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The Blue Hole (Track Site #4 in park literature) is a deep hole in the Paluxy River. Legend has it that it is bottomless, but its actually about 20 to 25 feet deep. It's a popular fishing and swimming site, where visitors can enjoy cool water even when the rest of the river is largely dried up (as sometimes happens in late summer). It's also one of the best track sites in the park. Between the large boulders (which have fallen down from the overlying Thorp Springs bed). the rock shelves on the east bank here contain numerous dinosaur tracks, including some of the largest theropod tracks in the park, some unusually small (probably juvenile) prints, some very deep prints, a few probable sauropod tracks, and various faint and imperfectly preserved tracks. Some of the tracks are so deep here that the toes punch through to the softer blue clay that underlies the track bed. Often these very deep tracks look essentially like holes until one removes all the mud, and reaches inside to feel the deep toe and claw impressions. When a rubber mold is made, the foot structure is often surprisingly well recorded, and much more obvious than from the track alone.
There are four
main track exposures along the Blue Hole. The first may be viewed from
a top the overlook, across from the Gift shop. A metal pipe there
focuses on one of the better tracks. To view more of the tracks,
however, one must hike down a dirt path to the river bottom. The
first track area is easily seen on the right. To see the other
tracks exposures, you must climb over some large boulders, heading
north. Unfortunately, several tracks have been lost as portions of
the shelves have fallen into the riverbed. Tourists using the edge
of the cracked track bed as a diving board do not help. Fortunately
many good tracks remain here, including one I freshly uncovered from
under mud and a large rock in 2004 (with park permission).
Just north of the Blue Hole is the Opossum Branch--a creek that runs into the Paluxy. If you walk up the creek to the second hair pun curve, you'll find (unless covered by muddy water or gravel) several distinct theropod tracks and a sauropod track.
STOP 4b, Area South of the Blue Hole
Just south (upstream) of the Blue Hole numerous tracks occur on both sides of the riverbed for about 200 meters. Many are deep and mud collapsed. Those near the banks are typically less eroded and more distinct. Several tracks that once existed on a broken section of the track bed along the east bank here have since broken away. Among them was a striding trail of metatarsal tracks. Fortunately, I was able to map that exposure before this occurred. Unfortunately, most of the other tracks in this unnamed "south of the Blue Hole" area have not been mapped yet, partly because the track bed here is somewhat lower here than at most other sides, and is almost always covered by water and sediment.