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Hello All,
I am (maybe) the last one home from SVP? I took the long
way there, via Tetons and Yellowstone. Both parks were practically empty which
meant I could stop and take geology photo's when ever I wanted.
Bozeman was great, the talks were interesting and I will leave it to all of
you to hash out the details. I especially enjoyed the live auction as I now have
a wonderful, and rather noisy :-) T-rex phone which I won (donated by a lister).
It roars at incoming calls so beautifully the cat will not come in
with out looking around for the "monster" first, tee hee.
Great party last night, did a certain someone who was sleeping in a
chair ever go to bed?
The real fun began Sunday, I left to drive to Alberta for the post session
trip the Provincial Park and beyond. The drive alone was worth it, very cool
geology on the way. The crossing at the border for me was fine although I
heard others ran into delays and difficulties, maybe they let me through quickly
due to the before mentioned T-rex phone which rode in the front seat, gazing out
the window. Anyway, the Alberta adventure started with a trip out to the
Dinosaur Provincial Park, the first views of the Badlands are breathtaking! We
got a tour of the lab and the museum but quickly went on a van and walking tour
of the restricted area. The guides were excellent and there was not just paleo
but also a lot of geological information as well. The entire day was spent
hiking or driving to various sites and a bit of looking too. We all were able to
lay out flat on our tummies and search for various teeth at one local, some
people found ones worth cataloguing, the rest of us were just thrilled to find
fossils. The most amazing thing was the sheer quantity of stuff all over, we
were literally walking past fossils that most institutions would have gladly
jacketed up and taken home. After a group picture and a short drive we had
dinner at a grill your own steak (beef or buffalo) and off to Drumheller.
Day 2 was much cooler and cloudy but again involved a lot of walking so it
was better than being too hot. Morning was into more Badlands, after a short but
extremely interesting side trip to the hoo doos at the edge of town, more
geology but well worth the time (we also snuck into town for a latte and
film). The afternoon was a very long and strenuous, (well for me it was),
hike to Barnum Brown's Albertasaurus bone bed. They did a good job of mixing
history with the paleo and not just bones but environment, sedimentology and
even paleobotany, very well done by all our leaders. The day
concluded with good Chinese food and a reception and tour of the Museum itself.
I could write a 10 page message about the museum and all that we saw but will
leave it for now at WOW! Sensory overload. Lab, collections, the whole thing was
so spectacular. They even opened the gift shop for us (I am SO broke).
This was the end of the official trip and I for one was impressed beyond words.
I then took the long way home to California via Ototock, to see the worlds
largest glacial erratic (that is what two different books said). I then headed
into Banff, intending to camp and then follow the Columbia river from the
icefield to Oregon but the snow made that impossible, plus they have a local
radio station and that days main message was about all the bear encounters and
no one was allowed out in groups less than six and to have pepper spray, etc. I
decided discretion was better than being a frozen bear meal and headed
south through Radium Hot Springs (B.C.) The springs were uninteresting
as they are now a fancy pool and hotel but the near by Redwall Fault was spiffy.
After another night of camping I wanted to continue thru Canada but again
the snow made that impossible so I beat a hasty retreat south and after much
driving decided to make one last run at some fun and spent Saturday
doing all 3 John Day sites. Very impressive, the interpretive center is
full of info and great fossils and a very nice ranger who talked geology
( I love it when they talk rocks :-) Ended up spending the whole day
between the three sites, the Painted Hills must be seen to be believed. If I had
not seen them myself I would think they were a watercolor painting,
incredible!
Well, other than a mad dash home after that I did nothing else of interest.
I had a great trip, Bozeman did a wonderful job, the Alberta group could
not have made it better and now I am back to reality and counting the days until
next year. Sorry this is so long but I though someone might care. Jennifer
Muncy
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