It is now the latter part of October 2022, and the leaves are changing color and the temperatures are dropping as low as the mid forties on some days and into the evening hours! The past few weeks has been cold! Will the waterways turn just as cold begs the question? The attire during the creek trips during the warmer months are shorts, tee shirt and aqua shoes, but on this day it was hard to make a judgement! Will it be jeans and boots or will it be shorts and aqua shoes? The temp for the day will be in the mid seventies and a gorgeous day! I guess I will find out when I get there?
Do any of you have days where you just can't get it together and your ducks in a row? This would not be my day, unfortunately! It was one thing after another the entire day! For example, we get several miles down the road when I realized I left my sifter in my vehicle. We had to turn around and go back to get it. Here we are going to a creek and I leave my sifter in the vehicle. One of the main tools you use while on the creek, why would I leave it in my vehicle? I had my shovel! I dunno why, but this was what the rest of entire day turned out to be like, it seems?
When we get to the site, the gracious property owner had bush hogged a pathway to the creek area and cut a huge swath of area to park our vehicles. I had on a pair of jeans so I put on my knee high hunting boots, and made my way down into a ravine that had running water with two hunting buddies. It took a while to get to the main creek because the several yards I traversed, there were deep holes where the water would of made its way into the boots if I stepped into them! The other two were ahead of me and to their advantage were wearing chest waders, so it was easy peasy for both of them to get to main creek quicker! I fell behind and tried to figure out what my next step was and regretted taking this route. I would of been to the main creek had I gone the regular route in!
The ravine had to be at least 12 feet deep, so I was at the very bottom. This was a feeder stream into the main creek in the picture above. The only way out of there is climb up the wall and hope not to slip and fall into the water below! I found what appeared a good area to make my way up so I tossed my buckets, shovel and sifter up. After several tries to get them up there I started to get really frustrated! I wasn't putting enough muscle into it, so they kept falling back into the ravine, dang it!!! I finally got them up there and started up the side with not much of a problem. I had to walk several yards through the woods to the creek. When I came upon the main creek, I had the dilemma of making my way down into it. I was still frustrated, so I sat on my butt and slide down the embankment into the water! Finally!
Well, the area I wanted to set up shop was already crowded with folks as you see in the picture at the top! I had to find a new spot. I had already taken my gear down to where they were and found that the water levels were too high for my boots so I grab what was there I go back to the spot I slid into. When I arrive at the spot I see I forgot one part of my gear and look toward the group and see one of my buckets starting to float downstream! There was a crazy run for it without getting wet or water in my boots! I eventually make it back to my new spot, and see gravel jutting out of the shoreline where I entered the creek at first and started digging there. I didn't find squat for the first 15 minutes and then found several teeth and a few other fossils. No matter where I went the water levels were high and almost made it into my boots so I decided to go and change into aqua shoes. This took up my hunting time and when I got back to the creek, I stepped into the water, it was cold! Cold enough to make my thighs seize up at times. I went back to my spot and worked the area for the next two hours finding cool stuff.
It had gotten to the point that I couldn't feel my feet, they were pretty much frozen and so at this point I decided I'd go back to the vehicle and change into my boots with socks and do so... this takes up several more minutes of my hunting time as well. On my way to the vehicle, I ran into and had gotten into a conversation with the site paleontologist. I mentioned that the water was higher than last time and he said it was due to the beavers damming the creek up in 3 sections! He was telling me that there is a spot around the corner that has shallower waters because he had busted one of those dams where the water level returned to normal. He said he would take me to the location after I get my boots on. We walk through the woods where we come upon a small gravel bar with two of my hunting buddies already there.
So I spent the rest of the afternoon in this spot finding more cool fossils and enjoying the fellowship with those two buddies. Pic#1- Gastropod and Clam steinkern... steinkerns are formed when sediment/mud enter the shell forming a internal mold. The outer organic part deteriorates leaving the internal mold of the shell. Pic#2- Coprolites, poop molds belonging to some marine animal? Pic#3- Big honking teeth that were found broken, I do keep those that are broken but don't feature them as much in blog or social media. Pic#4- Pieces of Baculites, a long slender marine organism that looked like a squid with a shell.
In the above pictures are the "teeth that has eluded me on most hunts"... the Ptychodus. This creek has the most I've seen and found in this state and was fortunate to find three that day. Overall, the folks who attended this trip found over 25 teeth on this site! In the second picture are Cretolamna Shark Teeth. They are found in abundance on this creek as well!
One of the many finds of the day was this Native American artifact, bird point that showed up in my sifter. This point was made of milky white quartz. As I've said many times before, these artifacts are welcomed additions to the hunt and just makes the day just sweeter despite the circumstances!
Lastly, the part where I mention the micro fossils. Of course I don't go to a creek without bringing home a bucket of micro gravel to sift and sort through. Here are my favorite finds from this trip. In the pictures above the snapshots show what it looks like while sorting through the ginormous amount of gravel trying to find that nugget of treasure called a fossil! Below are some of my favorite finds out of the gravel I came home with. Tiny treasures that most folks don't see while sifting for fossilized marine fossils.
All that running around and getting frustrated at things I had no control over just wore me out. I called it quits earlier than usual and thought I'd drown my spinner bait in one of the dark holes I saw earlier. I got no bites, at least I got to try this creek. Sunset comes a bit earlier now that the seasons have changed. Despite the frustration of the day, I realized that it turned out to be a pretty good day with a haul of fossils. As cold weather sets in, we shall wait until the spring, I look forward in coming back!
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