Float Like a Carcharocles

Hi Everyone, The fall 2007 collecting season in Lee Creek is upon us and my chance was today. I read that the area was big, but my concept of big did not match the reality of the size of the collecting spot generously granted by PCS. When I walked down the ramp, the area seemed limitless. The opening gun went off and the other collectors all seemed to know exactly where to go. Some people started looking almost immediately after the ramp. Some headed towards last years deposits on the right. I scanned the ground for footprints as I headed towards the back of the mine opposite the ramp. I passed the bridges that led to the old hills, and it wasn't 20 minutes until footprints became sporadic.

I slowed down and started looking closer. Soon I passed a pit car area bereft of footprints, rich with broken teeth. I picked them up by the handfuls as I continued my trek towards the back. My collecting buddy, Bruce Leetensis, and I ran across some incredible Yorktown with multiple large whale vertebrae sticking out. We took down the mounds only to be denied the megalodon prize. Next, we came to some older mounds with lots of weeds. There were a few teeth because the good layers were covered with useless James City formation. Then an hour in, we stumbled on a row of rich Pungo and Yorktown mounds on a peninsulas that could only be accessed via a land bridge freshly exposed by the super dry conditions.

There was not a single footprint anywhere in sight on any of the mounds and it was obvious by the number of teeth that we must have been the first ones there. It seems like every step I took brought several teeth into view. Every time I bent over, I picked up multiple nice teeth.

On a whim, I looked at my watch and it said 2 o'clock! Where did the time go? I had a really long way to go and only an hour to cover the vast distance. I really had to move fast, but I made it back at 2:57. I was thoroughly exhausted, but loaded with fantastic fossils. This must be what it was like back in the old days that everyone always talks about.