Green Mill Run-ning Beloved???

Saturday and Sunday (28th and 1st) the eastern part of NC got alot of rain.  And by alot I mean ALOT.  So naturally I thought that give it a week and it would be prime for finding newly exposed teeth.  So all week long I found myself daydreaming of finding megalodons and great white teeth and every other kind of fossil in record numbers.  

Saturday took forever to get here.  But finally it did and at 5:30 in the morning I had the car packed and was driving up to the run.  

Now I decided to do a little experiment on the amount of mojo provided by eating at different restaurants and the effects on finding teeth.  So on the way up I stopped at mcdonalds for some fossil finding fuel.  

Upon arrival in greenville on what was turning into the best weather so far this year I crossed over the 5th street bridge and at a glance immediately noticed the creek was way way over the banks.  Not a good sign.  I still stopped at the park, got out, wandered over to the creek and in horror found that not only was the water high, it was rediculously high.  When standing in the creek, the tops of the banks were well over my head.  And the water was only at most a couple feet down from the top.  That water could have easily been six feet deep.  Which completely ended any hope of a successful day.  So I did what any rational fossil hunter would do and started stomping my feet, whining, throwing sticks and rocks into the water and made a pouty face.  After I was done with my two minute rampage I walked back to the car and sat for a minute.  Eventually I decided that I would look around upstream and drove up to elm street park.

I got out and wandered down to the stream and instantly noticed that the water was barely above normal levels.  Even though I had my heart set on searching downstream I didnt come all this way for nothing so I skipped back to the car and put on my waders, took off my long sleeve shirt (it was getting really nice out) and grabbed my shovel and trusty screen and wandered back down to the stream.  

I chose a spot that I had a little success before istarted scooping away.  I targeted a muddy area full of leaves and little gravel to see if previously my friend had just gotten lucky or if there were actually fossils mixed in.  After filling up my screen halfway I couldnt fight the urge any longer and washed out the mud and leaves and sticks, picked out the noticeable large chunks of glass first and then peered into what remained.  Right on top sat the first find of the day.  A great white tooth that was just under 1 1/2 inches long.  SUCCESS!  It was whole, with a good root and no missing serrations.  What a way to start off the day.  I rummaged through the rest of the screen finding a smaller wide tooth mako as well as the usual mix.  

I dumped the first screen and repeated the process.  In the second screen of the day I found a smaller great white at 1 1/4 inches.  At that moment I started to get a good feeling.  Two great whites in my tooth container, sun shining down, almost 70 degrees out, birds chirping, what more could I ask for?

I continued in that spot for awhile with nothing really to show except for a larger but broken mako and the usual mix and alot of larger belemnites.  I gave up that spot and started making my way upstream slowly over the next couple hours.  Stopping everytime my boot crunched thru some gravel and trying my luck, or spotting out what looked like potential "tooth traps"  Without finding anything notable.

Eventually I got up to a spot that looked like someone had already been through recently due to the large amounts of gravel on the banks and partially washed back in.  However noticing a huge rock slab in the middle of the creek the made a good wall with lots of sand and gravel piled up against it I couldn't resist and started scooping up gravel and mud and the wonderful assortment of glass, cans, and junk, worn whale bones which I usually pile up separately on the creek bank and sifted thru it.  I found a couple whole old coaca cola bottles which I placed on the bank as well, and then my next find was even more ridiculous.  A compact disc titled "The Running Beloved".  It was severely scratched but I placed it ono the bank and intended to make some sort of joke about it later so if anyone has lost a "Running Beloved" Cd while searching for fossils and wants it back just email me.  If I don't hear from anyone I am going to toss it.  Which makes me wonder how bad a CD has to be that someone just "hucks" it into a creek.  Maybe I should just go ahead and toss it now.  Anyways... On to more important matters.

After several screens at that spot and just before I was about to move on I sat down with another full screen on my lap to sort thru.  After removing a large chunk of glass directly underneath just sitting there looking all pretty with a glossy, pearly shine was a pristine great white tooth!  Which I immediately grabbed and flipped around in my hand and inspected.  Except for a large crack on the back, the tooth was still whole, and in excellent condition, not to mention the color was outstanding.  It must have just washed out from the bank, or the material it was hiding in recently.  It measured at just under 2"!  Once again great success!  I just entered gravy mode!  

Which made me think about the amount of mojo provided by breakfest.  It was mcdonalds, however, I had ordered a mcskillet burrito.  Does that still count as mexican food since it came from mcdonalds?  

At that time my stomach was telling me it was time for part two of the experiment.  And after finding a really nice tooth I decided it was time for a break.  I left the creek and drove to taco bell!  Returning an hour later fully charged and ready to hopefully continue a great day.  

Now that I entered gravy mode I found myself taking frequent short breaks to look around, watch the assortment of kingfishers, cardinals, blue jays, woodpeckers and other types of birds flying around, squirrels playing, the sun shining, reflecting off the water onto the banks, the warm breeze, and was just generally happy with the wonderful day I was lucky to be fossil hunting in.  During one of those excursions what looked like a woodpecker flew low and by me squaking that I needed to pay more attention to my shoveling then I did the activities of the local bird population.  Thank you mr. woodpecker.  

As I started going thru screen after screen and not finding anything I started thinking it was time to move on, and also since the amount of gravel against that ledge was almost depleted.  So I started moving towards the end of the shelf where the water was the fastest and filled my screen one more time before I gave up on the spot.  And in believing this would be the last screen from the spot I did what I usually did and overloaded it way too much with gravel and mud and everything else.  Lifting it up (slowly) and washing out all the leaves and mud was quite the task and finally as I was staring at the rocks remaining  I noticed a smaller tooth with serrations.  Sweet!  I gave it one more good shake and instantly right next to that little tooth with serrations popped up an even larger whole tooth with serrations!  Sitting down on the bank I immediately took out the first tooth I saw which was a shamer GW with the whole root broken away.  The second tooth however was a beauty!

I picked it up and followed the serrations, and was happy to find it wasn't missing any.  The root, was abnormally thick for a GW but again was whole with no cracks in it.  The enamel was all there and was an outstanding color or dark gray with an interesting pattern on it.  Then I noticed on the sides what look like abnormalities in the enamel so it looked like little cusps.  It measured in at 1.75" long.  

Other then another broken GW and a large mammal tooth the rest of the day was pretty uneventful and I left as the light was fading to make my way to a hotel and sort thru all the finds on this all around great day!

Conclusion of experiment (Day 1):  Although tooth finding Mojo was much more abundant in the morning after eating Mcdonalds, the all around day which included two different south of the border inspired meals provided the enough Mojo for an excellent day.  Also it is clear that I have definitely read a lot of trip reports on this site.  

Good hunting!

~Mike