Summertime Coulee Hike

As I mentioned in my previous post for Thankful Thursday, my good friends Steven and Jessica came to visit us for about four days. I've been friends with Steven since the first day of seventh grade when we were seated next to each other in Mr. Renz' homeroom class. I was in the upper left-hand corner because that's where last names beginning with A always start. Mr. Renz had taken his alphabetical order backwards behind me, so that meant that the start of the next column was Steven, last initial D. We both had a quirky sense of humor, nonjudgmental attitudes, and discovered many similar interests. We were fast friends and remained such throughout high school, going to college at Iowa State, and even beyond. It meant a lot to me that Steven and his wife Jessica (whom I had met and gotten to know in college at ISU as well) wanted to come to the farm for a visit. 

They were here over the Fourth of July. We spent part of the day in Havre at the community BBQ, and at the brew pub, then watched the rain and hail storm for our own version of fireworks. The next day was cool and muddy but we still managed to take a four-wheeler tour of some of the pastures and see the cows. 

The day after that, it was sunny and ideal at about 72 degrees with not much wind. Perfect day to get outside for some hiking! At Jeff's suggestion, we drove up to the coulees north of Tom's house. We had several possibilities in mind for places to go, but Jeff thought this would be the most accessible. Other routes would probably be too muddy. This turned out to be just perfect. We spent a few hours all together, with Harvey, exploring the coulee banks and looking for fossils. 

Jeff, Steven, Harvey and Jessica at the beginning of the hike.

 The coulees are like a big "badlands" area north of where we live, right along the Canadian border. They're like really big, sandy ravines created by wind and water erosion. The erosion exposes the many layers of earth and history. It's neat to see a slice of time right before your eyes.

Harvey, taking a pause in the action.

 Harvey had a really great time in the coulees. There were lots of small animals and creatures for him to hunt and chase, which he really enjoyed. He ran up, down, and all around while we humans putzed and hunted for fossils. He chased several rabbits and birds, but also tracked a mule deer fawn. We were only half-watching him, but he made quite a ruckus when he pounced on the fawn's hiding spot and then tried to chase him up the side of the coulee. The fawn was really, really young. We called Harvey off the chase and thank goodness he listened because I'm not sure that fawn knew what Harvey could have done to him! Needless to say, after all the excitement, Harvey was TIRED by the end of the day.

One of the layers in the coulee bank houses pre-historic fossils of dinosaur bones. There is actually an active archaeological dig site not far from our house where they're unearthing some sort of duck-billed dinosaur skeleton, which is pretty dang cool. We looked for a few bones and other fossils of our own. Here's an example of a partially exposed bone.

We forgot our archaeology tools at home (ha!) so we used a stick to scrape away some of the soil housing this bone.

Oiselle Flyte Longsleeve Tee in Pop looking fantastic against a bright blue sky!

I think dinosaur bones and other fossils are cool, but what I find most impressive about the coulees are the vistas and the drama of the landscape. It's always a surprise that they could exist here, where the rest of the land is so, so flat. You can drive right up to the edge of a coulee in some places and still not see it until it unfolds beneath you. 

Looking back toward the pickup on Fox Crossing in Kennedy Coulee.

Here's an example of another bone we found in the dirt. I thought I was really onto something big when I saw this sticking out. Again, we used small sticks to dig it out and then once we freed it we all decided it was most definitely not a dinosaur bone, but probably that of a cow that had washed into the bank and become buried. I decided surely it must at least be an old buffalo bone instead of a boring old cow tibia or something. So yeah, I found a bison bone, relic of the days when Native Americans roamed the plains. That's my story.

Dinosaur, Bison, or Bovine bone?
You be the judge. ;)

Thanks again to Steven and Jessica for coming to visit! We hope we can head to Seattle to see you guys soon!