Last Cretaceous adventure this year

[Ridgehiker]

Warmer south facing canyon wall.  Fossil material is found in many layers so not always certain if eroding in a lower layer or falling from above. I once found a small fragment of frill, climbed up a similar canyon wall and, clinging in with all fours,  came face to face with a ceratopsian skull looking at me dead on. Was a bit spooky.  

[Ridgehiker]

Variety of Cretaceos critters. Croc vert, fish verts and unknown bone. ...often so many 'unknowns' that I start to the think they are a species 'Unknown unknownensis'

[ynot]

Wow --That is a really nice and rich area that You "hunt"!!

I would never be able to leave a place like that, My pack would way (weigh) to much to carry and I could not leave it there!

Tony

 

PS Thanks for sharing the day!!

 

[Ridgehiker]

Thought this was a vertebra. Flipped it over and actually the underside of a wide toe bone. Below is a  photo of the side of it ( taken in the sunlight). Lots of times I don't poke at things and wonder what I've missed over the years.

[Ridgehiker]

A couple of Tyrannosaur teeth. Both with exquisite serrations.  Not a rule, but darker teeth only recently eroded out...lighter teeth have been sun exposed. Colour also depends on associated clays and minerals in rhe water.  Forgot a scale but these are about 5cm in length.  Didnt find any raptor teeth but didn't spend much time on the ground at any microvertebrate sites.

[Ridgehiker]

Di with vertebrae and a chunk of 'somebody'.   Orange lichen is easier to spot than exposed bone. 

[Ridgehiker]

We barely moved our locale this day. Searched in an area barely the size of a soccer field. Could only hike a couple of hours. Then had to wind ourselves 'back up to surface'. Took a different route out and had to boost ourselves over a few ledges, backtrack a few times and, then, finally to the top.  There is a grey marine shale layer up here that yields shark teeth, no idea what the sharks were.

[Ridgehiker]

Up top we hiked a couple of kms to the west and looked for wildlife. Saw a few flocks of geese, coyote, a big mule deer buck and...a human..yes, the first human we've met in the badlands this year ...a hunter. Not a fossil hunter but a guy hunting deer.

 

Di enjoying one last panorama. 'Til next year.

[caldigger]

Thank you for taking me along, I needed that.  I would say you picked the perfect mate for yourself.  Somebody that shares and enjoys the same interests.  Beautiful scenery and great fossiling to boot.

[FossilDudeCO]

Thanks for sharing this amazing trip report!

You have made me extremely jealous!

I get lots of fish but never been on a Dino hunt!

[Ridgehiker]

18 hours ago, ynot said:

Wow --That is a really nice and rich area that You "hunt"!!

I would never be able to leave a place like that, My pack would way (weigh) to much to carry and I could not leave it there!

Tony

 

PS Thanks for sharing the day!!

 

 

Ha...my pack is always lighter on they way out  because we've eaten our lunch and drank most of the water.  All my collecting is now just photos on the Iphone and I can only collect on that until the battery runs down. 

[Ridgehiker]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Thank you for taking me along, I needed that.  I would say you picked the perfect mate for yourself.  Somebody that shares and enjoys the same interests.  Beautiful scenery and great fossiling to boot.

Yes, thanks.  Over the decades I've tended to mostly be a loner when it comes to hiking and fossil collecting. My brain zones out and I like that good tired feel after physically  pushing myself.   However, can be more fun to share in discovery. Di is more observant than I am. Finding fossils is just the icing on the cake after enjoying the Nature.

[Raptor Lover]

Such a beautiful environment! I would love to go there and hunt for fossils like that. You are truly lucky

[bone2stone]

Oh to be young again and be able to carry a pack that weighs as much as yourself.

Your trip is enviable. Plenty good photos

to boot.

Your skills with your camera are top quality.

Thanks for bringing joy to an old fossil picker like me.

Jess B.

[caterpillar]

Very great report

Thanks for sharing

[Vieira]

Fantastic report and amazing finds...

 

Congratulations

[Darktooth]

Awesome way to end the season!

[fossilized6s]

Thank you for bringing us along! I'm very jealous of how rich and beautiful your hunting areas are! Great report. 

[David E.]

Amazing!  

[Ptychodus04]

Awesome. Oh to be there in person...

[digit]

Thanks for providing this last virtual trip of the year to a fantasyland where dinosaurs literally drip out of the landscape (and a pretty landscape to boot).

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Peto Lithos]

On 11/27/2016 at 10:32 PM, Canadawest said:

Variety of Cretaceos critters. Croc vert, fish verts and unknown bone. ...often so many 'unknowns' that I start to the think they are a species 'Unknown unknownensis'

There's the sharks!

Nice trip!

[Ridgehiker]

2 hours ago, Peto Lithos said:

There's the sharks!

Nice trip!

 

The only Cretaceous shark teeth I know to identify from here  are Myledaphus (very common) and the occasional Ptychodus.  Every pointed shark tooth is lumped into a general 'Cretolamna'.  I'll have to post a few specimens.  Shark vertebrae are smallish (as above) and not all that common.  Perhaps they are from Myledaphus as they are found in the  terrestrial layers.

 

I've always found it odd that when we get into our Bearpaw Sea  marine beds that it is rich in ammonites, etc but I've never found a shark or Mosasaur tooth.  Not even a broken or eroded one.

[Plantguy]

Nice report. Interesting to see the geology of the area and some actual hills and seeing all those fossil fragments scattered about. Thanks for sharing with us. Regards, Chris 

[JustPlainPetrified]

That looked like an entirely enjoyable trip! There is always so much to look at and you have brought the region so close to many of us with your pictures of this trip. Thanks for doing that! Would like to hook up next year for a day and see what we are favoured with.