North Sulfur River at night

[KimTexan]

I want to own it up front that this trip report is not one of my shining moments. In fact I’m a bit embarrassed to admit the situation that I got myself into on the trip back to my car. It was a first time experience for me. But it makes for a good story if nothing else.

 

Spring is in full swing in Texas and Summer is quickly approaching. On my drive last Saturday I took some pictures of the scenery and flowers.

One of the many green feilds seen this time of year, with an old barn near Wolfe City, Texas. I don’t think we have wolve in Texas, at least not these parts that I know of. So maybe the name came from someone with the name.

The wisteria are in full bloom.

Grape hyacinths along the roadside by a bridge where I was checking for creek access.  

A mixture of redbud trees with some other plant I don’t know.

 

 Saturday was a beautiful day for fossil hunting although a bit on the warm side, in the mid 80s. I headed out to the NSR, but chose to take a different route this time that took me through Wolfe City, Texas. It is a small rural town that probably had its hayday during the industrial revolution and World War II. Most of the downtown square area looks like 1920 to 1940s buildings. Many of the homes have a Victorian era look. Most of the downtown buildings are boarded up and no longer in use. The local factory is closed. Despite it being past it’s hayday the town and homes are pretty well maintained.

 

I kind of have a thing for cool

entry ways, doors and windows. I like architecture and especially that of older buildings. I made a pit stop at a gas station in Wolfe City. Next to the gas station was this old building. I like the shape, architecture and the style of door. 

 

I continued to the NSR. Normally I park my car near the bridge and enter the river near there, but this time I wanted to reach a different part of the river. I checked out the entrance from a creek on the east side of the river, but didn’t see anything I thought I could manage. I opted to drive down a narrow, little used dirt road that cuts through the Caddo National Grasslands. I drove in till it hit private property, parked my car, got my gear and started across the field.

The first thing I noticed was a nasty invasive species of plant growing in the field. It looks harmless enough, but it can take over a whole habitat and strangle everything else out. I can’t remember the name of it at the moment.

 

I headed across the field and noticed these little burrows all over the field. I’d seen them on lakes, beaches and river banks, but not so high above water. I was still about 1/4 of a mile away and 30 feet above the river.

 

I never saw the inhabitants, but was sure it was a crustacean of some sort. Then I came across the remains of a crayfish looking critter. I think this may be a coon’s favorite dining “take out” spot. 

 

I crossed the field to the forest. Little yellow flowers of wild strawberry plants blanketed this section of the forest floor. There is one along the small log in the background of this pic of wild garlic that is common in the area. Wild garlic can be quite helpful in the woods.

This part of the forest was very nice and open with small herbaceous plants covering much of the forest floor. Here is a little anemone flower. I also saw wild violets.

Many of the trees have lichen growing on them. The yellow one is often called golden lichen. The pale green one is another lichen. Both are considered edible, but usually only in desperate situations. They’re not very palutable and must be boiled with several replacements of the water so as to not get a tummy ache. Baking soda or acid needs to be added to help make it edible and more digestible.

 

I walked through taking note of landmark trees and land features so at to remember my way back to my car as I made my way to the river’s edge.

At the river the underbrush thickened and there were more cedars growing. There was a vertical 30 foot drop to the riverbed as is the case along most of the river. I walked north along the river through the thick forest and underbrush looking for an entry point. I finally came to an area that had been cleared and leveled down a bit, but there was still about a 15 foot drop. Someone had tied a rope to a tree. I put a couple knots in the rope to hang on better and not slide or get rope burn. I knew when I went down that I wouldn’t be able to pull myself and my pack back up.

 

My hunting of the NSR is pretty different from most others. My goal is usually to find invertebrates. Not very exciting I know. I am particularly interested in baculites and ammonites. Ammonites abound in Texas, but the NSR is the only area I know of in Texas with baculites.

I’d really like to go hunting with someone who is good at finding vertebrate stuff at least once so I can see the place and stuff in the river through their eyes. I’m sure I pass up vertebrate stuff because I don’t know how to spot it.

I find a lot of other invertebrate stuff like Inoceramus clams, Durania rudist fragments, gastropods, other pelecypods and petrified wood. Not the kind of stuff many go to the NSR for.

After entering the river I walked around looking at the area before heading to the area of interest. I found what appeared to be a possible bone concretion embedded vertically in the river bed. I extracted about 8 inches. I didn’t really want to waste my time getting more when I wasn’t sure what it was and I knew better stuff lay ahead of me. I left my sledge hammer because it is pretty heavy to be packing around, but that would have made all the extractions much easier.

 

I came to an area where a significant extraction had recently taken place in the river bank. There was a gaping hole in the bank about 5 feet long by 3 feet wide and about 2.5 feet deep. Whatever they found was pretty good size. I can’t imagine how they hauled it out.

 

Ten to 15 feet away was another extraction site. This was only about 2.5 x 2 feet and maybe a foot deep. The imprint left looked a little like an ammonite, but not exactly.

 

I scanned the bank for whatever scraps might be left. Nothing great, but a few half decent baculite fragments and a couple partial ammonites including 4 partial Glyptoxoceras heteromorph cephalopods. I found a tiny spiraled shell with beautiful detail. 

I sat on the bank to extract extract what I found. It was in the high 80s and pretty hot as the afternoon sun beat down upon me. I took off my rubber boots and worked barefoot to keep cool. My boots were too hot for comfort.

I had put on sunscreen and was wearing a tank top, but I was still hot. After a few hours I was looking a bit pink. I wasn’t sure if it was the heat or the sun. I’m green eyed, blond and pretty fair. I’m a mixture of Viking (yes, I said Viking, genetically proven and genealogically confirmed), English and Native American. I’m not sure how I got to be blond with how my parents look though. My dad has/had dark brown hair and eyes with olive skin. My mother had dark brown hair, green eyes and looked Native American. My bothers were a mix of my parents dark features. My one brother looks Hispanic and the other Italian. I’m the white sheep of the family, but I digress.

 

I rarely burn, but put on a long sleeve shirt I brought with me to protect my skin. I didn’t see or hear another soul in the river or otherwise the whole afternoon. I guess I was the only one crazy enough to be out that far on such a hot day.

 

I scanned the riverbed nearby. A few feet away, under water was a red Pachydiscus paulsoni embedded in the shale of the riverbed.

 

Walking back to get my tools I saw a baculite with about 8 inches exposed, under water.

 

It was also embedded in the shale of the riverbed about 2.5 feet from the paulsoni.

The water was slow moving here and the shale was coated with a layer of silt and algae.

The paulsoni was almost completely exposed and was easily extracted in a couple minutes. 

Almost directly above where the baculite was the upper bank was seriously eroded with a big tree just hanging over the edge, perched for a sudden decent upon avalanche. It kind of made me a bit nervous.

 

I began to chip away the shale around the baculite with my rock hammer and a chisel. It was slow going. The water wasn’t moving the debris I stirred up. I had to repeatedly wait for the water to clear before continuing. The shale was only breaking up in small pieces. I decided to try chipping further away from the baculite. This time the shale came up in a large chunk. When I pulled the chunk out I suddenly realized it wasn’t just shale, it was a fossil!

I got so excited by what I saw that I let out a little squeal of excitement and delight.  I completely forgot about the baculite for a few minutes. It was an ammonite fragment, but no ordinary ammonite fragment. In 30 years of hunting ammonites I had never seen one with such a surface texture and detail. It was totally new and uniques to me. I had never even seen anything like it in a book or museum. It had the form and common ribs of a Menabites, but the whole surface was covered with small dots or circles. It was a polka dotted ammonite! I went back to the water to find more pieces of it, but whatever else was there was shattered when I was attempting to extract the baculite. These are pics of the fragment I pulled out.

 

 

This is the imprint in the river wher I pulled it up from.

The side of the ammonite facing the surface appeared to have been exposed and eroded away in the river so that it appeared as riverbed shale. I had no idea it was there until I pryed it up. 

The imprint left in the riverbed was only about 40% of the whole and it was about 16 inches wide. So the whole could have easily been 18-20 inches or more.

I can only imagine how stunningly beautiful the creature must have been when living.

 

At this point it was about 6:00 PM and I was running out of drinking water. I decided I better make my way back to my car. It was maybe a 20-30 min walk along the river back to where I entered. It had only taken me about 20 minutes to walk from my car to the point I had entered the river. Sunset was about 8:00. So I had plenty of time, but it was still hot and I would run out of drinking water before I got back to my car.

Note to self: “carry more fluid with you!”

 

I made it half way back down the river and ran out of water. I sat down on a rock in the middle of the river to rest a bit. My pack was pretty heavy. The water was flowing fast here babbling over rocks and shale. The water was clear and cool. I took my boots off again and cooled my feet and hands one last time in the river. I splashed water over my neck, back and chest and then filled my bottle with river water. I thought I could use it to poor over myself to keep cool on the hike back.

I made my way back down the river to a creek near where I had entered hoping to find a point where I could climb the bank out of the river.

Throughout the day I had heard small pebbles and rocks clattering down from the vertical walls along the river, occasionally the sound echoed off the canyon like river walls. The sound seemed lonely and foreboding as if the banks were taunting me with threats of avalanches. I hadn’t seen or heard a full on avalanche that day. Although, there was evidence of numerous recently deposited piles of rock, dirt and even the occasional tree all along the banks.

 

I had never been to this area of the river. I turned down the unfamiliar creek. The creek entrance was about 25 feet wide. The 30 foot banks towered over me as I entered the narrow passage. It felt a bit intimidating. I shook off the feeling and pushed further into the creek. Both banks looked avalanche prone. Loosely packed rock and dirt clung to the banks.  

If an avalanche occurred I could only run ahead or back to try to escape it. At least the river was wide enough to give the banks a wide berth. Ahead I saw the creek open up a bit with the banks receding and begin to slope back, no longer vertical on both sides. 

I had gone about 75-100 yards up the creek when I heard an avelanch begin about 20-25 feet behind me to my left. I did stop to look and see how big it was. I tried to run away from it up the creek, but the creekbed was covered in a mixture of silt, sand, mud and gravel that made it soft slippery and difficult  to get traction on. I narrowly missed being covered or crushed by the avalanche, feeling only a few pebbles hit the back of my calves. I was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of dirt and dust. I coughed as I emerged from the dissipating cloud. 

I was a little spooked by the near miss. I tried to walk on quickly, but the soft creek bed made for slow going. Up ahead I saw the bank diminish in height to about 5 feet vertical and then the upper part sloped away from the creek rather than the vertical banks I’d just passed.

Ahead of me 50 yards was the sight of another avalanche that was quite unique in its own right. Five small whole trees, with roots and soil in tact sat in the middle of the creek upright, almost as if it had grown there.

I took off my pack and hoisted it on the South bank and then climbed up on the edge of the bank. It was with some difficulty that I managed to get my pack back on without losing my footing on the bank. It was still very steep, but it had a few small trees I grabbed onto to keep from slipping back down.

I slowly climbed to the top. I was relieved to be able to get out of the river and attain the level surface on top.

I had entered the river from the West. I exited the river from the North. Also,I believed I was now on the private property that had no trespassing signs. I wanted to respect the no trespassing signs.  There was a small fishing or hunting camp set up on the edge of the bank maybe 150 yards to the East of where I had exited the creek. I don’t think anyone was there, but polite as I am I wanted to respect the “private property/no trespassing” signs and not cross through the camp. If I had done so it was only about 300 yards back to where I had entered the river. Getting back to my car would have been a breeze. I would have been to my car in 20 min or so. Hind sight is 20/20.

 

If only I had just crossed through the camp back over to where I’d entered I would have saved myself a whole lot of trouble and anxiety that was about to come.

 

Instead I attempted to skirt around the edge of the private property heading West about the distance it was to my car and then cut South to where my car was parked.

I stopped a brief moment to rest and was quickly found by several mosquitos. The woods were riddled with wallows and small Spring time ponds that were stagnant breading grounds for the pests. 

The sun was getting lower in the sky and the air cooler which was perfect for mosquitos. I walked on another half hour then stopped to rest. At my next stop a dozen or more mosquitos buzzed me, biting me numerous times. I had come to realize it was going to be more of a challenge to get back to my car than I thought.

 

The next time I stopped I sat down next to some wild garlic. I pulled up a tuft of it and began munching on it. Partly for the fluids and partly as a hope it would work as an insect repellent. Unfortunately the benefit of garlic by ingestion for insect repelant takes at least 8 hours I think. So I decided to macerate the ends of the tuft, wet with saliva and then rubbed the mix all over my exposed skin. There was no one around to risk offending with eau de Allium. I did this a few times until I felt I had covered my hands, arms, neck and chest. I put some on my shirt sleeves too.

I grew up in an area where we had lots of chiggers (red bugs), ticks and seed ticks. The two easiest ways to avoid getting bit by ticks or catching chiggers were eating lots of garlic and onions and using lime powder on your boots and pant legs. So I thought the garlic might work well for mosquitos too. It worked great where I had applied the garlic juice, but not where I hadn’t. I missed one shoulder and didn’t think of putting it on my back because I was wearing my pack. What I didn’t realize or feel was that when I took my pack off they were biting my back through my shirt.

Before the night was over I had 12 bites just on the one shoulder I evidently missed making application to. The rest of me, except for my back was nearly bite free except for the few I gotten before I found the garlic.

The mosquitos bit through my clothing.

 

Besides the mosquitos all went fine until I started to turn back South. I hit a wash about 8 feet deep with vertical banks. I couldn’t cross it so I attempted to skirt around it. I headed a bit further west. I encountered a dense thicket filled with greenbriars that I preferred to avoid. So I headed further west still. Numerous attempts to head back to my car were met with both of these obstacles multiple times. I still wasn’t too concerned, but I was a little concerned because I was feeling a bit dehydrated. I finally made the choice to drink the river water I had collected in my bottle. I still had plenty left.

I came into a clearing and saw the land rising above me. It was then that I realized I’d gone way too far West. Until then I hadn’t realized how far I had gone. I’d been walking for almost 1.5 hours!

I had a freak out moment. I realized there was no way I could get back to my car now before dark. If there were no obstacles sure, but I had to detour too many times, merely because of my wimpiness to not get super muddy sliding down the muddy wash and the clawing my way back up the other side or get all scratched up.

Now I didn’t have time to backtrack before dark. My phone was  dead. I was in the middle of the Caddo National Grasslands a couple miles from the nearest paved road with no known path to get to it the road or my car. I was in a pretty bad fix.

I had heard more airplanes fly overhead that day than I had heard vehicles on distant roads. That’s how remote the place is. I hadn’t seen another human the whole time I was out there. There were thick forests all around the meadow/ field I was in with heavy underbrush in most areas. Packs of coyotes began howling in numerous directions.

 

I had a moment of panic and began to cry. I saw a game trail opening at the edge of the woods in the direction of my car. I thought I’d make a last ditch attempt to make it though the dense woods to my car. I fought my way in about a hundred yards and stopped. I had no clue where the game trail came out or led to. It may not even continue in the direction of my car. The very last thing I wanted was to be in the dense woods come night fall and dark. 

 

I attempted to gather my witts about me. The light was starting to fade in the dense woods. I had been praying that God would guide me to a safe place, a road or house or something. I heard a voice in my head, as if it were my own thoughts, tell me to go back out of the thicket the way I came and then empty my pack in the field. My thoughts suddenly cleared and I calmed down. I had a calm resolve.

This wasn’t any big deal, just a horrible inconvenience that I could deal with and make it through. I’m tough. I was raised in a place more rural than this with more dangerous predators. I could do this.

I back tracked to the clearing. There was a cattle pin with 8 concrete troughs in it. I knelt down on the ground and emptied my pack except for a couple fossils I didn’t want to lose. I left most of my tools except my knife, a pick, gun, phone and water bottle. My pack had been quite heavy and had slowed me down and tired me out considerably. It felt much better mostly empty. 

I stood up and looked around. The sun was on the horizon very close to setting. That meant I had about 30 min of light left to find my way to a road. If I couldn’t find a road I had seen a deer blind I thought might work as a shelter for the night. Provided I could back track to it in the dark. If so then I could make my way to my car in the morning. I still knew the direction it was in.

 

It is late and I have to work tomorrow. I’ll have to finish my story later. Hopefully  tomorrow night. Sorry for being so long winded.

To be continued. . .

 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Fossils in the dark of night?

 

 

Ominous! 

[Fruitbat]

Sounds like you had quite an adventure/ordeal!  The NSR and its environs are NOT a good place to be in the dark!  Besides abundant coyotes (which are not to be trifled with when they're traveling in a pack), those blasted feral pigs can be downright dangerous...especially at night.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your harrowing saga.  I'm anxious to know if you survived it! 

 

-Joe

[Ludwigia]

Hi Kim. I think it's high time for you to find yourself a hunting partner before you get yourself into some real trouble.

[Tidgy's Dad]

How very exciting! 

And a true story as well. 

I really hope you survived, Kim. 

[JarrodB]

Quite the trip. I'm glad you made it out ok. You really should invest in a Lifestraw. It's saved me more than once and only $15. 

[caldigger]

3 hours ago, JarrodB said:

Quite the trip. I'm glad you made it out ok. You really should invest in a Lifestraw. It's saved me more than once and only $15. 

I second that. There are unseen ickys in many streams that can mess you up inside for a long time. Well worth the filtration.

 

You really do need a digging partner if for no other reason than to carry your extra drinking water.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Fascinating narrative ! Better than a good book of adventures ! I look forward to the continuation ! (I constituted my stock)

 

Coco

[KimTexan]

4 hours ago, JarrodB said:

Quite the trip. I'm glad you made it out ok. You really should invest in a Lifestraw. It's saved me more than once and only $15. 

Is that a filter of some kind?

I drank a 20 ounce bottle of river water without any adverse effects, but I certainly wouldn’t make a habit of it. In the summer the water doesn’t flow like that and I wouldn’t trust that I’d be ok drinking slow moving or stagnant water.

[-AnThOnY-]

@KimTexan

 

That Pachy looks awesome. It is on my checklist of things to get from the NSR, I have some partials, but nothing complete.

 

I would guess that ammonite chunk is a partial Menabites, my avatar pic is a Menabites from the NSR.

[JarrodB]

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

Is that a filter of some kind?

I drank a 20 ounce bottle of river water without any adverse effects, but I certainly wouldn’t make a habit of it. In the summer the water doesn’t flow like that and I wouldn’t trust that I’d be ok drinking slow moving or stagnant water.

Yes it's a filtered straw that filters 99.9% of bacteria & viruses. It's really all a person needs to carry but I just use mine as backup if I run out. 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

7 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I really hope you survived, Kim. 

Ha!  

[KimTexan]

4 hours ago, -AnThOnY- said:

@KimTexan

 

That Pachy looks awesome. It is on my checklist of things to get from the NSR, I have some partials, but nothing complete.

 

I would guess that ammonite chunk is a partial Menabites, my avatar pic is a Menabites from the NSR.

Thanks.

It is more whole than any I have found before. It’s also bigger than my other mostly whole one. I do have a couple fragments of ones that were bigger though.

They are one of the reasons I am draw to the NSR.

Does your Menabites have texture like the fragment I found? I want to see a whole one of those beauties like that.

I still need to clean it up more.

[gwestbrook]

Great finds, and awesome photos! 

 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

@KimTexan Wow, an avalanche just feet behind you. Scary. 

 

If I were you, I'd be crazy enough to sort through the freshly exposed situ to see what goodies I could find. Ah well, pile marks the spot, I guess. 

 

 

All in all, I think this trip is a good reason to use the BSA buddy system: Always have someone come with you and someone that knows where you're going and a ballpark time when you'd be back. Strictly enforced in my scout troop. 

[KimTexan]

I hadn’t thought of looking through the debris, but good idea!! I’ll have to do that. The layer that falls is terrestrial Pleistocene I believe, which I haven’t had too much interest in, but I certainly am not opposed to finding mammoth bones or the likes. Such has been found in the river and upper layers.

The riverbed is marine Cretaceous.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

23 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

I hadn’t thought of looking through the debris, but good idea!! I’ll have to do that. The layer that falls is terrestrial Pleistocene I believe, which I haven’t had too much interest in, but I certainly am not opposed to finding mammoth bones or the likes. Such has been found in the river and upper layers.

The riverbed is marine Cretaceous.

Yep! A particularly mushy tusk was found on the NSR not long ago by UncleSiphuncle.

 

[Heteromorph]

Wow! I am glad you made it it ok. You have a talent for telling stories in a very immersive way. 

I have never been to the NSR but from your pictures and descriptions I now have a better idea of the area and its challenges. I also have a better idea of what not to do.

 

Great finds! I love the sutures on that Pachy and its color. And your Menabites sp. specimen is quite intriguing. I have never seen an ammonite shell like that. 

 

17 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Ammonites abound in Texas, but the NSR is the only area I know of in Texas with baculites.

 

From what I know baculite species are present in all of the late Cretaceous deposits of Texas from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian. I know from my personal experience in the Middle/Upper Coniacian Atco that they are quite ubiquitous and, apart from inoceramids, are the most common fossils I find. But I must admit that the the baculites in the Austin Chalk are notorious for being normally poorly preserved while those from the Ozan NSR are usually quite stunning with the complex sutures visible. I have never found an Austin Chalk baculite with sutures and most of the time they just look like smooth, orange sticks running throughout the rock. Here is what I normally find in the Atco:

 

[Heteromorph]

 

 

[Heteromorph]

But sometimes I do find baculites with the ribs preserved: 

 

 

 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

3 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Yep! A particularly mushy tusk was found on the NSR not long ago by UncleSiphuncle.

 

Good thing that tusk didn’t have sufficient siphuncle to bring it home.  Otherwise, my wife would use it as a lightning rod for further discussions about a bigger house.  And she’d beat me over the head with the thing.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

3 hours ago, Heteromorph said:

Wow! I am glad you made it it ok. You have a talent for telling stories in a very immersive way. 

I have never been to the NSR but from your pictures and descriptions I now have a better idea of the area and its challenges. I also have a better idea of what not to do.

 

Great finds! I love the sutures on that Pachy and its color. And your Menabites sp. specimen is quite intriguing. I have never seen an ammonite shell like that. 

 

 

From what I know baculite species are present in all of the late Cretaceous deposits of Texas from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian. I know from my personal experience in the Middle/Upper Coniacian Atco that they are quite ubiquitous and, apart from inoceramids, are the most common fossils I find. But I must admit that the the baculites in the Austin Chalk are notorious for being normally poorly preserved while those from the Ozan NSR are usually quite stunning with the complex sutures visible. I have never found an Austin Chalk baculite with sutures and most of the time they just look like smooth, orange sticks running throughout the rock. Here is what I normally find in the Atco:

 

The Cenomanian had straight ammos similar to Baculites.  I’ve taken Sciponoceras gracile from the Britton (uppermost Cenomanian) and possibly Sciponoceras sp. from the Del Rio, a couple formations down section.  I haven’t looked up diagnostic differences between Sciponoceras and Baculites, but I believe my Scips lack nodes and pronouced ribs seen on many Baculites, and I haven’t compared septa.

 

Your stated range of the genus Baculites sounds about right.  I believe I’ve picked them up from most Upper K formations mapped in TX.  I’ve seen some from the Kau of South TX with sutures, but not consistently throughout the group.  Some of the coarse grained beds of the Kau obscure faint sutures, but some of the calcite replaced Kau specimens have decent septum detail.

 

Best Baculites sutures seem to show up in phosphatic specimens that haven’t experienced much transport.

[KimTexan]

Part 2

 

This part doesn’t have any fossils. It’s the rest of the story. So if you’re all about the fossils you may wish to skip this post.
 

I left off where I was standing in a grassy area and had 30 min to find a road or something to make my way to a safer place.

The field had once had cattle, but it looked like it was months ago. I realized that a rancher would have to drive out to the pin. In the twilight light I looked for signs of a road in the grass.

I saw a path maybe 50 feet away and began walking it. It was in the opposite direction of my car, but I took it anyway. In less than 15 minutes I came to a locked gate. On the other side was a well maintained dirt road! “Thank God!” That helped me feel a lot better. I walked about a half a mile and the road split left and straight. I stopped to contemplate my options. I didn’t know where the road would lead to. I believed it would join the paved road which ran East and West, but I wasn’t certain if it would. I chose to continue straight to where I believed the paved road must be. About a tenth of a mile later I changed my mind. I reasoned that since my car was in the general direction of the other road that I should take it. Both roads looked equally maintained at the split. 

I walked back and took the other road that had gone to the left. It began to slope downwards, which meant I was headed towards the river again, closer to my car. I walked about 1/3 of a mile down it. The sun had set about 20-30 minutes before. Now it was almost completely dark. The quality of the road began to worsen, which made walking it difficult in the dark. 

I heard a pack of coyotes break out howling in the distance ahead of me to the left followed by a second pack ahead to the right, almost as if in response to the first pack. I slowed my pace almost to a stop as I began to rethink my choice of roads. Then I heard the squealing of a wild pig fight brake out ahead to the left a little ways off, only closer than the coyote pack. 

I chickened out. I turned around and headed back up the road to the original road I had been on. I walked maybe half a mile and saw faint lights in the distance. When I finally came to the lights I realize with disappointment that they were solar powered LED lights mounted on a gate and an old barn. I took off my pack and sat down for a rest in the dim LED light. I drank more of the river water. It was surprisingly sweet and refreshing even with the touch of grit. There wasn’t much left so I only drank a few sips to try to save it until I could get more.

 

I could only see the silhouette of the barn in the darkness. I thought “This could be my potential shelter for the night as a last resort”. I determine that the worst that could happen to me was that I might spend a sleepless night in some pest infested barn and be eaten alive by mosquitos. I knew I’d be fine. In the morning I could easily make it to my car since it would be light again. My body was so tired. By now I had been walking for over 2 hours without more than 2-5 minutes rest, mostly because of the mosquitos. As long as I was moving they didn’t bother me. I laid down on my backpack to relax for just a minute, but the mosquitos were swarming me again. I couldn’t really relax with them constantly swarming like that.  As I sat there I thought how the friend I had told where I’d be was probably freaking out because I hadn’t reported back by the appointed time. I had never not reported back before. 

 

I put my pack back on and started walking again. It was very dark, but occasionally a faint light reflected off the clouds onto the ground around me almost as if the moon were shining down, but it was little more than a sliver. The little light enabled me to just barely see the road in front of me. It was a good road without potholes, ruts or rocks. I was thankful to have such a road at a time like this. Despite my situation and being alone in such a desolate place I felt like God was watching out for me and helping me even in my stupidity for getting myself into this situation.

 

There were trees and shrubs along the road that made it almost seem as if I were walking through a tunnel. The light cast amorphous shadows on the road. It seemed so peaceful and calm here. 

 

I finally heard a vehicle far away in the distance. I stopped to listen. I believed the road I was on would eventually intersect with the paved road, but I wasn’t certain. I listened to try to see how far away the paved road was from where I was. As I listened it sounded like it passed the road I was on about 1.5 miles away. It was reassuring to have confirmation and to know the road was that close. 

 

When I finally reach the paved road I planned to head for a house about 1.5 miles away to ask for help to get back to my car. I hoped they were home and willing to help me. By the time I got there it would be almost 10:00 PM. 

 

I grew up far out in the country in Arkansas, even more remote than this place. People in rural communities are generally very friendly, hard working, down to earth, good people who are for the most part very hospitable and willing to help those in apparent need like mine. So I had little concern that nobody would be willing to help me.

 

I continued walking and came to a hill on the road. I walked up the hill and to my surprise when I crested the hill I saw a tall bright light!! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I walked towards it to be sure. It was off the road through the trees maybe a hundred feet. It had been obscured by the hill. “Could it be a house” I wondered? I was elated and nervous at the same time. I tend to be on the shy side. It is breaking the ice that I have difficulty with. I never know what to say and always feel awkward not knowing what to say. Once I get past breaking the ice people often say it is like they have known me all their lives. 

 

I entered the dirt driveway. It was about 9:00 PM. Some farm equipment and a couple dooly pickup trucks sat in the drive. Every window of the one story house was lit up. The street light illuminate the drive and part of the yard. I saw people sitting on the front porch, but not well. I called out “hello” a couple times, but no one heard me. I came around one of the doolies and a dog lay there in the front yard. I paused a moment waiting to see if the dog was friendly or aggressive. He looked at me and lazily scratched behind his ear with his hind leg and then turned to look at the people on the porch with hind leg still in mid air, almost as if to see what they’d do about me. I called out “hello” a couple more times as I walked towards the porch. 

Now I could see 3 large men were sitting on the porch having a beer. I am dating myself, but if you know who the character Hoss Cartwright, from the old TV show Bonanza was the men were of that size and build. They stopped talking and turned to look at me. I said “hello” again and apologized for interrupting them. I explained that I’d been out hiking in the river and had trouble getting back to my car before dark and I needed help. One of the men stood up from the porch swing he had been sitting on next to another man.

 

I still stood in the yard and I paused waiting for them to say something. The man still sitting on the swing was named Mickey. He asked if I’d like to have a seat. I obliged and expressed my sincere gratitude. Not sure if I reeked of garlic or not. I asked if I could please have a cup of water that I’d run out of something to drink a while back and was dehydrated. One man went inside and brought me a glass of water.

 

I began telling them of my predicament, where my car was and the path I’d taken. They seemed astonished that I’d walked all that way and been out there in the dark. One man named Bubba asked for clarification of where I’d come from. I told it again. He said “You mean you came up from the river and out to the end of this road and walked the whole way to here?” I said “yes, that’s the route I took.” He shook his head in disbelief and said “You sure did walk a long way.” 

I kept saying “Thank God.” As I sat there. I was so relieved to have found help and that I wasn’t going to have to spend the night out there exposed to mosquito swarms all night. My body was also relieved to be able to sit down and rest and be able to drink all I wanted.

The explanation over we continued talking, each telling me a story of a timed they’d been lost in the same area. They talk of the river and told stories about it. They talked about the land and local area and some of its history. They spoke of how the area was growing up and getting so much more populated and busy. I carried on the conversation with them. 

The women were in the house with the kids.  They came out one at a time with a toddler, listened to the conversation for a bit and then went back in. I asked if they ever hunted the river for fossils. They all said no. They hunted coon, deer and hogs though and told more stories of it. 

I asked for a refill.  

They started asking about fossils. One said they had heard an almost whole mosasaur was found in the river once a long time ago. I told them about someone, @believerjoe who had recently found a good portion of one in the past couple months until the big rain came and washed out whatever was left. The conversation went on so easy, almost as if I were their neighbor.  

 

Mickey offered me his phone # and said “Next time you came out give me a holler.” He also said that if I was ever out there and got in trouble or a fix again that he wanted me to call him. He said if he wasn’t home he’d call one of his buddies to come help me out. I told him I most certainly would if I had service wherever I was.

 

I finished my second glass of water and asked if one of them would be willing to drive me to my car. One who went by Bubba, aka Johnny, said he’d take me back to my car. He lived in Wolfe City. His family had lived in the area almost a hundred years. He was a ranch hand at a local cattle ranch and hay farm. He walked out to what looked like a 4-wheel drive dooly crew cab pickup truck and I walked around to the other side and got in. It was almost 10:00 now. He started driving, turning back down the way I’d came. He drove to the road that I’d chickened out on and headed down it. He told me my car would be on this road. Sure enough about 3/4 of a mile down there was my car. He also gave me his number said to call if I ever needed anything when I was out that way. He said he had friends who drove their 4 wheelers down in the river. He was sure they’d be willing to take me to hard to reach parts of the river for better hunting if I wanted. I thanked him for the offer.

I got in my car and drove home, over an hour away.

 

The next day I texted Mickey and Bubba to thank them so much for their help and hospitality to me the night before. 

 

If you remember I had dumped my tools and some fossils out in a field. I texted Mickey to ask if he knew who had the key to that gate so that I could drive back in there rather than hike back in to get my stuff. He didn’t know who had the key. He planned to go out there himself and get my stuff for me, but he wasn’t sure where to find it. He sure tried his best, but he didn’t know that area. I met him on the road by the gate and told him thank you again and assured him I could manage getting my stuff.

 

This is the map of the area I was in. The blue is where I parked and my trip to the river. Red is my trip out. Green is Mickey’s house.

 

This is a picture of the road I walked that night during the daytime.

 

The lessons I learned:

1. Go back the way you came. It wasn’t an ordinary forest. Most forests don’t have those washes/creeks like that.

2. Take more fluid than you think you’ll need.

3. Always take a light even if you plan to be out before dark.

4. Take a backup power supply for your phone.

5. Sometimes good things can come out of bad situations. 

 

Needless to say I’m so thankful I didn’t have to spend the night out there. I don’t need that kind of adventure.

Thanks for reading my post.

[KimTexan]

16 hours ago, caldigger said:

I second that. There are unseen ickys in many streams that can mess you up inside for a long time. Well worth the filtration.

 

You really do need a digging partner if for no other reason than to carry your extra drinking water.

I’d love to have company out there on my adventures. I think half the adventure is what I make of it in my head and what I make of it.

It’s hard to find a partner that can go when you can. Also, I have a bit of a male attraction problem or a beauty problem, whichever way you want to look at it. Their attraction to me, not me to them. I’ve tried much older and much younger partners hoping to avoid the issue, but it seems to come back to the same issue. My life is too complicated for that right now. Plus I’m all about the hunt and the fossils. I’m usually clueless there is an issue until it is staring me in the face. So, I’ve found it easier to hunt alone. 

I do have a female friend I’ve gone hunting with a few times.

The NSR has some concerning dangers. I think one day it is bound to happen that my luck runs out. If it does I am hoping the reporting system works in my favor. I do always tell someone where I am going and when they should expect to hear back from me.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting read, Kim.

I'm so glad everything worked out alright and that there are still nice and helpful people in the world. 

Please be careful in the future.