Countdown to Fossil Dig 2009

T. rex - Minus 56 Days and counting....

This is the first entry of my new blog for the field season of summer 2009. The excavation will begin on Monday, June 21st; an auspicious way to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Once again I will be in a rather remote location of north west South Dakota, lodging in the town of Buffalo. (pop. 400) The sites of our field work are in the Hell Creek Formation. At this time we are hoping for the opportunity to work on two amazing sites. One of them has revealed the fossil remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex (perhaps more than one), and the other site is an extremely rare "lake bed" of fish fossils.

In preparation for this summer's work, I have been digging in my garden in very hard soil. Back breaking work which will no doubt come in handy for the T. rex site since there is 8 feet of overburden. Fortunately, most of that will be removed by a large CAT, but the last foot must be dug and hauled away by humans. I also spend hours on hands and knees pulling weeds, which is excellent practice for the up close work required to clean away matrix from the fossil fish: paint brushes and tweezers will be the appropriate tools for the task.

Preparing for this work in the hot sun of Hell Creek is quite another matter. We had a couple of days of high 80's last week and I was wilting just walking on the beach. No way was I going to garden in that heat! Dam_! It was too hot for me and I wondered just how am I going to survive two weeks of hard labor in that relentless sun. Few, if any trees grow out there, and they never seem to be where the fossils lie. Maybe the weather gods will smile upon us and give us a few mild or even overcast days.

This year will be my third trip to South Dakota for fossil hunting with Paleo Prospectors. My fellow fossil hunter is Laurel and we have literally stumbled into this compelling passion. We made our first week trip in June of 2007 and we were hooked from the very first day. The scenery is starkly beautiful and the sky goes on forever. Nature is austere in the Hell Creek, but we are enchanted and find the whole experience magical. It is extraordinary to have a dear friend share the beauty and wonder that each day brings.

In this blog I will share the preparations that I am making for this year's work and some of my wishes for what will transpire during our two weeks in Hell Creek, home of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.