Suffice to say that the last days of my field week were bittersweet. Wishing I could stay longer with the hope of finding the prize for the living room display, and relief that I would soon pack everything up and return to the aforementioned day-to-day routines. I was thrilled to see the amazing internal skull bones and frill of a beautifully preserved Triceratops. Jim found it on the last day last year, and returned to jacket it and transport it home to Georgia. His brother came along to help with that task and to collect for himself. They both have a great "sixth sense" for finding fossils.
As luck would have it (for Jim, anyway), one of the days after he was working on unearthing the skull, as he walked back up to the vehicle, his eyes were drawn to something exposed on the ground. Wouldn't you know, it turned out to be another beautifully preserved long bone of a hadrosaur. Gotta admit, I was speechless.
I had decided to spend that last afternoon near his find so I could take photos before he jacketed the skull. Not aware of the additional fossil, it was quite a surprise when I inquired of him who found the nice long bone, and he sheepishly answered that he had. That man is born under a lucky star.
Leaving him to his project, I set out on my own to comb the area. I spent two hours or more going up and down the bluffs and didn't find as much as a fragment of turtle shell. Frustrating does not begin to describe my experience. Not only was the treasure hunting disappointing, the area was thick with tiny gnats. I kept telling myself that if I found a nice fossil, the annoying pests would be much less annoying. No amount of self talk was improving my luck or my ability to ignore the swarming insects.
Since I was hot, and bothered by the insects, I decided to search out another location that was flat and hopefully pest free. I found a wash that had the potential for some micro fossils. I wandered around with my eyes on the ground looking for the shiny telltale sign of a tooth or fossil fragments. I did find a few tiny fish teeth, which were small reward for an otherwise disappointing last day.
Though I had hoped to hitch a ride up the steep hill with Jim and his brother, with both large fossils in the vehicle, there was no room for me. (tried not to take it personally) I climbed up the steep, somewhat difficult bluff to rendezvous with my fellow prospectors. They, for the most part, had little luck finding quality fossils. The day had been unremarkable for most, and so the return trip to the motel was somewhat subdued. I kept telling myself I had found some very nice small treasures (which I always appreciate), and this year I had found a Triceratops horn, (albeit one of poor quality). I always try to remember that finding any fossil that is over 65 million years old is more often than not a blooming miracle! Period.
Here is one more revelation which I hope to rectify soon, but in case I don't, please accept my apology. I cannot find the photos of the amazing skull fragment that Jim found nor the photos of the hadrosaur long bone. Since I want to get this blog entry posted, I will proceed without the photos, and if I can find them, I will post them at a later date.
We returned to the motel and prepared for our final evening in Buffalo before our departures the next day.
One of the highlights of our visit to Buffalo is the chance to reconnect with our friends, Gary and Dana. Dana invited me to dinner during my second week. Laurel was sorry to miss this evening, but Dana had been working out of town our first week and then went on a brief holiday with Gary. I chose Friday as a fitting night to celebrate the end of another fabulous field session.
It was fun to dress in something other than field clothes and I took the bottle of black currant wine we purchased at the Prairie Berry Winery. Dana kindly prepared a vegetarian entree for me which was delicious. How wonderful to have a meal cooked in a real kitchen. Dana and I enjoyed the unique wine and Gary was happy with a few glasses of milk. He liked the baked spinach, pasta and cheese torte, which I suspect he doesn't eat often...like maybe never.
We lingered over dinner and laughed for hours. The stories that emerge from this remote land are plentiful and unique, in so many ways. I am not sure they transport very well outside of their home territory. Perhaps the harshness of the environment makes the tales just more vivid and hysterical, and even poignant. I am honored they share them with me and I long to hear more.
I was also pleased to see that Gary added my artifact to his amazing collection. Dana had a special glass topped table made for their living room that displays Gary's collection of artifacts and small fossils. The large Tyrannosaurus rex claw,(Gary found on his ranch), sits on a low shelf next to the cast of a lower jaw of a T.rex. Very impressive. They hope that someday, one of us prospectors will find a "whole" T. rex on their ranch. I cautioned that they might want to be careful what they wish for since so often these T. rexes end up in the courts for years. There can be a huge price to pay for the potential future riches. That's another story, and better told by other authors. (Peter Larson)
Too soon the night was late and I still had to start packing and organizing for my departure the next morning. Gary was off working on something and Dana walked me to the car. You cannot imagine how dark it is out there. The skies were clear, the moon was absent, and the stars literally filled the heavens. The dome above our heads was glittering. The longer we gazed up the more stars appeared. The Milky Way was painted across the dome as if an ancient artist had dipped a brush in a bucket of luminous paint and stroked it across the sky. I have never seen a sky as magical as that one that night. I can imagine how people become enamored of astronomy just as I have become smitten with paleontology.
I said my thanks and good byes to Dana and invited them to visit us any time they should find themselves in Southern California. It would be great to show them my dad's ranch, and let the two ranchers exchange stories. Dana cautioned me to be careful driving at night because of the deer running out onto the road. I followed her advice and took care returning to the motel.
Though I returned around midnight, I heard voices coming from Carol and Max's room. I quietly knocked on the door. Carol opened the door and we had a chance to catch up on the day's adventures and their travel plans for the duration of the summer. As it happened to Laurel and I four years ago, it happened to Carol and Max this year. They got hooked on fossil hunting and can't wait until next year!
Carol was all packed, since they too were leaving the next day, but she eagerly unwrapped two small paper towel swaddled bundles. Here is a recap of her story. She and Max climbed up a hill on the Miller ranch. At the top, she looked down between two rocks and found a small vertebra, which she picked out. To her surprise there was another one, which she also picked out. Five more vertebra came out of that spot and she had a total of seven vertebra of a Champsosaurus. I have never seen anything like that. What a story. We often find a single Champsosaurus vert and they tend to look very much the same. Because she had so many from the same animal, the shape of the vertebra were different based on the location in the spine. The ones in the tail were narrower and longer. It was breathtaking and I could understand why she was eager to return next year. I should hope so. Keep in mind, there are 12,000 acres on this ranch, countless hills, millions of rocks, and this one person looks down and finds seven 65 million year old vertebra of a single animal. What an extraordinary story and a thrill to see for myself.
All of us prospectors have similar experiences, if not quite as amazing, just as memorable. You walk along, eyes ever watchful for something that alerts you to the unusual. And when you see it, time stops, your heart skips a beat, your breath is caught in your throat and you reach out to touch the distant past. You are the first human being to hold the relic of an animal that lived 65 million years ago. As my friend Mary would say: "What are the chances?" The experience never fails to rock me to my core. It is a "high" that defies explanation. Some people get it (like Laurel, Carol and Jim), and others,(unmoved by the experience), I imagine explore other hobbies. Once you make that first "find" and the chills run down the back of your neck and your bones tingle as you hold it, you're hooked. Drugs are for sissies. Give me the Hell Creek formation and a week to prospect for fossils.
Just as the Cretaceous fossils inspire us to visualize the past and appreciate the wonder of their preservation, the badlands of today present us with an austere beauty that is punctuated by the tiniest flowers, and surprises hiding under a lupine: two perfect blue eggs in a nest. How lucky am I.
As always, I look forward to next season and the potential for finding my large fossil treasure. Until then, I will continue to read about fossils and learn more about dinosaur anatomy. The Triceratops horn requires attention and will provide hours of amusement, and I imagine, a fair amount of frustration. Determining what is fossilized bone versus botanic or even iron siderite may be challenging. I am committed to taking it slowly and carefully. Hopefully, nice quality (chocolate bone) will continue to emerge, and the prepared fossil will be recognizable. As I work on it, I can visualize the world these amazing creatures ruled, and our future fossil hunting adventures.
From time to time blog entries will be added and photos included to document the preparation of the horn and skull fragment.
Until then.
Cheers,
Momasaurus
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