Peace River trip before the new year (decade)...

[digit]

Friends of ours had their daughter come to visit for the holidays. She likes to rockhound and collect crystals and pan for gold back in the Seattle area where she lives and was eager to try the experience of fossil hunting in the Peace River. The weather (and river level) was looking good till a few days back when that huge mass of unstable air over the southeastern US unleashed torrents of rain. In fact, we were kidding Kelly that it was her presence here that brought the Seattle weather. She had a red-eye flight into Fort Lauderdale airport a few days back and on the morning of her arrival, the FLL airport received 4.5 inches of rain in an hour--shutting down the airport due to runways that were under water! Her flight was diverted to Miami but the airline she was on does not normally fly to MIA and there were no gates nor attendants to great the flight. They sat on the tarmac for 3.5 hours till they could find someone to unload the plane. Of course, they couldn't manage to unload the luggage at Miami and so the plane flew up to Fort Lauderdale later in the day so that the passengers could finally be reunited with their luggage. Hope there were no cruise passengers on that flight or their holiday vacation was well ruined.

 

The bulk of the rain went north and south of the Peace River drainage basin but it did catch enough to push the river level into movement in the wrong direction. Canoe Outpost (where we rented our canoes) has been measuring the river level in Arcadia by calling the "normal" river level the point at which their floating dock is level with the bottom stair of their fixed dock. They declare fossil hunting season "open" when the level is 12" BELOW this "normal" level. The rain had pushed the level to around 9" ABOVE normal or just under 2 feet higher than I'd have liked it to be. We only had Saturday available as a date to try this and so we did. At worst we figured we'd have a relaxing trip down the river by canoe--in the rain! (Did I forget to mention the weather forecast was for warm temps, near 83F, but with an 80% chance of rain?)

 

We chose a 10:00 a.m. departure over my normal choice of 8:00 a.m. which maximizes the workable time on the river with the canoes due back in before 5:00 p.m. This let us sleep in just a few hours more with a departure of 6:00 a.m. instead of 4:00 a.m. We loaded ourselves and the fossil hunting gear, snacks, and change of clothes into our friend's minivan and were off very nearly on schedule. It was an overcast (but dry) trip across state to Arcadia where we arrived in good time to sign in and catch our bus to the put in. We were pleasantly surprised to find Canoe Outpost to be celebrating their 50th year in operation (and Becky, the owner, there for 35 of those years). The peace sign in much of their signs is both a reference to the Peace River and the summer of love that was 1969. To celebrate, the canoe rentals were half-price and our two canoes for the day came for the price of one.

 

I was quite happy to find that, though the levels were higher than I'd hoped for, the large well known gravel bed just downstream from the put-in at Brownville Park was not too deep to work. The current toward the center of the river was ripping and made it tricky to stand up and keep sand/gravel on your shovel as you raised it from the bottom to the sifter. One side of the river was protected somewhat by some trees in the water just upstream and was easily workable. The waist-deep water was comfortably cool (78F) and high enough not to have to bend over much but not too high to work effectively.

 

There were a few other canoes launched with our group but they rolled past us when we stopped to start fossil hunting. We spotted a few additional canoes pass us from the 11:00 a.m. put-in but otherwise (mostly) had the river to ourselves. A large group (tour?) of 9 jet skis came flying up the river while we were taking a lunch break. They slowed just a bit but the wakes definitely caused a stir as the combined waves smacked our canoes pulled up along shore. We were to encounter them again on their return trip downstream a few hours later. This time we were paddling and had to move to the side of the river and point the bow of the canoes into the huge waves to keep from capsizing. Jet skis and canoes simply do not mix well. At least nobody flipped over.

 

 

It remained a cloudy day with the sun only making a few brief appearances to cast some color on our sifting screens filled with black gravel. We got sprinkled and full-on poured upon several times throughout the day but Tammy even remarked that the warm air temps and a windbreaker jacket actually made the rainy canoe paddling rather pleasant. The warm temps had a number of gators (big and small) out trying to sun themselves on the banks. In total we spotted an even dozen of them in the first half of the trip back to Arcadia. There are fewer good haul-up spots and the fading light toward late afternoon usually means we see few if any gators on the last half of the paddle back downstream. It was interesting seeing the new tree falls along the banks and the other changes to the topography of the river after the summer's floods. It appears that someone's boat had come loose and found itself in a rather non-seaworthy state among the willow trees along one bank. A good example of the power of the river in flood stage!

 

         

 

We tried to get into a deeper spot on the river that for some unknown reason is chocked full of dugong rib bones. It has larger chunky gravel and so I like to look there for the promise of larger fossils (like meg teeth). I like to take newbies to the river to this site as they can then collect multiple "paleo paperweights" as I call them and maybe come away with a meg tooth (or at least a decent fragment). We pulled to canoes to the bank at this spot and I got out to check it for depth. The bottom usually slopes down from a sticky/slipper/stinky muddy bank into a deeper channel a few meters from shore before becoming more shallow rising up onto a bit of a sand bank. I walked (slid) out into deeper water and got to neck level without it ever getting shallower and so (as I feared) this site was simply impossible at this river level. We paddled on to a final spot I like to stop at which has only fine pea gravel but often provides a copious number of smaller dime size shark teeth. I enjoy taking groups with kids there as we have a competition to see how many shark teeth per screen we can find. I believe the record still stands at 26.

 

This site is also quite shallow (even dry sand bars when the river is good and low) and so I knew we'd have no problems there--it was my ace in the hole in case the other locations were all not accessible. In addition to many nice tiny teeth it also delivered some surprises.

 

 

 

[digit]

One of the interesting items we found at the first stop was a small mandible spotted in one of the first few sifting screens. It looked similar to one of these before and I believe it to be a Round-tailed Muskrat (Neofiber alleni). This species has been in the Florida fossil record for 600 Ka and can still be found scurrying around watery areas so it is impossible to tell with certainty how old this item is but it is still great fun to find a jaw with the molars and incisor still in place.

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/neofiber-alleni/

 

    

 

Additional notable finds beyond shark teeth that were reasonably plentiful were a decent lower Equus horse molar, what appears to be a rooted tapir (Tapirus sp.) molar with some odd-looking wear, and a tortoise osteoderm (aka "leg spur"). These osteoderms are variable in shape having from extended conical forms to compressed and flattened cookie-like shapes. The constricted diameter base on these is always a good ID feature to verify these.
 

    

 

   

 

[digit]

I mentioned that the final site of the day held some novelties beyond dime size shark teeth. One of these appears to be a nice Long-beaked Dolphin tooth (family Kentriodontidae) possibly Delphinodon sp. which @Boesse could probably comment on.

 

    

 

The other one is a complete mystery to me but has some clues to it. I believe it it likely quite fragmented which is making it less obvious that it should be. The growth rings along its base lead me to think something along the lines of a sperm whale tooth. We've seen similar items in the past but Bobby could likely make a more definite pronouncement.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/gallery/image/49094-whale-tooth-01/

 

 

    

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[digit]

Oh, and the last "fossil" that turned up was a Busch Bavarian Beer can that came out of the sand looking not too worse for the wear. We were amused by the fact that it stated "ALL ALUMINUM CAN" indicating that this was a relatively new thing (at the time). I found a reference to the versions of cans that were used for this beer and I was able to date it. It turns out that this can actually predates Canoe Outpost by a year--being produced in 1968. We left this can with Canoe Outpost on their display shelf of old artifacts that folks have found on the river. It was our present for their semicentennial anniversary.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[JarrodB]

Nice trip report. 

[Darktooth]

Great report Ken! Glad that you were able to squeeze in a last hunt of the year, as well as squeeze some goodies out of the Peace!

[digit]

Wouldn't have normally gone with the water level this high. Having our friend's daughter in town who has been wanting to do this for a while was the motivation to go out on a rainy day with the river higher than I'd usually attempt. It is a personal data point to know what my usual spots are like on the river with the water at its current level.

 

As if to verify that we had the Seattle Rain Goddess with us on this trip, our route back home from Arcadia takes us on an angled road (called the Beeline Highway) from the town of Okeechobee at the northern tip of Lake O to the Florida Turnpike. While we were on that road, it poured down with a fury. My friend checked the weather radar on his smart phone and there was a band of heavy showers centered directly over the Beeline and extending not very far in either direction. It was virtually a narrow corridor of rain covering this road from end to end. The alignment of this line of showers over the road was eerily precise.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Praefectus]

Great report. That is a big gator. 

[Nimravis]

Great report and some nice finds- I need to hit the Peace River this year while I make my yearly trip to Sanibel Island in April or May.

[PODIGGER]

Great report and great finds!  I was out Friday inspite of the river level also.  Enjoyed the photos. I am always hesitant to pull put the phone/camera for fear i'll drop it in the river!

[Harry Pristis]

2 hours ago, digit said:

. . . 

 

Additional notable finds beyond shark teeth that were reasonably plentiful were . . . , what appears to be a rooted tapir (Tapirus sp.) molar with some odd-looking wear . . . .
 

 

. . . .

 

 

This appears to be a camelid cheek tooth.

 

 

[digit]

Ah, that was my first guess upon seeing it in person. I took this photo in the field and they took it home with them so I was not able to (easily) inspect it further. Looking at the photo above, I was able to convince myself that the repeated pattern on this tooth was similar to that found in a tapir tooth. Glad to know that my first impressions were correct even if I don't have the convictions to stand by them. Thanks for the ID.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[FossilNerd]

Very good report and nice finds Ken! Glad you got to get one more hunt in before the end of the year. Even if the Seattle Rain Goddess didn’t make it easy on you.  

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, digit said:

The other one is a complete mystery to me but has some clues to it. I believe it it likely quite fragmented which is making it less obvious that it should be. The growth rings along its base lead me to think something along the lines of a sperm whale tooth. We've seen similar items in the past but Bobby could likely make a more definite pronouncement.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/gallery/image/49094-whale-tooth-01/

Size?

[digit]

Very much smaller--a mere 2.5 cm in length and 1.5 cm in maximum diameter. No longitudinal striations perpendicular to the growth bands as shown on your specimen above (a real beaut by the way). The growth bands are very pronounced as can be seen in my photograph above. Still, assuming it is a cetacean tooth but Bobby may be able to shed some light.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[PaleoNoel]

Congrats on some nice finds to close out the year!

[digit]

Always enjoyable showing someone new the wonders of fossil hunting on the Peace. The periodic rain and high water couldn't come close to dampening our spirits.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Andy B]

WOW, an actual pull-top can. That's a really cool find. And in good shape!

[Monica]

Nice trip report, Ken!  Congrats on getting out and finding some cool fossils!

[digit]

We routinely come across pull-tabs from beer/soda cans in the river along with the pop-tops from bottles (several of those on this last trip). Unfortunately, we also find frequent pieces and larger shards of glass from those with little respect for the beauty of nature and who think the world is nothing but a large garbage can.

 

There is a spot further up the river which we believe is an area where the meandering course of the Peace River has possibly cut into an old dump area. Large amounts of old bottles and other lasting debris can be found in the river near that area. Interesting when it is an old artifact like an 100 year old glass bottle but less exciting when it is other old junk.

 

I quite frequently pull up more modern beer cans and bottles and I always bring a plastic kitchen garbage bag with me on these trips to remove and properly dispose of the trash we find while looking for treasures in the river. Surprisingly, only a few completely corroded bottle caps, a few bits of glass, and a brass .22 caliber long rifle casing were the only human artifacts found on this trip. Last trip I recovered (and gave away) a fishing pole (rod and reel) I found lodged in the trees along shore and an inflated beach ball and inflated pool ring toy that had likely gotten away from someone and floated down stream. On that trip we also took back a very unusable folding chair that had seen some time in the river and a set of stainless steel BBQ utensils still packed in their leather carrying case. There is no telling what you can find on the river. Still very curious about the site that turned up both a gold wedding ring and a gold tie tack--there is a story (or possibly many) that can be made from that.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

12 hours ago, digit said:

Very much smaller--a mere 2.5 cm in length and 1.5 cm in maximum diameter. No longitudinal striations perpendicular to the growth bands as shown on your specimen above (a real beaut by the way). The growth bands are very pronounced as can be seen in my photograph above. Still, assuming it is a cetacean tooth but Bobby may be able to shed some light.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Providing some backup , just in case Bobby is unavailable..

Here is a section about the right size. Bobby has previously indicated that most likely Kogiopsis .sp.  I have a number of full sized and smaller versions.

 

From this photo: