly just backpackers who want to hike the Arches backcountry.”

  After admiring the view, they all walked back to the signpost near the blue painted stripes.

  “Are we going back the way we came, Jessica?” Buck asked.

  Jessica nodded and Buck sprinted down the hill, following the cairns toward the stomping grounds. The others caught up when he slowed down at the footprints, and then the five of them retraced their steps back to the yellow stripes and on to the pink ones. As Buck and Toni strapped on their helmets, the others headed south on the pink trail.

  “We’ll meet you back at the kiosk,” Buck said over his shoulder as he and Toni headed north. When the two reached the kiosk, the Green Beast wasn’t there yet.

  “It’s a good thing you climbed the Allosaurus last Saturday,” Toni said as they waited beside Jessica’s SUV.

  “Why?” Buck asked.

  “If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t have met Nash and we wouldn’t have seen all this,” Toni answered just as the Green Beast drove in.

  They loaded the bikes onto the bike rack, and the Green Beast followed the SUV out of the parking area. It wasn’t long before Jessica turned off the rough dirt road and onto a set of tire tracks that had crushed the sparse dry grasses. The tracks led upward to a small area cleared of brush surrounded on three sides by ridges of rock. Jessica stopped the SUV, and the Green Beast pulled up beside her.

  “This little cove is my favorite place to camp,” Jessica said when they all got out of their vehicles. A ring of stones held pieces of charred wood, but it didn’t look like anyone had built a fire for a long time. “It’s close enough to the bike trails that you can easily ride to them, and it’s high ground, so you don’t have to worry about flooding.”

  Buck looked up and shrugged. The sky was still bright blue.

  “Looks like a great campsite,” Dad said to Jessica. “Thanks for all your help today.”

  “You’re welcome,” Jessica said, “but I was wondering. Would you like me to call Dr. Owen and get permission to take you to the dig site?”

  “Today?” Dad asked, looking at his watch. “It’s almost five.”

  “No, I meant tomorrow morning,” Jessica explained. “I could camp here tonight and you could follow me there tomorrow.”

  “I’m sorry. We really don’t have any extra room in the Green Beast,” Dad said.

  “That’s okay. I’m always prepared,” Jessica said. “I keep my camping gear in the back of my SUV.”

  “Super!” Dad said.

  Jessica looked at her phone. “I’d better call before it gets too late. Dr. Owen leaves his office at five.”

  “I’ll get the Wi-Fi set up for you,” Toni said.

  “Buck, why don’t you set up Jessica’s tent and get our camp chairs out,” Dad suggested. “I need to check my e-mail.”

  Buck went over to the SUV and, opening the back, pulled on the retractable cargo cover, letting it roll up toward the backseat. Inside was a tent, a sleeping bag, a camp chair, some rain gear, a small cookstove, a pan, and two pouches, one labeled BEEF STEW and the other, SCRAMBLED EGGS AND BACON. Buck picked one up and looked at the back. The directions said to just add hot water. She really is prepared, Buck thought. As he put the pouch back, Toni came over.

  “Hey, guess what,” she said. “Nash e-mailed your dad this morning. He talked with his parents last night, and they gave him permission to leave the park. So he’s going to meet us here tomorrow! And he’s bringing his mountain bike! Jessica is sending him directions to where we’re camped.”

  “Fantastic!” Buck said as he pulled the tent and sleeping bag out of the SUV. “I hope we won’t be at that dig too long. I’d rather go mountain biking with Nash.”

  “Me too,” Toni said. She grabbed Jessica’s chair and shut the tailgate.

  “Was there any news about the pictographs?” Buck asked. “Have they caught the guy yet?”

  “I don’t know,” Toni said. “Your dad didn’t mention anything about it, so I guess Nash didn’t say.”

  It wasn’t long before Jessica’s small tent was set up, her sleeping bag inside and her camp chair sitting with the others. Shoop had gotten a fire started, and Dad came out with the script notebook. The four sat down in front of the fire, waiting for Jessica.

  “I’ve got good news and bad,” Jessica said, stepping from the Green Beast. “I can take you to the dig site, but Dr. Owen doesn’t want any more than two extra people there. It’s a pretty tight workspace.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Buck said quickly. “Dad, you and Shoop can go with Jessica. Toni and I can stay here with Nash.”

  “I thought you’d be upset if you couldn’t go,” Dad said, looking at Buck.

  “Jessica said there wasn’t much to see yet,” Buck said. He looked at Toni for help, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t know,” Dad said. “I don’t mind you being with Nash. He’s a responsible kid. But I can’t just leave you guys sitting out here in the hot sun in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Maybe Jessica could drive you to the dig,” Buck suggested, “and we could stay here in the Green Beast.”

  “I could do that,” Jessica said.

  “What time does Dr. Owen expect us?” Shoop asked.

  “Eleven,” Jessica said. “We have to leave at seven, though. It’s only a little more than an hour’s drive, but you have to hike in at least two hours from the road.”

  “That’s not going to work,” Dad said. “Nash won’t get here until ten thirty. Do you think we could meet Dr. Owen at one?”

  “No, Dr. Owen gets to the dig by sunup and leaves—”

  “He hikes in the dark?” Buck interrupted.

  “No, he
has an ATV. It has headlights,” Jessica explained. “He leaves the dig precisely at twelve thirty so he has enough time to get cleaned up and to the three o’clock class he teaches.”

  “Is everybody going to get to ride an ATV?” Buck asked, almost changing his mind about staying behind.

  “No,” Jessica said. “We’ll have to hike in.”

  “I still don’t know,” Dad said.

  Toni finally piped up. “We can stay here in the Green Beast by ourselves until Nash gets here. It will give us time to chat with Mrs. Webster for a while.”

  “Who’s Mrs. Webster?” Jessica asked.

  “Our online teacher,” Buck said.

  “You promise you’ll go to school while we’re gone?” Dad asked, looking directly at Buck.

  “Promise,” Buck said.

  “Okay,” Dad said. “I guess we’ll leave at seven.”

  Shoop stood up. “If we’re leaving first thing in the morning, I need to get today’s filming downloaded onto my laptop before dinner.”

  “I guess that means I’m in charge of cooking tonight,” Dad said.

  “I’ll help you,” Jessica said.

  As the three stood up, Dad’s phone chirped. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at it. “It’s a text from Nash,” he said. Dad read it, wrote back, and then read some more.

  “What’s he saying?” Buck asked.

  “Ranger Ortiz is over at the Terra Cyan camping site. He wants to—”

  “Did they catch the guy who stole the pictographs?” Buck interrupted.

  “No, but they think there’s at least two people,” Dad said. “They haven’t caught them, but they found some damage at Mill Canyon this afternoon. Some dinosaur fossils are missing.”

  “You’re kidding!” Buck and Toni said in unison.

  “The ranger wants to know if we saw anything unusual when we were there this morning,” Dad said.

  Everyone shook their heads. “Nothing but a dust devil,” Buck said.

  TAKE 15:

  “LIKE ALL HUNGRY PREDATORS, WHEN BIG AL WENT AFTER SAUROPODS, HE WASN’T TRYING TO MISBEHAVE. HE WAS JUST DOING WHAT CAME NATURALLY TO HIM.”

  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16

  The next morning, Dad made sure Buck and Toni were online with Mrs. Webster before he left with Shoop and Jessica.

  “It’s so early,” Buck whined.

  “It’s almost seven here, but it’s almost nine her time,” Dad told Buck. “Mrs. Webster will sign off at noon for her lunch, and it will only be another thirty minutes before Nash shows up here. You’ll have time to get started on homework.”

  “All right,” Buck said unenthusiastically. He sat down at the desk. As Toni typed to Mrs. Webster, Buck downloaded the pictures from his camera to the computer. He was e-mailing some to their teacher when Dad entered the room.

  “Here,” he said, handing Buck his cell phone. “Keep this just in case. Shoop has his if you need to call. We’ll be back around four.”

  “Okay,” Buck said. As Dad stepped out of the camper, Buck swiveled his chair around to face the window. Playing with the phone, he watched Jessica put her tent, sleeping bag, and chair into her SUV. Dad and Shoop loaded their equipment into the vehicle too, and then they all drove away.

  “Mrs. Webster is really excited about what we’ve been doing. She especially likes the stomping grounds pictures you sent her,” Toni said. When Buck said nothing, Toni looked over at him. “Stop playing with that phone and read this.”

  “Yes, boss,” Buck said sarcastically. He spun around and glanced at the computer screen.

  I’m already thinking up some science and art projects you could do, he read silently to himself. Sighing, Buck spun back around and looked out the window again. As soon as Jessica’s SUV disappeared from sight, he jumped up.

  “We need to look at what Shoop filmed yesterday,” he said.

  “Why?” Toni asked.

  “I’ve been thinking. Maybe that wasn’t a dust devil. Maybe that was dust from a car, and the vandals were just waiting for us to leave the fossil bed,” Buck said.

  “Oh, come on, Buck,” Toni said. “You’re letting your imagination get away from you again.”

  “You didn’t see it,” Buck said. “It didn’t look like a little tornado. We need to check it out on Shoop’s shots and see if there’s something there.”

  “What about Mrs. Webster?” Toni asked.

  “Easy,” Buck said. He leaned over and typed: We have to get going. Just wanted to show you the pictures.

  “I can’t believe you!” Toni said. Buck started to turn off the computer, but Toni stopped him. “Our dads are expecting us to be at school for three hours. At least the next set of lessons can download while we look at Shoop’s videos.”

  “Okay, you do that while I get Shoop’s laptop,” Buck said, already heading toward the front of the camper. He took out the laptop, put it on the table, and turned it on. Soon Toni came in and sat down beside him.

  “Let me do it,” she said, pulling the laptop in front of her. She scrolled through shots until they saw Buck standing in front of some fossils on the cliff at Mill Canyon. As Buck swung his arm out, Shoop had panned the arid landscape beyond.

  “I don’t see any dust,” Toni said. She continued scrolling through shots.

  “You wouldn’t,” Buck said. “I saw the dust before we looked at the fossils. We’re just looking for anything unusual.”

  “Like that?” Toni said. She froze on a frame where a spot stood out, just darker than the background’s desert tans.

  “Zoom in,” Buck said.

  “I am,” Toni replied. “Give me a chance.”

  As the spot became larger, the image became more pixelated, yet there was no question what it was.

  “It’s a car!” they both cried out in unison.

  “See that little black spot right behind it?” Buck pointed at the screen. “I think that’s a tire.”

  “Way back there?” Toni said. “It’s too far back.”

  Buck put his head closer to the screen. “Maybe it’s a trailer.”

  “Maybe,” Toni said, “but it’s too pixelated to really tell for sure.”

  “Scroll forward to where we are looking across Salt Valley,” he said.

  “Why?” Toni said, but scrolled ahead.

  “Whoa! Right there. Freeze it and zoom in,” Buck said. He squinted at the screen. “It’s the same color car. And look.” Buck pointed to where the dust billowing up in back of the vehicle hid everything behind it except a small black spot.

  “I think you’re right. It’s pulling a trailer,” she said. “It’s got to be the same people. Do you think they’re the vandals?”

  “I don’t know, but we’ve got to hurry,” Buck said. He nearly pushed Toni out of the seat. “We have to ride up there and see if we can get a look at them before Nash gets here. I bet they’re camping back behind the bluffs. I doubt they drove in all that way just to turn around and leave.”

  “We should wait for Nash,” Toni said.

  “They might leave before then,” Buck said. “If we see them, we might get their license plate numbers or at least know where they are so we can report their location to the rangers.”

  “Do you think we’ll have time?” Toni asked, putting Shoop’s laptop away. “Nash will be here at ten thirty.”

  “Hmmm,” Buck pondered aloud. “It’s seven thirty. It took about thirty minutes to ride our bikes down the pink trail to the yellow trail, an hour and a half walking to the stomping grounds, and then another half hour to walk to the top of the bluffs. But we were four times faster on our bikes than Dad and Shoop were walking.”

  “So riding up to the bluffs on the green trail should only take us about thirty minutes,” Toni added. “And then maybe ten more minutes to go up the blue trail to where we looked at Salt Valley yesterday.”

  “We should be at the top of the bluffs at about eight forty,” Buck announced.

  “You forgot to add in time to get to the pi
nk trail from here,” Toni said.

  “So we’ll get to the top at ten till nine,” Buck said. “And it will be faster coming back downhill. There will be plenty of time to look around and get back.”

  “Okay,” Toni said. “Go get the bikes while I fill up my water bladder. And I need to turn off our computers, too.”

  “All right, but hurry.” Buck grabbed his helmet, binoculars, and water bottle and headed for the door. Soon both bikes were off the rack, leaning against the Green Beast.

  “Come on!” Buck yelled impatiently toward the open camper door. “What’s taking you so long?”

  Finally Toni came out, her backpack on her shoulders, her arms full.

  “Here,” she said. “Wear these while you’re riding. It might make a cool shot.”

  She handed Buck the head-mounted camera and the audio recorder. Buck adjusted the camera over his helmet, wrapped the recorder’s band around his waist, and, pulling the microphone wire up under his shirt, clipped the small mic near his top buttonhole.

  “I’ve got the spare key,” Toni continued, holding it up so Buck could see. “And your dad’s phone.”

  “We probably won’t be able to get a signal, but give them here,” Buck said. “I’ll zip them in my pocket.”

  Toni made sure all the doors were locked on the Green Beast before she got on her bike. Ten minutes later they were riding south along the pink trail. They passed the yellow trail and, soon after, when they saw the signpost for the green trail, they turned east without pausing. This trail was more difficult than the pink trail had been, and several times both Buck and Toni got off their bikes and walked them up and over some big rocks. They were both breathing hard when they finally stopped at a signpost at the top of the ridge where blue stripes went north and south. Buck took out the water bottle from its holder and took a big swig. Suddenly a cougar’s scream broke the desert’s silence. They both startled and Toni instantly froze, but Buck started laughing.

  “I put that ringtone on Dad’s phone while you were e-mailing Mrs. Webster,” Buck said. “One scream, it’s a text. It keeps screaming if it’s a call.”