First Days in Hell Creek

Fossil Dig 2010

Update 27 June 2010

Laurel and I arrived on schedule in Rapid City yesterday early afternoon. I barely made the flight from the Santa Ana, John Wayne Airport due to the infinite security lines. A very stressful launch to the trip. Anyway, we picked up our rental car and drove south to Hill City and the Black Hills Institute and Museum. We were impressed with the "makeover" that the collection has experienced since our visit last year. All the displays were cleaned and rearranged to make room for more fossil skeletons.

The Tyrranosaur rex skeletons and skulls are magnificent. It is wonderful to be able to see the variations in the skulls since they are lined up on a shelf. I can't imagine another museum that allows you to be so close to their collections. It is awe inspiring. We love starting our field season at the Institue and we hope someday to have an opportunity to go behind the scene and view the lab,
preparation area. I don't know if they allow public access, but I think I will enquire for the next time.

We spent a little time and money in the adjacent store: Everything Prehistoric. I found one book on dinosaurs of Alberta, Canada, but it was so large and heavy that I postponed that purchase. I look forward to ordering it upon my return home.

We had a quick bite in Hill City at a small restaurant and then drove out of town to the Prairie Berry Winery. They make wine from berries and rhubarb!
We bought a bottle of rhubarb wine and one made from black currants. Hopefully, we will be toasting a terrific fossil discovery while we are here. We purchased some salads, bread and cheese for a late dinner once we arrive in Buffalo later that night.

Next stop was the Walmart in Rapid City. We stocked up on fresh produce, spices, water and other essentials for our meal preparations in our rooms. We call it "dorm camping", and we get pretty creative with the microwave located in the motel lobby.I suspect my wonderful kitchen at home is going to look even better after two weeks of microwave tofu and canned sardines. Sigh.

The drive to Buffalo was under two hours, which was a blessing, since we were both weary travelers. Door to door was a long 13+ hours. Adventures await us and a good night sleep was essential.


Sunday morning brought a surprise. Steve, Rob and some of the students arrived at the motel to collect equipment before driving out to the fish site they worked on last year. We raced downstairs to meet them and since we looked ever so eager...Steve invited us to join them on the site. (Rob initiated the suggestion)
We were thrilled and accepted immediately, begging for 10 minutes to change into proper boots and hats, etc.

Once we had ourselves put together; at least well enough for the field, I drove the car with Cregar (student) as our co-pilot. The site is a full hour drive from Buffalo on a variety of roads and no road conditions. It was essential to have someone guiding us so as to avoid water hazards and other threats to the rental car.

We spent the next 6+ hours at the fish site. We watched the team attempt to extract the incredibly large plaster jacket of three paddlefish. Estimates of the weight ran from 1,000 to 3,000 pounds! It had to be lifted out of the hole it was in and then somehow placed in the trailer and then driven out. This was no easy feat and at the end of the day, the efforts fell short of the goal. The fossil got lifted up out of the original site and is partially onto the trailer. Since time ran out and the team must be at the "Tinker" (Tyrranosaur rex) site tomorrow, a tarp was placed over the jacket and the work will resume next weekend. Whew! What a lot of work by so many people.

Laurel and I did a little prospecting on our own while the others were digging and plastering and tying and wrangling the monstrous fossil package. I found some fossil
scrap and one tail vertebra, I think. Laurel found turtle shell pieces which she did not collect and some nice amber. The scenery was gorgeous: grass green hills, blue skies, puffy white clouds and flowers scattered here and there. The only snake I ran into today was a perfect skin. Maybe that is the perfect snake! We also had a lucky weather day...high 70's and breezy. Great weather for fossil hunting. Predictions for the next few days are daunting: 99 and 101 with thunderstorms. Eeegads.


We arrived back at the motel tired and really hungry since we had not taken the time to pack a lunch. Trailmix and an apple had been our afternoon snack. Eager to create culinary magic, we each gathered the produce from our motel room refrigerators to make a rice, tofu veggie medly and a cuccumber spinach salad.
But no, the vegetables and fruit had frozen. We adapted the menu as best we could and since we were both famished, the results were delicious.

We look forward to tomorrow and the first visit to the Tinker site. I hope we are not disappointed after waiting two years for this opportunity...our expectations are very high.