A Gigantic Beast

 

13 months ago, while climbing through sandstone cliffs, I found what looked like a cannonball at my feet. As I inspected the bowling-ball sized rock in my hands I saw a crust of hard sand and fossil plants on one side. Turning over this ball in my hands, a large bone surface was revealed under this crust. It was a fresh break. I summited another ten feet of sandstone with only one hand as I clutched the potentially precious fossil in the other. I spent about ten minutes looking for any sign of exposed bone that might give away where this fossil came from. After almost giving up, I dropped to my knees and saw a few tiny pieces of bone poking out from under a large slab. I placed the cannonball-bone against this new fossil and found the two to form a plausible fit. Overcome with excitement, me and Logan began digging furiously to reveal the identity of this fossil. By the end of the day we were astonished by what we saw; a complete femur, measuring more than 4 feet in length, of a gigantic hadrosaurid dinosaur. The rock encasing the fossil was a dream to work through, consisting of a very soft mudstone. Numerous fish scales, ossified tendons, and fragments of turtle shell revealed themselves while we were digging around the massive bone. Due to limited time, we were unable to retrieve the bone that season. We covered the top with plaster and burlap and reburied the bone, hoping to return the following year to remove it. Well, it's time to rescue this fossil! Stay tuned...