It was a cool November morning in the arid regions east of Bakersfield, California.  The sun was just breaking above the mountain peaks.  Most people that day were sitting around the table and television, celebrating Thanksgiving.  I was lucky enough to be climbing the steep foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  This opportunity was thanks to John, a new friend who contacted me through this web site.  He too is relatively new to "Sharktooth Hill," so we are discovering it together.

I had heard the stories of "Sharktooth Hill" and thought it was named for the abundant fossil shark teeth that are found there.  To my surprise, I learned that it's name was based on it's shape, like a shark tooth (not the hill pictured).  As it turns out, it also happens to be in an area where fossil shark teeth are found.  Go figure.

As you can see in the above photos, the sheer sides of the hills are carved with what looks like roads, or hiking paths.  Instead, they are actually a series of dig sites, created by avid fossil hunters following the fossil layer, like gold miners following a vein of quartz.  Pictured above/left (in the foreground), is my first attempt at a piece of sifting equipment designed for "dry sifting."  To my surprise, the first time I used it, I discovered that it actually worked quite well.

If you know where to go, and are able to find an accessible site, you WILL find shark teeth.  We dug along one of the fossil hunting paths, in an area that was certainly well hunted over the years.  In spite of that, we were able to sift out some nice small teeth (1 to 1 1/2 inch) and other fossils.  One of the holes we dug in, pictured to the right, is not as large as it may appear.  There are footprints in the foreground to help provide perspective.

Near mid-day, the wind started to BLOW.  It was whipping through the canyons and gusting to 30 mph.  The talc-like soil was being picked-up by the wind, adding to the clouds of dust we were already making by our sifting.  It became so difficult to keep our eyes open and breath, that we were forced to move to another location, where the dust-storm was at least tolerable.

Because of the wind, you can walk along and see teeth just lying on the surface, that were buried only moments before.  No, the photo to the left is NOT a lucky find.  Those teeth were actually sifted from the loose material lying in the hole pictured right.  Just as we were about to leave though, John looked down, near the truck, where we had walked a dozen times during the course of the day.  To both of our surprise, lying in plain site was an I. planus tooth in perfect condition, similar to the one in the photo, but slightly larger and of a beautiful mottled light color.

For a first trip, we were glad to find anything.  We developed a couple ideas to improve the equipment and got a great work-out.  And most importantly, we made it home safely, to fossil-hunt another day.  Isn't life great.