In the days when oreodonts walked this land, the rock layer before you was not rock but the muddy bottom of a streambed. Over time, those sediments hardened into the thick horizontal band of grayish red stone you see here.

Thin ribbons of rock called clastic dikes slice vertically through the horizontal layers around you. Composed of a harder substance than the surrounding butte, the clastic dikes erode at a slower rate and can take on the appearance of a spine running through the strata.

Picture Captions:
The most common mammal fossils found here are those of oreodonts, dog-to pig-sized herbivores. Oreodonts grazed here 34 to 24 million years ago.

Called popcorn rock, bentonite is a clay that includes expansive volcanic ash. When wet, grains can expand
up to 20 times in size, creating an extremely slick surface.

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