Geosciences in Alaska

Overview

Arctic Alaska Dinosaur Project

Team Members

Preparatory Field Trip to Pt. Reyes

Field Research in Alaska

Geoscience Conceptual Framework

Contacts

Trip Log: Sunday, July 28, 2002

Today was our last day (we hope, assuming Chinooks remember us tomorrow) on the Colville River. The morning was spent doing last minute quarrying in quarries 3 and 4. Quarry 3 found yet another tooth. It was a whopping 5.5 cm, our biggest yet. Quarry 4 worked on jacketing some more of their big bones. They also wrote an ode to themselves. Now doesn’t that sound weird, writing an ode to yourself?

Quarries 1 and 2, partners in crime, spent the morning trenching around the big “creature” or the “Jumbo Jacket” of our big pile of bones. After lunch (our last cup of noodles meal, for now) some people managed to walk back to camp without being swallowed by the mud. Meanwhile, others volunteered to boat and carry some equipment back to camp.

At camp, the groups split up to attend to various packing-up chores. Quarry 2 packed all the fossils in leftover food boxes and duct tape. Quarry 1 packed all the food we did not eat (and there’s lots!). Quarry 3 packed up the weatherport and even sealed it up with matching yellow duct tape.

In the late afternoon, some members of quarries 1 and 2 returned to their quarry to help Kevin flip over the Jumbo Jacket. It was a success, and there was time left over to comb the beach for any sign of humans, to attempt to dig out the stakes from the permafrost, and scavenge for fossils.

Our last dinner on Poverty Bar was a yummy pasta and fruit salad around the campfire (no more luxurious weatherport to sit in). We’re off to pack up our personal gear, to listen to the sound of sand hill cranes and the pitter-patter of footsteps on gravel on their way to the biffy, and to prepare for our exhilarating ride in the Chinooks tomorrow.

Reporters for the day: Janet and Phelana

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Project partners and sponsors:
West Contra Costa Unified School District   UC Museum of Paleontology   University of Alaska Museum    National Science Foundation    The Mechanics Bank
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