Back to Normal

After day 7 things started to die down. Most of the teams left and we focused on Gigapanning the HellCreek areas. As of the 23rd I am back in St. Louis after my half of the 20 hours drive. Enjoy some assorted pictures.

Hey Look, My Favorite Color!

Day 5,6 and 7 Haul, hunt and maybe even find

Day 5
We went to the spot with the femur and flipped it out, then Jacketed the other side. That didn't take too long. We then prospected while it had finished setting. Didn't find much, Also we went and helped Jacket some Triceratops frille, it turned out good and we set off to haul that femar. We loaded it on a deer cart (it weighted about 200lb) and pushed it all over and finally made it to the truck.

Day 6
We went to a different area that connects to the other new area. I teamed up with Tom and I was looking around these hills and saw a fractured rib on one, it was in bad shape but I end up digging a bit there to see if there was anything underneath it. Nothing, so I got my stuff together and started to look down the hill where I'd go back to the wash beds. Right there was a pointy piece of bone right on the surface. I pick it up and look it over, its Triceratops Horn, whole and intact. I show it to Tom and we go off. Spent 15 minutes finding an awesome find, 5 hours finding nothing. I don't get to keep it, it will go to Emporia State but I do get to prep and cast it.

Day 7
I went off on my own on day 7. I went around about 4 butte and found bone but it didn't lead anywhere. I then went up on this hill side and as I headed down I found a bone sticking out. I started digging and it was a rough dig, I ended up shooting dirt right into my eye. I got it washed out and eventually got it out but it was not much. I then went back to where I found the horn and searched more but didn't find much. There was one hill that had a bone in it but when I tryed digging it out it kept fracturing and was just too fragile

Day 3 & 4, down and dirty and the never ending walk

Days 3 started with a quick dash to our site, we got there and focused on getting it dug up and jacketed. This took us most of the day but I did find some time for prospecting. I found a Vertibra and a few other little bits.

Day 4 was long. We went to a new area where we explored and prospected for new dig sites for hours. Spent about 5 hours out there and we didn't find too much. I found part of a Triceratops horn and a random other bone. I was then exploring upper part of buttes when my room mate walkied that he found something. We excavated it enough to reveal the top. Looked to be ilium of a Triceratops.

Day 2, Micro sites, digging and climbing

Day 2 started rough with us (room mate) both turning out alarms off and sleeping-in causing us to be late. We were lucky Carl was feeling nice enough to not leave us behind. Carl then dropped us off at this site where David had found a femur. We trekked through there for a while and checked out the micro sites and found a lot of scrap dino bone, a vertebra was about the best find. We went over to David's site where he thought the bone was and sure enough it was. We then spent about 3 hours unearthing it and managed to get some of it cleared underneath for a support strap. We will do more digging and get it fully prepped for a cast tomorrow.

We also did some climbing in our free time where I conquered a high butte. David then named it after me "Matt's Butte"

Day 1, Nothing Great But Not Bad

After spending most of my day recovering from the drive we got an early start and made way for the hills near Katie Site.

It was a fun day of just scouting, nothing great but a few decent finds. I found a Champsosaur vertebra that was good sized and then a Piece of skull from possible a Hadrosaur.

My find

Image of Chamososaur Skeleton

My find

Image of Hadrosaur Skull

The End of the Beginning

Today I felt like a true explorer toward the end. We were tired, hungry and done. It was a long journey and I constantly searched the horizon for Jordan Montana. At last it appeared and as I type I lay in bed ready to sleep.

20 hours more or less.......but mostly less

It's going on 4:30 am after a time change. One frappachino, 2 coffees, 3 waters, a soda, a box of dots, a bag of nutty butters, and 3 fill ups later we are heading from Rapid City toward Jordan. We were expecting to get there about 11 but it looks more like 9 at this point.

The Bad Before the Good

After having a fun night with my team, I went to sleep. And sleep is what I did, 1:30 PM roles around and I awake with so much to do. Shower, then finish packing, then to the bank and credit union. Those went as good as a trip could go to them. I pull up to the credit union where I pull my Saab up to a parking spot, where I scrapped my bumper spoiler on the curb. I've done that before so no worries. I then go in and get stuff done, come out and pull away. But a loud scrapping came from my front end. Guess I road up on it a little to far. I then get on the highway for home. Vrummmm clump clump......."was that my front spoiler?". I look in my rear view mirror scared as I see my spoiler get ran over. what a start, 200 dollars to get a new one as I already stretch the bank for this trip. 

The Start

This trip started with some good and bad leading up to it but it has begun. 20 hours of driving is ahead of us to go from the St Louis Missouri all the way to Jordan Montana. Leaving at 3pm and hopefully arriving at 11am. I won't be doing the bulk of the driving, but this brave soul below.  If the posts stop, it's because my battery died.

(David driving his VW CC)