Day 8 – August 7

The final day of our Jurassic Expedition. Before heading to the airport for our flight home, we visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. This amazing museum has three floors of exhibits, including dinosaurs and fossils, rocks and minerals, Egyptian mummies, health, space, and wildlife.

 

 

As a tribute to Malcolm, the paleontologist we worked with, we took a picture in the Egyptian exhibit holding cups, pretending to be drinking coffee. In trying to explain how long ago the dinosaurs lived, Malcolm stated that if a geologic time were a day, people had only live 5 seconds to midnight. The short time span that people have lived, would be like we were having coffee with the Egyptians.

 

After viewing many exciting exhibits, we ate lunch at the Trex Cafe and visited the gift shop.

Our flight left Denver at 4:00. We were glad to be home, but sorry that our amazing Jurassic Expedition had to come to an end!

Day 7 – August 6

We had a great day today. We began the morning in Florissant excavating insect and leaf fossils from the Florissant Fossil Quarry. Many of the insects were very small, so we used our magnifying glasses.

 

 

We stopped at a local burger restaurant for lunch, then headed to the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. The museum had many fantastic specimens of dinosaurs. Having just finished up in the dinosaur quarry, we had new perspective on the museum exhibits. We also had fun in the gift shop referred to as a dinosaur superstore.

Next, we headed to Dinosaur Ridge. We walked along the trail and saw fossil evidence that the middle of the United States was once under water as the Western Interior Seaway. Ripple marks from the ocean floor were visible on the side of the hill. We also saw animal burrows, volcanic ash, and dinosaur bone eroding from the hillside. One of the most amazing things was seeing dinosaur footprints! This trackway was most likely made by an Iguandon and theropod.

We left Dinosaur Ridge and went to dinner at The Fort. This western restaurant had many new things for us to try such as buffalo, elk, and quail. The dinner was amazing for everyone! After leaving dinner, we rode through the Red Rocks State Park on the way out, then headed to the hotel to pack up. It was a busy day, but we did a lot of fun activities!

Day 6 – August 5

Its hard to believe our trip is nearly at an end. We spent all morning in the fish fossil quarry in Kemmerer. This afternoon was travel time, from Kemmerer, Wyoming to Denver Colorado. 

 

At Warfield Quarry, we excavated fossils from 50 million year old shale. This was Green River formation rock. The process was relatively simple. We selected pieces of rock, and used a thin chisel and rock hammer to carefully break apart the rock. Sometimes a fish fossil would be between the rocks, many times there was nothing.

 

Everyone had a great time during the excavation, and all found different types of fish fossils. Callie found a crayfish claw. Bunker found a lot of coprolite. Beverly found a partial bird fossil – this was so rare the quarry kept the fossil.

 

We are all looking forward to tomorrow’s excavation. We will be in Florissant to excavate 50 million year old insect fossils.

Day 5 – August 4

Today we concluded our dig in the FS Quarry. We had many things going on in order to wrap things up. Malcolm Bedell, the paleontologist we worked with, told us that we all did a great job, and were helpful in working toward accomplishing excavation goals for this summer.

 

Bruce and Callie used hand tools and pneumatic tools to remove rock from around a large cast. This section of bone was the sacrum, one of the most important bones in the quarry.

 

 

Sara’s exciting moment for the day was getting to list her name as the discoverer for three different bones. While removing matrix around a bone, she uncovered these three additional bones.

 

Lily continued working on two bones, and began removing rock from around a plaster jacketed bone, so that it could be later removed and taken to the lab.

 

 

Beverly uncovered a large portion of a posterior caudal vertebra. The diplodocus vertebra is similar to a camarasaurus or an apatosaur.

 

 

While undercutting bone, Bunker discovered several more bones.  He  then worked on creating a channel around other bones that will need plaster jacketing soon.

 

 

 

Hugh continued working on removing rock from around a previously plaster jacketed section of bone. While doing this, he uncovered many more areas of bone.

We all had a terrific time in the quarry! A big thank you to Malcolm for all of his guidance, allowing us to use his pneumatic tools, and for sharing his extensive paleontology knowledge with us!

Day 4 – August 3

We traveled from Cody to Yellowstone National Park. After entering the park, we first headed from Fishing Bridge to West Thumb. We rode by Yellowstone Lake, where the elevation is 7,733 ft. We stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin where we saw a lot of geothermal activity. Steam poured from the ground in many places and we saw several areas that are referred to as “paint pots” due to their range of colors, mostly blue, orange, and yellow. The colors are caused by the presence of different types of thermophiles – microorganisms that live in extreme heat. The West Thumb area is a crater within the larger Yellowstone caldera.

From West Thumb, we headed to Old Faithful. On the way, we passed over the Contintental Divide, which has an elevation of 8,391 ft. At the Continental Divide, water will go either east to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic, or west toward the Pacific Ocean.

During our drive, we were all surprised to see a grizzly bear run across the road in front of us!

We ate a snack and shopped in the Yellowstone gift shops while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. The eruption is approximately every 90 minutes. First, steam rises from the ground. Then, steam and hot water shoot higher into the air. Finally, the major eruption occurs sending hot water and steam 90 – 184 ft into the air.

We passed by the Black Sand Basin, which actually had white sand, then rode to the Grand Prismatic Spring. From the road, we could tell why it was called “Prismatic.” The steam coming from the hot spring appeared to be pink and blue! This hot springs area was one of the most beautiful in Yellowstone. This location had hot springs, small terraces, and thermophile activity. The terrific weather allowed the blue sky and white clouds to be reflected in the blue hot springs.

After eating lunch, we drove from Madison to Norris to Mammoth, at geothermal activity along the way. At Mammoth Hot Springs, we saw amazing terraces where water and minerals had created flat-topped formations of orange and white. While leaving Mammoth, we saw a herd of elk nibbling on grass in a cool, shady spot.

We headed from Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt. On our way down to Canyon Village. Along the way, we were caught up in some terrible traffic. We waited on the road (with hundreds of other cars) for at least an hour. A few of us walked ahead to see what was causing the traffic jam. Buffalo were lying in the road! We got some amazing pictures of the buffalo, then realized many buffalo were also on either side of the road. Bunker (The Buffalo Whisperer) stood nearly five feet away from one of the buffalo, with cars between him and the buffalo, since it is not wise to approach them. While waiting for the traffic to clear up, we saw a buffalo swim across the river! What an amazing site!

At the conclusion of our day, we rode through a few last sites. One was Mud Volcano. We saw mud bubbling and steam rising from the ground. That wasn’t the amazing part. A buffalo stood at the exit of the area. Since he was standing toward the side of the road, we took pictures, then slowly rode past him. As we rode past, the buffalo starting coming toward the van! We all joked at having been chased by a buffalo!

We ate a late dinner at Pahaska Teepee, which is considered Buffalo Bill’s first lodging area. Buffalo Bill actually built the road that leads into this area, and claimed that it would be the busiest entrance into the park – and it is, to this day. After a long drive, we arrived back in Thermopolis, ready to dig in the quarry!

Day 3 – August 2

We returned to the FS Quarry early this morning to continue excavating. We had an exciting day in the quarry!

Everyone continued excavating the work areas we selected yesterday. Bruce and Callie dug a large trench around a block cast containing several different bones. This will enable this section of bone to be undercut so that the bottom side can be plaster jacketed, and safely transported to the laboratory. Lily continued removing rock from a section containing a small slender bone.

 

Bunker worked on undercutting around a large section of bone containing a probable cervical vertebra. Sara worked on removing rock from a section containing several different rib bones and a femur. Hugh continued working on an area containing multiple bones, including several ribs. Beverly worked on removing rock and exposing bone on a vertebra.

 

Many exciting things occurred today. We saw a scorpion this morning hiding in the quarry where it was moist from yesterday’s rains.

 

 

Lily exposed new bone in her work area. She carefully removed rock around it to display a large section of the bone.

 

 

 

Malcolm demonstrated how to use his pneumatic tools. Additionally, he gave each of us a turn at using the tools. The pneumatic tools allowed us to remove harder layers of rock more quickly and efficiently.

 

Toward the end of the day, we plaster jacketed bone FS 299 B. Malcolm demonstrated this technique and explained the importance of doing this. First, a protective layer of paper towel was applied to the bone. This was moistened to allow it to conform to the shape of the bone. Then the plaster was mixed up. Small amounts of water were added to the plaster until it was the right consistency. Then the burlap strips were soaked in plaster and wrapped around the bone.

After working in the quarry, we headed to Cody. We had a great dinner at the Wyoming Ribs and Chop House. We are all looking forward to our trip to Yellowstone tomorrow, then returning to the quarry Thursday!

Day 2 – August 1

We had great news to start off the morning – Bunker is a grandpa again! Welcome BabyIsabella!

We began our Jurassic morning with a tour of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, led by paleontologist Malcolm Bedell. Malcolm has been overseeing the excavation of the FS Quarry for 13 years. We learned many interesting things from Malcolm’s tour, including how much he cares for the science of paleontology and the understanding of past organisms and environments that careful excavation can lead to.

One significant specimen housed at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center is an Archaeopteryx – in fact, it is the only Archaeopteryx on display in the western hemisphere, and one of the two that are the most complete Archaeopteryx uncovered thus far!

After touring the museum, we headed up to the dig sites. We toured the SI Quarry, where we saw Sauropod and Allosaurus footprints. This SI Quarry is the location of an Allosaurus feeding site. 150 Allosaurus teeth were found surrounding an area that forms a Camarasaurus body cavity.

The FS Quarry, our dig site, contains fossils of a Diplodocus carnegii. A lot of the rock found here is mudstone. Malcolm reviewed pertinent information about the quarry with us, including significant finds. Ribs, vertebrae, thumb claw, sacrum, manus and pes have been found.

After selecting our dig areas, we excavated for about two hours. When we finished excavating for the day, we headed to Hot Springs State Park. Here, we saw our first buffalo. We also walked across a swinging bridge, saw mineral formations, smelled sulfur emitted from natural sources, and saw mineral deposits from dormant hot springs. We are excited about continuing our work tomorrow!

Day 1 – July 31

We arrived in Denver around 9 am this morning. After picking up our luggage, we headed out on our journey from Colorado to Wyoming. Our first stop was the Bone Cabin at Como Bluff. We learned about the Bone Wars between paleontologists Cope and Marsh.

 

 

We then drove to a petrified wood collection site around the Shirley Basin. We collected many samples of petrified wood, as well as pink granite approximately 2.7 billion years old. This rock is “basement rock,” the same kind as what is below the continents.

 

On our way to Thermopolis, we stopped at Hells Half Acre. This was an amazing site where we could see geologic forces in action. Many pastel-colored layers of sedimentary rock had been eroded into a large canyon. The site was also the filming location for the movie Starship Troopers.

 

We arrived in Thermopolis, Wyoming tonight, and will begin our exciting work in the FS Quarry early in the morning.

Jurassic Discovery

Anticipation

We are beginning to make preparations for our summer trip.  We are all excited at the prospect of being involved in a real dinosaur dig this summer.