Tuesday, June 23, 2009

After a pretty good night's sleep, we awoke to another gorgeous sunny day. We had breakfast in our "house" and met our fellow adventurers around 8:30. We drove to the same ranch as the one we looked on Monday. It is so large that there is no danger of running out of places to hunt for fossils. Rob gave us an overview of the different areas we could explore and most of us set off for a site called "Bowfin butte", so named because it has produced so many Bowfin fish vertebrae.

I left my back pack at the base of the butte (very bad idea) and found what I thought was a relatively easy path to a narrow ridge where I started to look for small fossils. I new this was not a site that would have any large fossils . This would be a morning of close work: bent over the rock and soil, and Swiss army knife in hand to dislodge any fossils and move plant stems so I could look near the base. Sometimes fossils get caught by the plants as they are washed down from the level above the one on which you are looking.


This is a good time to mention that this area has had lots of spring rain. This allows new fossils to be revealed as the water washes silt and clay off and the heavier fossils are then "sitting" on this new surface. You are looking for distinctive shapes and colors that differentiate the fossil from the background. It takes a little practice and lots and lots of patience. This work is somewhat like a meditation. You are focused and relaxed and to some degree detached from what goes on around you. You are alert because there are many things you must be conscious of while you are looking for fossils.

Every year we are cautioned that this is not an amusement park and there are real dangers that you must be aware of. Everyone must follow the safety instructions or the consequences can be dire. Heat stroke, snakes, mosquitoes, scorpions, loose rocks, cattle, and thunder storms are most of the potential threats to a safe fossil dig experience. To that end, it was unwise of me to leave my back pack (see second paragraph above), behind since my water bottles were in it. I was on the butte for almost three hours, and had it been a hotter day, I might have been in trouble for lack of hydration. I was wearing my cooling vest and the morning was really very mild so I figured I would be OK until I returned to the base and walked back to the vehicles for lunch. One of the reasons I left the pack behind is that the extra weight makes it much more difficult for me to climb the buttes. I find it pulls me backwards and then I feel like I am going to lose my balance and fall off the butte! I think you get the picture. There is a lot to consider as you try to focus on finding your fantasy fossils.

To get back to the actual fossil hunting, I had a slow start as I worked my way up and around the butte. I began to find some little scrap fossil bone and turtle shell as I reached a rounded non-vegetated part of the formation that contained some spill from higher up. Ryan, our youngest guide, was also working the butte, and he came within my view and asked how I was doing. I said that I had found mostly little scrap with a few larger pieces of bone. In turn I inquired as to his finds (he has a great eye), and he said he had a good morning so far in that he had found a beautiful therapod toe bone and a small juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex tooth. Yeah, that is a good morning. I'd call that a great morning!

He went on his way and I went back to my task. Within a few minutes, as I was scanning the surface of the butte, my eye was drawn to a small light colored shape about 1/4" by 3/4". I got that undeniable shiver as you realize you have found something special. It was a small therapod toe bone. Much smaller than Ryan's, but I found it and it was worth the hours of looking. Wish I could have found a nice T. rex tooth as well. Maybe tomorrow; there's always tomorrow.

I put that little treasure in a small container I had in my pocket, and worked my way back down the hill. This is always harder for me than climbing up, and once again I must admit that I find it easier without the back pack. Maybe I need some hill climbing lessons. Walked back to the vehicles via another microsite which I did not climb to check out. Just as well, since Ryan told me later that the site was barren. So glad I didn't make the effort.

Lunch break provides time for show and tell. Everyone shares the finds of the morning while we eat and rest for 30-45 minutes. Since the only shelter is in the vehicles, we try to spend some time in them to get out of the sun and wind or whatever the weather throws at us. After lunch we drove to another site for the afternoon session.

Rob gave us the overview of potential sites. Laurel and I chose to go to a microsite some distance from the vehicles, maybe 1/2 mile with some elevation. We walked by a small pond with birds flying around the one tree. I worked my way up to the microsite and Laurel checked around the base of the formation for any spill.

I eventually found some bits of turtle and some Gar fish scales (easily identified because they are very shiny). This was another exercise in being in close contact with the ground. You are literally inches away from the surface of the butte as you look for the tiniest of fossils. It is amazing how tired you get at the end of the day even though you haven't walked much. I was lucky enough to find three tiny teeth; two from a manta ray and one tiny crocodile crusher tooth. I believe there may be two or three more teeth or teeth fragments in this collection, but I need the expert's opinion. Hopefully Rob can take a look at them tomorrow. Still not the T. rex tooth of my dreams, but still, 65 million years old and so tiny and perfect! It was a good afternoon.

Laurel found some nice fossil bone in the morning and her afternoon was spent walking around the buttes and coming almost face to face with a very large Bull snake. She took lots of photos of it as it shimmied up the butte and out of range of the human. She was scared and thrilled at the same time. She found a modern bone that is probably the vertebrae and pelvis of an antelope. It is very striking and will be displayed with her collection of other modern bones. She also had a lovely encounter with five beautiful orange butterflies who entertained her while she sat admiring their ballet and the magnificient vistas.

We find our days in this amazing country strangely magical. There is a stillness unlike anyplace in Southern California that we frequent in our day to day lives. The total lack of manmade sounds is invigorating and relaxing simultaneously; again somewhat like meditation. We love it even when we don't find the fossils of our dreams.

Tomorrow will be here much too soon. We spent some time cleaning fossils tonight and now I find it is almost midnight. That is way too late for me when the alarm is set for 6:00 am! Good night and sweet dreams.

Cheers