Thursday June 14, 2012
Headed to Ryan's to meet up before
going to the KOA for breakfast. He was still sleeping so we hung out
on his deck and read for a while. Got to the KOA 3 minutes after
they stopped serving breakfast (whoops), so came back and went to the
Cedar Pass Lodge instead. John met up with us to eat, and over
breakfast we made a new plan for the afternoon: we'd all go rock
hunting together. First, Ryan, Amanda, the kids, and I packed some
food and water and hopped in Ryan's truck to go hike Notch Trail.
I never did get over there during my residency, and was hesitant to
do it alone with the kids since parts are a bit treacherous. We had
a great time, and navigated the tall log and steel cable ladder
without losing a kid. Ran into a group of park rangers doing
wilderness rescue training, and stopped for Ryan to talk to a couple
friends. They had a stretcher with them, so I asked Ryan how they
deal with that, do they call a helicopter or would they take the
stretched back down the steep ladder? The answer is the ladder,
unless the injury is severe enough to warrant air lift. Crazy.
After our hike, we drove to John's place in Interior and checked out
his new goats. He's been making cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. John
followed us in his truck out to a spot in the grasslands that Ryan thought would be good.
John had a different idea, and suggested that since the recent rains
this area might not be great. Instead we drove out through Scenic,
along Bombing Range Road, and down into Indian Creek. This is national grasslands area, so you can keep a small number of rocks and fossils
that you find, provided you follow the laws around fossil collecting.
John picked a spot where we stopped and headed down into the creek
bed. Spent a couple hours walking along the creek bed, looking at
rocks. I focused on
fossils, keeping my eyes open for that mother of pearl glint that is
evidence of shell. Found lots and lots of little bits of shell,
clam, baccalite, and more. After a while I realized I should change
my focus to the tall wall of Pierre Shale I was walking next to.
Many areas were freshly collapsed, meaning new fossils are likely to
have been exposed. Everything in the creek bed was in small
fragments, having fallen down from the creek wall. So I started
hunting in that wall of loose, dark gray rock. Pretty soon I found
some things, and continued hunting along that same horizon. Pulled
out a couple mostly intact clams, and found some very large fossils that
were too big to warrant keeping. Pretty sure one was a large
ammonite, maybe about a foot in diameter. Found half of a medium
sized baccalite with shell, still imbedded in a large rock.
Eventually caught up with the others when they turned around, and
told them what I'd been up to. They followed me back the same way,
all of us hunting in the creek wall. Found more interesting things,
but the highlight was the last object I picked up, and the thing I had
been hoping to find all day: a decent sized, mostly intact ammonite
with all the shell present. It is spectacular. Photos will be on a separate post, and don't begin to do it justice. The iridescent colors on this
ammonite are incredible. Absolutely made my day, and was the best
birthday present ever! No, today's not my birthday, it's on
saturday. After hiking out of the creek, John headed back to
Interior and we continued down Indian Creek, into the South Unit.
This is the same route Ryan drove me on our first visit to the South
Unit. Many steep and bumpy ups and downs into the creek, winding two
track road, washed out areas, and mud and creek to drive through.
The kids spent the drive laughing over all the bumps and swerves,
“Hee hee, my head hit the window again! Hee hee.” We saw a
couple burrowing owls at one of the small prairie dog towns. Ryan's
freshly washed truck came out of the day looking quite the dirty
mess. Evidence of having had a really good day! Got back to Ryan's
and hung out for a while. Eventually Ed came by, and I showed him my
ammonite and other finds. He was impressed by the ammonite, and said
he was a little bit jealous since mine has something he has always
wanted to find: evidence of having been eaten! Yup, there are
puncture marks, and the living chamber is missing. Somebody ate my
ammonite. Possibly a mosasaur? Or so think the kids. There's also a small spot on the
back of the ammonite where a tiny bit of shell is missing and you
can see a dot pattern underneath. Ed said this is the tube that runs
the length of the ammonite that helps control balast. Cool! We all
went down to Wagon Wheel for dinner and stayed for several hours
talking. It was a good day, with promise of more good times to come.
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Heading out of the housing area, looks like my
favorite buttes became geologically active! |
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| Heading in to Notch Trail |
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| Ryan, Amanda, and my kids hiking out to Notch Trail. |
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| Bird nests (cliff swallows?) |
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The fun log and steel cable ladder. Deceivingly mild at
the base, it goes vertical about half way up. |
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| View from the top. |
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| Following the trail markers. |
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Sign to the right tells hikers to stay right of the sign.
Ryan said the first time he came here, it was snowy/icy,
and he hiked left, not realizing. Quite treacherous! |
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| View from the notch. |
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| Heading back out. |
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| Getting closer to that ladder (visible in the distance) |
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| John's goats. |
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| Looking down into Indian Creek |
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| Ryan starting to hike in. |
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| Fossil find. |
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| Portion of a baccalite fossil. |
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| The cliff was quite high in spots, lots of exposed shale. |
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| Looking back the way we came. |
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| Partially imbedded fossil - clam? |
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| Base of the creek, near where we hiked down. |
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| View from the spot where we parked. |
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| Parked close to this stand of trees. |
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Continuing to drive in and out of Indian Creek,
towards the South Unit. |
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| Love this old windmill. |
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| In some places the creek had a fair bit of water standing. |
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| View from in the truck. |
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This may have been one of the creek crossings
that got us very dirty. |
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First glimpse of Sheep Mountain Table in the distance.
Getting close to the park boundary. |
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| Clouds over Sheep Mountain |
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| Looking north at Seep Mountain |
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| Finishing where we started, some of my favorite buttes. |
See next post for photos of more of the fossils I found today!
