Continued Adventures in AZ

How strong is your education? Even a small part of mine can hold up a car. I'll explain: The first of the events of the last couple of weeks was a flat tire in the middle of the desert. Changing the tire was one big, long lesson in the benefits of redundancy. First of all, it was a good thing that I had a spare tire; second, it was fortunate that I had a spare jack since the first one couldn't withstand the weight of the van and snapped like a steel trap. No fingers were lost but itcertainly didn't do anything to improve my calm. Also, in order to actually hold up the car while I put some boards under the new jack, I found out that a stack of books is really effective. I just now have two deep grooves in the gover of the top book.


the broken Jack.








Thankfully, this was the most major setback I had during the entire two week period. The only other setback was the fact that I spent the first week in an area completely devoid of body fossils. I base where I go searching on data from UC Berkeley's paleo collection database. According to that database, a bonebed containing thousands of specimens was excavated at this particular locality. If there was a bonebed there, then it contained the only fossils around, since I didn't find a single shard of bone for the 7 days I was there. Not only that, but there were only two or three small pieces of petrified wood in an area covering several square miles.
The consolation however came on day 4 when I started to find dinosaur footprints. In all, I found 9 sites with dinosaur prints or trackways; most of them at the edge of the cliff. Furthermore, I also got to do some spelunking, as I found several caves that had entrances large enough for me to crawl through. When I say crawl, I seriously mean it. Those of you who went to Tumbler ridge last summer might remember that I was squeemish about crawling through the smaller exit of the cave that we visited there. Therefore, in light of my claustrophobia, it should surpise you that I was able to do any caving at all. Below, you will find some of the photos of that experience, plus an obligatory ass shot.
While at this site I also saw a bit more wild life than I'd previously encountered, including a golden eagle, a porquepine, chipmunks, rabbits, various passerine birds, and heard (though I never saw) distant coyotes.






After finding nothing but caves and ichnofossils for a week, I moved camp and started exploring a valley that was a bit further to the Northeast. There I had a bit more luck. I found a number of micro sites containing weathered bone and teeth. 11 sites contained whole or partial teeth and I collected a large number of broken bone material that I intend to piece together like a puzzle some time in the future. I was also able to collect two nearly complete cow skeletons that had been bleached in the desert sun. I didn't find any bullet, but I'm sure that these animals didn't die naturally. They were only a few feet apart and showed no broken bones or signs of having died in any kind of a flooding event.
The plan is to get my tire fixed, re-supply and check out one last sight near here. I've been saving it for last since it is likely the hardest to get to and there is no way I'm going to venture over over (and off) roads that the USGS recommends 4 wheel drive for (incidentally, the van only has rear wheel drive, but that won't stop me) without a spare tire.