ROOKIE AT LEE CREEK

November 24 was to be my  first day ever into Lee Creek.  I was fortunate and thankful to get a slot, and really had looked forward to this trip for a long time.  The fact that  the fall season was coming to an end, and the lack of rain was not helping out with the collecting conditions, didn't matter to me.  I really just wanted to get down there, hit Greenmill Run  the day before, take in the museum and hope for a chance at some good teeth. (I cant lie...I wanted a 5" meg!!)

The morning started off pretty cold but that was soon forgotten.  In the parking lot before entering the mine I had a chance to meet some interesting people and put a few faces to names I had "known" for the past 10 months or so.  I also had a chance to get a few last minute pointers from the "pros" before going in.

Once in the mine you are amazed at the sheer size of this operation.  It is like nothing else I have ever seen before.  The collecting area was immense, and you initially try to collect the entire place.  Once you realize that you are not going to cover 1/50th of the material you start to slow down and focus on "your" area. 

By closing time (I stayed till the 3pm bus) I only ended up hitting one hill that was a 50 to60 yard pile, but worked it real hard with the "low and slow".  It was a mixture of Pungo and Yorktown, at least I was told by some body more familiar with the formations, and it had more than enough fossils to fill my container.

No big megs were found, but broken ones and chunks of very nice teeth were abundant.  I did manage to score on some very nice teeth though.  Makos (one real nice 2 1/4" with that Lee Creek coloration!), cows, snaggletooth, gray, etc.  I did find a nice porpoise tooth and had what was going to be the find of the day...a 3" squaladon but when I was cleaning the dirt off it blew up into about 20 pieces!!!

Overall this was a great trip.  I thank PCS phosphate for the invite and look forward to hopefully going back in the spring!!  Chris