A Day in the Pit-Car Area

Two years ago, on the Thursday night before I was to leave for my first ever trip to Aurora, I worked into the wee hours of the night making a screen that would fit perfectly into my backpack. I had heard that screening, while not done often, could be done in the mine and I was taking every measure to be fully prepared. I’ve taken that screen into the mine, tucked away in my backpack, on every Aurora trip since, and each time the voice in my head telling me to leave it home has grown louder. Thankfully it didn’t get loud enough for me to listen. I left my house at about 4 AM fully enjoying the daytrip status that Aurora has become since my move to North Carolina. The Elasmo reports were pretty bleak from the past two weeks, but I really psyched myself up to do some serious digging if necessary. The temperature as I drove across the Piedmont dipped down to 36 deg but the forecast was calling for temps in the 60's - nice collecting weather. I arrived at the parking lot where it was great to meet a couple of friends, DG and KR, who I had previously known only through Email. We chewed the fossil-fat with the other collectors for a while then boarded the bus for the pit-car area. I spent the first 2 hours walking the pile, with a small, half-way decent hemi being the only tooth I didn’t need a magnifying glass to appreciate. Deciding it was time to dig in, I went back to a small patch where I had picked up a bunch of carcharinids figuring: Where there’s teeth - there’s teeth. I broke through the hard crust, removing any large rocks, and began filling the screen. On the second load came 1/3 of what was probably a 4 inch chubby, certainly a good sign. A nice hemi came a few loads after that, then a nice mako, then another, then a shamer chubby... After one hour, the hole produced 3 partial chubutensis, two nice Hemis, a small but killer sand tiger and 4 really nice makos. My day was made. I continued working the ditch for another 2 hours picking up a Xiphodon lateral which outside of some light matrix on the root, was killer. I met back up with DG and we decided to find one more patch to dig. My third screen load yielded a broken 2 inch mako - a good omen. KR, who had finished his day of collecting, joined us and we again talked fossiling in between each screenload of Pungo. After a short while, my back had about had it and I decided to call my last 5 screenloads. while loading my second to last, what pops out but a 2 inch Chubutensis. I picked it up thinking it was complete only to see it was missing a cusp and the tip of one root lobe. A little disappointing, but it was still a great tooth. Just as I finished my last screen, the call had come that it was time to board the bus - what timing! Alot of people feel that the pit-car areas are a waste of time, and collecting them is certainly not the same experience as collecting the open pit. However if you’re willing to do a little work, OK maybe a lot of work, there are some nice teeth to be had. Persistence at Aurora tends to pay off. Thanks to PCS for facilitating a collecting season at all this fall, and thanks also to the volunteers who venture into the mine each season - for better, or worse.