Summer 2011: A summary in pictures!

So we'll start this at the beginning. I took a job this summer as a museum technician at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, loaded with all things fossils, paleontology, and federal bureaucracy. I was delighted to learn that for any and all positions with the Department of the Interior, a rigorous background check is required taking roughly six weeks to complete is required. If I was interning for NASA or the Pentagon, this would be understandable. However, as I would be spending most of my time in the middle of B.F. nowhere collecting fossil rodents, frogs and turtles, I found the whole process amusing to the point of absurdity. As my friend Drew summarized "You're about as much a threat out there doing that as I am walking down the street chewing gum".

A birthday cake Cleo and Shella made for me

Of course, my paperwork was delayed in its processing, leaving me an extra month here in Stillwater to do other work, and reflect on the choices that led me to this predicament. As you can see, it was a rough three weeks. Not pictured are me making revisions to my proposal and to a manuscript I hope to submit for publication soon. I did do work. Really, I did!

It was a rough three weeks. Actually it was because I had no income since school had ended. :-/

This is the kind of abuse I endure here regularly. Shella trying to give me a sunscreen tattoo.

No, I'm not standing on my tent.

Finally the paperwork processing finished, and I jumped in my trusty Forester, Archie, and headed Northwestward! I went through Kansas to Eastern Colorado where I spent the first night at Bonnie Lake State Park. Lovely little place, which I highly recommend if you are in the area!

Lovely little place, with great sandwiches!

Upon departing Bonnie Lake, I headed west through Denver to Grand Junction towards Moab, UT. At a deli I stopped at, I was given a locals discount of 20% for no explicable reason, other than I was wearing a Patagonia shirt and a my Aussie cowboy hat. Totally saved me $0.75! Woo! Getting to sit next to a pretty little river while eating my turkey sandwich was quite the Colorado moment, in my estimation.

My lunch spot near the deli I went to. Lovely :-)

Sadly I learned of a chili pepper and beer festival happening in Denver about thre days after I was passing through. I shall return for this incredible sounding event, Denver! Mark my words! I will also make a point of visiting Great Divide Brewery, which I also missed out on this time around. If you ever have a chance to try beers from this brewery, do it. They have an amazing Scotch Ale, among a slew of other bottles of awesomeness! Anyway, I soldiered forth from the wonderland of Denver through the vehicular hell that is driving on I-70 to Grand Junction. People going waaayyyy too fast around turns up and down hills, changing lanes everywhere. It was nuts. I felt like I was playing Cruisin' USA or Gran Turismo, only it was real and stuff. Needless to say, my nerves were a little shot upon my exit. O_o Finally at about 8:00 pm I pulled in to my friend Amy's place in Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

My navigation team.

Arches National Park is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever visited, and I was (and still am) very envious of my friend Amy's good fortune in being employed there all summer in the midst of it all. It's not just the sandstone arches that are majestic, but the whole scene. Red rocks, the harsh landscape, ancient human dwellings, and some incredibly hardy plant and animal life. There's something remarkable everywhere you look.

My first day in Arches I went on the Fiery Furnace tour, which Amy was leading. Amy was my student back in the day when I worked for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and again for a time at University of Oregon, so it was neat getting to see her in an instructional leadership role. :-)

Amy, demonstrating to the tourists how to get across a treacherous portion of the hike.

Amy and I also spent some time at Hovenweep National Monument, investigating ruins and collared lizards (see above) about the landscape. In a few cases I observed thumb prints in the clay between bricks making up the structures. I mean, I was sitting next to what used to be a well used human dwelling, and seeing an exact point where a now long since passed person pressed some red clay in between some stones as part of a larger structure being built thousands of years ago. Simply amazing!

Hovenweep National Monument.

The thumb print in question!

Amy, photographer-ing!

A collared lizard, acting like a little toughy

I also spent some time in Devil's Garden, the longest trail in Arches. Again, nothing but spectacular. Between the flowers, critters and rock formations, I could have spent three days photographing on that trail no problem. I have only one complaint about the trail: Most of it is marked with little rock cairns, which can be a bit obnoxious to follow during the day. After the sun goes down, they go from easter egg hunt to a truly annoying game of hide-and-seek. Apparently no one considered that marking a trail with rocks in a landscape that is FULL OF ROCKS was a bad idea. The people I met halfway through the trail who had long since lost their way (and run out of water) were in agreement on this point. After refilling their water bottles with the extra I brought, I sent them merrily on their way. I don't understand how people think that they can get by with a little gatorade bottle of water on a trail that long. Kids, this is why you bring extra water, a blanket and two flashlights whenever you go on a hike anywhere without street lamps. A smart person would have also waypointed the parking lot on their fancy GPS phone, but alas I at the time had failed to be one of these smart people, and . I was smarter the second time I went, this time intentionally after dark to photograph nocturnal animals and stars (need a camera with a better sensor for this, I learned). I got some okay shots, and am determined to go back with a better camera and a for-real lighting kit someday.

Some pretty blue flowers!

A sad, dead little pinecone.

Double Arch (well, half of it).

Some lizard tracks.

Double Arch

A deer

A red spotted toad.

Some kind of cricket

"Dark Angel"

To conclude my visit to Arches, I spent an evening at Windows Arch, taking boatloads of pictures of some gorgeous dead pines, red rocks, and tracks left by little lizards and insects. I got a lot of funny looks from people, likely wondering what was so interesting about sand that, from a distance, appeared rather ordinary. :-)




 

 I concluded my foray into Utah, bid Amy farewell, and continued my trek towards Oregon to see some family and friends before starting my job in Idaho. Next time, my summer in Idaho! Cheers!

Out on the monument, discussing where to head next. We had just finished checking the sand blowout behind us.

My tiny cabin (storage shed with a window) at Hagerman RV village. Bed, refrigerator, desk, lamp, and AC. The shower and bathroom building is about 100 or so feet away. Not much, but when it's 100 degrees out, and you're exhausted from a day in the field, it's better than just a tent!

Back out on the monument, this time marking a site with our Tremble GPS unit. Those things on my legs are snake-chaps, which are supposed to deflect rattlesnakes when they strike. Thankfully, I haven't had the opportunity to see them tested yet.

We saw quite a few scorpions that summer. Strangely in the summer of 2012, we saw hardly any scorpions, but found droves of black widows. Hmm.

This kind of work, crawling through hot sand hunting for microfossils, makes up a big part of the field crew's work. Knee pads keep the larger rocks from trying to embed themselves in your kneecaps. They also prevent burning, as the sands can get very, very hot!

My friend Lindsay, who is a Ph.D student at University of Montana in Missoula. We did a river float while I was visiting her, complete with a growler of awesome scotch ale from a local brew house (The Rhino, I believe).

A lovely little bit of decoration Lindsay has on her office door.

Perusing the Missoula farmers market on my visit!

Driving back to Hagerman from Missoula, I passed by Craters of the Moon. In my attempts to be a fancy nature photographer, I managed to scrape my right ankle up pretty badly on some rocks. Got some good shots though! :-D

Back out on the monument! It may not look like much, but the productivity of these fossil beds at Hagerman is truly fantastic! I'll be heading back in a few weeks for my third summer out there. I can't wait to see what new fossils have been brought up to the surface!

 

Time to head back to Oklahoma. I shall return!!

Visiting my friend Katrina in Rock Springs, WY. The community college she teaches at has all kinds of fossils on display...

...Including a T-Rex in their cafeteria! SOOOO AAWWWEESSSOOOMMMEE!

Driving through eastern Colorado, I encountered a little thunderstorm....
(Note: It was in fact, not little; this was the second craziest thunderstorm I have ever been in, and if conditions had been much worse than they were, I probably would have just pulled over and waited it out. As it was, I didn't have any great desire to hang around it.)

On the other side of the storm at my campsite.



I got back to Stillwater (OK) the next evening. On to year two of grad school! Woo!