Notes from Montana
M. Schweitzer's Field Notes

July 11

We were off to a slow start this morning. We decided to clean up camp a little, because we are expecting a few visitors who will come in with Jack later. But in a little while, we were ready to go. It was already hot again by 9:30. Today the plan was to drive to Quittin' Time quarry, (as opposed to "Stop yer Truck," "Yapping coyotes," or "Ducky Tail") where they are jacketing a lot of bones that represent remains of several triceratops. There is almost a complete pelvis...!http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july11-1.jpg! That is one BIG jacket. The other half of the crew--Nels, Brian, Luke, Ed and Sarah--have been working every day to quarry and jacket all these bones, and have done an amazing amount of work. The jackets are huge and heavy, and it has been a major effort.

There we trade vehicles, as we have agreed to use only diesel to cross this farmer's land to lessen fire danger, and then we head for the site where Bob earlier identified a large femur weathering out. !http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july11-2.jpg! It is next to another find we want to check out, and not too far from camp. So, we drive to the edge of the fence, and from there it is a 2 mile walk across grasslands and cut-aways to the bones. We set out, and it was hot but not unbearable. About a half-mile in, we came to a gully cut away in the grass. It was wide, but jumpable, I thought, so I went first and made the leap across. I landed with my heavy pack, and as I hit the ground I heard an audible "pop" as my knee gave way...oh, that hurt. Really really really bad. I was not sure what I did, but it definitely wasn't trivial. However, there were lots of bones to see and sample, and I couldn't miss the opportunity, so after a lot of moaning, I borrowed a knee brace from Liz and off we went, under two fences, across a long field, and past an old homestead. Finally up and down a few draws (oh the downs hurt) and at last we were at the femur!
!http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july11-3.jpg! It seemed perfect, at the base of a sandstone cliff about 20 feet high (perfect from MY perspective, not Bob, Nels and the crew responsible for excavating)and I was able to take a sample of bone. I would have dug back in the hill and taken unexposed sample, but that wasn?t possible. If there is more bone exposed when they quarry, I will come back.

We are going to head back to camp, and then meet the NC crew in Glascow...

Posted at 10:26AM Jul 27, 2007 by tppeake in General  |  Comments[2]