Week 3 and 4 of my Montana Adventure

During week 3 and 4 of my Montana adventure, I spent lots of time hiking (I hiked Sacagawea Peak- the highest peak in the Bridger Mts), hanging out with my new friends, and digging up dinosaur bones! Yes, that's right, I got to be a paleontologist for a week.  For paleontology class, we went to Makoshika State Park, which is in Glendive, MT, about 20 miles west of North Dakota.  The heat was relentless; every day the temps were in high 90s and even over 100 at many points.  This combined with hiking around hills every day for 9+ hours was not a good combination, but I still had a blast!  I found quite a few little caves to seek refuge in or eat my lunch.  Some of our class findings include: scoot (the bony structures that form the bumps on crocodiles' backs), teeth (most likely from T-rex), a femur (most likely from a hadrosaur), a rib bone (we had to reassemble it), gastropods and other marine life (this area was under the ocean at one point).  We even got to cast some fossils and bring them back to study and to donate them to the Museum of the Rockies.  One of the places we prospected was a landfill; behind the area with all the garbage, there is an abundance of dinosaur bones waiting to be discovered.  Only MSU students and paleontologists who work for the Museum of the Rockies are allowed to step foot on this land and excavate bones.  Cool, huh!? 

I learned something fascinating this week... did you know that a "mass extinction," by definition, is an extinction that takes 2 million years or less?  Growing up, I had always imagined a mass extinction happened in a few days or weeks.  This opens my mind to the theory that dinos could have died out very gradually, or they died gradually and an asteroid finished them off.  There is evidence of iridium and there are actual asteroid craters, so I'm not sure where the asteroid came in, but I do believe there was one. 

Studying science this summer has really allowed me to focus on God and my faith... it has actually grown stronger, having seen so many amazing sights.  I had so many breathtaking moments this summer that made me think, "wow, there's no way this could have been created by anything other than intelligent design."  I've just been struggling to align biblical events with geologic events... one of my new friends did suggest I read The Science of God, so that will be the next book I check out.

I made so many amazing friends this summer that are just as nerdy as I am when it comes to science.  It has been super fun to spend my time with people who have so much in common.  I'm so thankful for this experience! 

Below are pictures from my last two weeks, including my 11.5 hour drive home from Bozeman to Olympia!

Kid on Sacagawea Peak

Nannies and kid on Sacagawea Peak

Crossing a snow field on Sacagawea

Touching the top of Hardscrabble Peak.. right next to Sacagawea Peak

4th of July with Cara (from Dubai) in Bozeman!

Bozeman fireworks

My hiking buddies.. Cara from Dubai, Stephanie from Chicago, and Josh from Pennsylvania

Grizzly in Yellowstone

Take a deep breath... serious......

there we go!  Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone

Grand Prismatic Spring

ridges caused by rainwater falling down slopes of sandstone

Taking a break... this was a hard hike with no trails... lots of gracefully falling down cascading rocks!  Luckily there were plenty of hands to help each other.

resting on my ledge :)

Went and checked out the sunset from top of camp.  I also watched an amazing lightning storm that took up at least 90 degrees of the sky.  It was so far away you couldn't hear it, but you could still see it.  BIG SKY COUNTRY. 

View from top of camp... looking at Hell Creek.  I hiked down there.

taking some alone time at night to soak up God's awesomeness behind me

pretending to be dinos, while taking a break from the sun.

hadrosaur femur

one of the sites we were at was just a huge, steep hill with terrain like this.  I used a pick-axe to create steps for us.

This is what happens when you ask Matt if he wouldn't mind taking a picture.  Smart alec.

Hanging out with Hank in the seats we dug out of the hill.  They were nice and cool and we caught a breeze. Hank said I reminded him of his daughter, so much of my time was spent telling him the things I appreciate about my dad... he's going to try some of the things I talked about.

mine and Hank's seats

rattlesnake caught by Bobby... will post a video in my next blog!

Most of the paleo class... out for dinner on our last night in town.

Bobby holding a giant vertebra

Paleo class

T-rex tooth

Stopped for a break at the Columbia River in Vantage.

Wild Horse Monument in Vantage

Maybe next time, Eburg...

Here are my beautiful Cascades! Sorry MT, mountains are one thing you are definitely lacking in.

it's been so long since I've seen a 4-lane freeway!

Ahhh, home!!