Post by paulshiroma on Apr 20, 2016 22:23:57 GMT -5
Exactly a year ago, Andrew and I met up with family and did some digging at The Ernst Quarries (a.k.a. Sharktooth Hill). We made a return trip last weekend and met up with my cousin and her husband. This time around, we got to dig at the East Quarry. The closer location is better for your first visit as you can see what to dig for and it has outhouses and picnic tables. The East Quarry has neither and is a good 20 minute drive along an unmaintained dirt road through some fairly rough hills. 4WD and high clearance were mandatory. Rob Ernst was not kidding when he mentioned that the place is inaccessible if it rains the day prior.
Anyway, here’s us on the way to the dig site looking back south. The cars and folks you see in the background are at the closer site which we visited last year. My cousin’s truck in the background.
If you look in the distance just to the center-left on the horizon, you’ll see a black dot. It’s actually a water storage tank. That’s about where we were headed. Driving along those hills and ridgelines was ... exciting. It was the first serious test for my Forester and I was glad for the 4WD, all-terrain tires, and good ground clearance. There were two other Foresters in the group and six pickups.
The dig site is towards the center-left of the photo along the exposed ridgeline.
Andrew. He’s now taller than Mommy and pushing me. I wear hiking boots all the time now to make sure I have a bit of height on him. That will only last so long.
Yes, Andrew and I found a lot of teeth but, at least to us, the real prize was the whale/fish bones. They were everywhere and the specimens were considerably better than the other dig site. We hauled home quite a bit of this.
Supposedly, the black nodules that you find on some of the bones are manganese. Haven’t a clue but I took about four pieces that had these nodules present. If nothing else, they were interesting.
Here's the one that took the cake. You could tell folks had been working it, trying to get the piece out. I added a bit of additional elbow grease to it as did my cousin. In the end, we settled for photos.
Thanks for looking.
Anyway, here’s us on the way to the dig site looking back south. The cars and folks you see in the background are at the closer site which we visited last year. My cousin’s truck in the background.
If you look in the distance just to the center-left on the horizon, you’ll see a black dot. It’s actually a water storage tank. That’s about where we were headed. Driving along those hills and ridgelines was ... exciting. It was the first serious test for my Forester and I was glad for the 4WD, all-terrain tires, and good ground clearance. There were two other Foresters in the group and six pickups.
The dig site is towards the center-left of the photo along the exposed ridgeline.
Andrew. He’s now taller than Mommy and pushing me. I wear hiking boots all the time now to make sure I have a bit of height on him. That will only last so long.
Yes, Andrew and I found a lot of teeth but, at least to us, the real prize was the whale/fish bones. They were everywhere and the specimens were considerably better than the other dig site. We hauled home quite a bit of this.
Supposedly, the black nodules that you find on some of the bones are manganese. Haven’t a clue but I took about four pieces that had these nodules present. If nothing else, they were interesting.
Here's the one that took the cake. You could tell folks had been working it, trying to get the piece out. I added a bit of additional elbow grease to it as did my cousin. In the end, we settled for photos.
Thanks for looking.