Don’t look a gift Equus sp. in the mouth…
After
a recharged night at the Hampton Inn in Washington
and with breakfast digesting, Skylar and I made our way to the GMR. This was my first “true” fossil expedition
with my daughter and not the back yard Pungo sand box kind. It seemed forever since I was at the GMR and
I was excited to see what fossils the creek would give up on this trip. We parked at the 5th Street / Green Springs
Park and geared up, well
at least I did. She only wanted to be in
charge her old WWII wood handle folding shovel (which she ended up dragging
half way along the asphalt walkway).
After
what seemed to be an endless walk we finally arrived at the put in trail by the
wooden bridge. Poison ivy was
everywhere as we slowly made it down to the creek. I quickly made a mental note to next time
bring just old jeans / boots or buy some new waders (hip) because by the time I
got in the creek I lost five pounds from wearing my thermal chest highs and
lugging gear for two. At least one of
the back packs had about twelve frozen water bottles which later hit the spot as
they melted.
We
walked up the creek and decided to make camp at the first big gravel beach
area. Did a quick scan of the terrain
and right off Skylar found a partial whale ear bone (tympanic bulla) that most
fossil hunters would most likely have overlooked or end up putting it (or two)
up on the bank for a collector like Fat Boy to find (just busting your chops
MikeDOTB). I too ended up finding a
partial meatier one on the gravel beach.
Skylar
was content at looking around some more on the beach so I decided to start
screening. I probably shoveled only three gravel screen loads when she came up
to me and stated that she found a sand dollar barely in the water next to the
large gravel bank. I was busy picking
out teeth in my quarter inch screen when I decided to see what she really
found. "DOUGH" (Homer). I couldn't believe what I was seeing. An Echinoid!!
Talk about beginners luck!!! I was dumbfounded on what I was holding, not to
mention the condition of it considering how bad the GMR can wear fossils down.
I never heard of anyone finding an echinoid at the GMR and was wondering if
anyone else has ever found / known anyone who has found one. I knew this was a special find so I packed it
up carefully for safe transport. I’m
just glad she showed it to me and not put it in her fossil container where she
ended up putting whale bones, cool looking rocks (included a section of a
brick), shells, a golf ball…. etc to get “banged” around.
I finally got a positive ID from Dewayne Varnam, President of the East Coast
Fossil Club (echinoid collector), who stated that she found a Hardouinia
mortonis (Michelin, 1850) from the late Cretaceous, Pee Dee Formation. He also commented that he has failed to find
/ verify an echinoid specimen at the GMR since 2001 and did not know of any
other collectors who have found one from that location.
We
then made our way up to the 10th Street Bridge area with no major
finds to report on other than a complete Agerostrea sp. (with interior matrix)
that took my fancy and a fat partial whale rib bone that someone placed on the
Pee Dee formation just south of the 10th Street bridge (thanks who
ever left that). So we decided to turn
back around and set up final camp at another gravel beach area. I ended up finding a small mosasaur and
Skylar ended up finding her best tooth, an almost 1" Squalicorax
pristodotus that she pulled out of her 1/2 screen. She was a real trooper and slung gravel for
about six hours with the occasional break to corral minnows in her ¼” screen.
About
that time Mike (MikeDOTB) wandered down the creek to chat and compared
finds. It was starting to get late and
we made our way further back downstream to see if we could locate Gerald (GReel). Special thanks to Mike on grabbing Skylar’s
other arm and helping me “carry” Skylar across some of the deeper pockets. She was on my shoulders on the first pass and
I didn’t think my back / neck could have taken another round with all the gear
in tow.
We
finally came up on Gerald slinging gravel.
I couldn’t contain the excitement on what my daughter found on her fist
trip. He too was shocked with the
echinoid find. Gerald also ended up
gifting Skylar his “discard teeth” to boost her GMR collection, which included
what all kids like…..a cookie (of note, the very worn GW (2.25”) equaled my
second biggest GW that I have found at the creek). I guess the fossils gods were pleased with
his generosity and about five minutes later rewarded Gerald with a massive
horse tooth.
Gas - $40
Hotel - $120
2 days of fossil hunting with my daughter and finding her Pièce de résistance
on her first fossil expedition - Priceless
enjoy
- Brad