Pretty photos

I have more photos to show than I have stories to tell at the moment (or time to tell what stories there are), but I would like to share the photos. Some of them are very nice. First, though, an ugly one:

Here's our field camp during the snowstorm the other day. This is about all the snow that collected. At the end of the day the sun came out, which was nice, but also sort of creepy... the sun had a June strength, all the trees were in leaf, all the summer birds were chirping, but it was still in the 30s out. I went out for a walk along the road. On the way, I passed the neighboring farm...
...chimney rock...

...and walked out to where I could see the snow on the mountains.

That is a herd of black cows grazing in the photo above.


And then it got dark, and I went back to camp.

I also have many photos from the fieldwork we've been able to do in between rainstorms.

Here are my teammates from an earlier project. These bright-faced 20-somethings are all planning to go on for their master's degrees in the fall, Tyson in English and the other two in geology.

We follow game trails in switchbacks down a steep slope.

Badlands of the Cloverly.

In the next mapping area, above, a student stands as two of our instructors sit and discuss the geology.

My field partner works on his map.

Some of the stuff we're mapping in the foreground, with a view all the way to the Bighorns in the distance.

My partner walks down to check out a fault. I chose not to go down, knowing I'd have to come back up.

Part of our mapping area.

My partner ignores the geology, distracted by a rodent. (That thing on his hat is his WY fishing license, for the creek behind camp.) Below, an artistic view of the above:

Moving on to our next mapping area... we were rained out (or mudded out) and took a hike up to see some petroglyphs while the area dried.

Here, we must cross private property to get onto BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) land. The instructors had been unable to get in touch with the landowners, so we really were trespassing. Nobody got shot, though.

Me, with Bighorns.

A hoodoo, or lumpily eroded pinnacle, and deer skeleton.

The crowd wanders up to the petroglyphs.

My hand for scale, with petroglyphs. The reddish fingerprints were likely made with animal blood. (Note: do not touch petroglyphs! As I later learned, skin oils may cause the carvings to degrade.) The band-aid on my finger is from when I stabbed myself with my awl trying to clean my ammonite. More on the ammonites in another entry. These petroglyphs are at least 1500 years old, but nobody in the group knew much more about them.

The "four musketeers" pose for a photo.

We return to the mapping area...


Well, that's about it for now. I actually have a little free time tonight so I am going to socialize... that is, if I can find anyone else who's done with their homework... I am starting to make friends now.