April 22, 2012
Great day today.
Left the quad by 10am with Ed, Steven, and John in John's pickup. He
drove us down to the Palmer Creek unit to spend the day. Palmer is
the hardest part of BNP to get into, and the most remote. Few people
visit, and it's a pretty fun ride to get out there, in a bouncy, hold
on to your seat, let's hope the 4WD makes it sort of way. Takes
about two hours from the quad to get into the Palmer area. Ed had
been there before on a paleo dig, so was very familiar with the
two-track roads and land forms, which was mighty nice. He wanted to
take us to a spot he visited last year on a dig, which happens to
also be the site of a famous National Geographic dig from the 1940s.
Ed brought along the article from that historic trip which included
photographs. You can still find remnants from their camp: old
kerosene tins and sardine cans. Also interesting is that the kinds
of fossils you find in Palmer can be quite different from the north
unit of Badlands. We found a myriad of fossil bits. There are
channels in the rock from old stream beds which are particularly rich
in a random assortment of everything. Ed brought us up to the right
level, and as he told John “if you can't find a fossil here, you
might as well give up looking altogether.” Everywhere you look is
fossils by the handfuls. Fish, birds, hippos, rhinos, deer, rabbits.
John found two skulls, but the best find of the day was by Ed. We'd
been climbing around for a while looking at all the jumble, when he
gave a loud exclamation and started laughing. Last year at the end
of the dig he was on, he had discovered this locality we were
investigating yesterday. He had an hour before they left to look
around, and one thing he had found was a half of a metacarpal from a
bird. Birds and fish are rare, so everyone was pretty excited. He
looked and looked, but could not find any other pieces from the bird
last year. Yesterday, while looking at everything around, he found
that other half of bone, from the same bird. Incredible! He said
that's his find of the year, and later texted his boss who is also
ecstatic. Ed and John continued with fossil hunting while Stephen
climbed around the buttes and canyons, photographing. I did some of
both, taking off on my own at times, and coming back to look at more
fossils. It was tremendously cool. The weather was so beautiful:
perfect, clear blue sky, very warm, light breeze.
We left Palmer
when it was getting to be dinner time, and on the way back got a call
from Katie, who runs the bookstore, inviting us out to her family's
ranch for games after dinner. Ryan drove Ed and I to meet Katie at
the Wagon Wheel before heading on to the ranch. To get out to the
ranch, you have to drive through the river. As she described it,
when she was a kid, they would have to alter their method of getting
in and out depending on the river. Canoe, truck, whatever worked.
It was pretty fun to go dashing into the river in a truck in the
dark. Even more fun on the way home later, with the sky filled by
stars.
Note: as I write this, I realize I've forgotten the identity of a number of the fossils. I'll check with Ed and update later.
 |
| The road in. |
 |
| The Nat. Geo. site with historic photograph from the 40s. |
 |
| Ed's discovery of the other half, one year later. |
 |
| Fish vertibrae. Bird and fish fossils are rare around here. |
 |
| A scattering of fossils everywhere. |
 |
| Ed climbing around his old bird locality. |
 |
| Skull. |
 |
| Femur. |
 |
| Looking out from higher up. |
 |
| Looking back up. |
 |
| More fossil litter (the orangey colored pieces are fossil bone). |
 |
| Sardine cans from the 1940s Nat. Geo. camp. |
 |
| This was one of my favorite areas. |
 |
Another great fossil site, beyond.
Ed and John are down there in the distance if you look close. |
 |
| Mandible, hippo I believe. |
 |
| Reflections. |
 |
| Another shadow self portrait. |
 |
| Ed talking about a fossil. |
 |
| The I-beam bridge and John's truck. Fun times! |
