Thursday, October 27, 2016
28 Days Later. I was in the field up in Alpine, Arizona for 28 field/driving days. Four separate sessions. I haven't been away this long since 1996. Poor Puff missed me terribly.
Saw lots of horny toads (which are actually horned lizards). The adult ones were easy to catch and liked to hang out, appreciating the warmth of my body.
Adult horned lizard.
The baby horned lizards scooted around fast. They were so cute.
Baby horned lizard.
One day Connie spotted a tree frog. So brightly colored!
Click on picture to see it better.
We stayed in a cabin and a double wide. As the days got shorter, the sunrises got better.
Sunrise in Nutrioso.
While we were up north the aspen and oak leaves changed color.
Connie walks past an aspen grove.
Aspen groves were a nightmare to walk through. Many of the trees have fallen down, and you had to climb over and around piles of dead and dying aspens.
Leaves.
The smell of the leaves reminded me of my grandmother's house in Traverse City. She had three enormous cottonwood trees.
And yet another pretty picture.
Our two crews found over 40 sites. During the last session, the other crew found some small pueblos. Our crew went over to look at them (we had been finding small flaked stone scatters). One of the pueblos had interesting corregated pottery.
Corregated pottery.
On the last day of the project I finally found a spear point.
Chalcedony point, the base is broken off.
We went to relocate some previously found sites, and while there I found a second point.
Obsidian point, very thin.
The best past of the last session was seeing herds of elk. Many hang out in the Alpine Valley, safe from the nasty hunters because of firearm restrictions there.
Elk.
Back in Tucson for a while, before heading north for a new project.
