I tell ya with my friends and the love of fossil hunting I don't know where I'd be. I do know there will always be sadness especially if you lose your sweet mama to cancer. The first week of July 2022 saw that happening in my life and the support of my friends and hunting buddies were unwavering during the time leading up to and afterwards. Thanks to all for your love, support and prayers during this difficult time! Even in sadness I managed to find my way to my happy place, a creek somewhere in South Alabama along with my hunting buddies for the next adventure hunting fossils.
This trip was postponed the day it was set because it was reported that the waters were high on the creek from previous rains, so we had to wait another week in hope that those levels will be at normal by the time we get there the next weekend. I was so looking forward to this trip, and had to have some fossil therapy quick! Saturday morning arrives, and it's a gorgeous morning with no rain in the forecast.
We finally got to meet at our designated meeting area on the new day and had a few folks show up for the event. The weather was perfect during the early part of the day with sunshine and clouds, with no rain supposedly until late afternoon. It turned out to be a muggy day though! We all caravan to the site with me in the lead. Our gracious property owner bush hogged a pathway through the tall grasses in their pasture for our vehicles to get to the site. We all get our gear together and head to the creek and do our thang. I set up shop where I was last year and didn't find squat for about an hour. I moved to the right a lil' bit and started finding fossilized teeth!
After about an hour I was finding some nice fossils like big Squalicorax, Enchodus, Scapanorynchus, a big Pyncnodont tooth with root and large Enchodus Palatine Jaw piece (bottom piece in first picture). If the tooth had been intact it would of measured at least three inches! Found lots of fossilized bone, and no telling what they belonged too?
Here are a few artifacts I did find. To most arrowhead hunters these would be classified as heart-breakers, broken points. Some days you find em' perfect, and other days you don't... today just wasn't my day!
Around lunchtime, I noticed a change in scenery? At first, I noticed the water current pick up and get muddier and stronger. Then I began to hear the rapids above me making a louder noise in the background and yet it was a sunny gorgeous day! Within a few hours the water rose a foot then I began to realize we were caught in a flash flood! Most of the folks still on the creek soldiered on despite the rising waters and another hour later it rose another foot to the point where we couldn't do much of anything because of the swift current. It was getting late and decided to call it a day and made sure everyone was safely up to their vehicles to depart. In the intro picture above you see a large rock/gravel bar in the foreground. In the picture below you see a gal sitting near a small tree in the middle of the waterway. She is actually sitting down on that rock bar sifting for shark teeth! If she sat there any longer the water would of risen to her neck! The two large rock bars on this section of the creek totally disappeared as the waters rose around us, what an experience that was! As I hit the road I began looking at the landscape around me and see one of the reasons for the flash flooding. Alabama Thundershowers dotted the entire area dumping tons of rain in areas around that creek, I suspect that is where the water was coming from, that's Alabama weather for ya!
It took a lil' while longer to get home because of the traffic on the main interstate, so I took Highway 31 North. I love driving through the countryside! Despite the traffic lights I was making better time on this roadway than the interstate because there was less traffic. I had heard traffic on I-65 was backed up in several areas, and to a crawl. Highway 31 took me through Clanton, Alabama. Yep, home to the Shoney's Hot Fudge Cake and y'all know where I had to stop!! So, so worth it every time!
The creek we were on today is one of my favorite creeks. I didn't find that many Native Artifacts today or fossils like I have in the past. Good thing we visit this creek once a year. The one thing about creeks like this or any other, is they always have time to renew themselves through flooding and other natural means. Because of flooding throughout the year new deposits are eroded away into the waterway spreading new treasures that want to be found. I can't wait till next year!
Comments