My Whole 2 Days in the Field

Well, I didn't have much to write about, but since Tom insisted that I post something or he was going to murder everything that I love, I decided to write down a few things...

Let's see... well, I only looked at 4 mines this week.  Yep, just 4. That's because Stephanie and I were just cleaning up the maps, looking for any mines that she and Jessica (Stephanie's old assistant) missed.  They were all hard to get to, that's why they didn't do them in the first place.  Mine #737 was probably the most fun, Stephanie drove up to the mine, which was very high up on the side of a steep cliff, and she explained that she and Jessica could not get to the mine by climbing because it was too high, so she wanted us to drive 2 miles down the road and follow a path that eventually winds near the mine.  Er.... NO WAY! I was NOT going to walk 2 miles to record a stupid mine.  I took one look at it where we were from the car and I said: "You know, that looks totally do-able. I'm just gonna climb it." No, it did not look do-able, but I also was not going to walk 4 miles round trip for one mine that takes 10 minutes to record.  Stephanie thought I was insane! I thought; screw it, I'm climbing this thing if my life depends on it! So Stephanie handed me her camera since she wasn't about to cimb up after me.  I didn't even stop to think about it I just booked it up that cliff. About half way up, I heard a rustle in the bushes next to me.  Normally, I wouldn't care because there are all matter of lizards, antelope ground squirrel, and other creatures that are too small to worry about.  The monster that came tromping out of this bush scared the living shit out of me! It was a lizard about a foot long, but it wasn't like any lizard I had seen before.  He was all fat and chunky, and this internet sucks so I can't post a photo but it was a freakin Gila Monster!!!!! A FREAKIN... MONSTER LIZARD WITH BLACK SKIN AND MURDER IN HIS EYES!!!! Look one up right now! Those things are scary. They're even scarier when they're running straight for you! And this one was pounding his way across the cliff face, out of his bush, and straight for me!  Needless to say I screamed bloody murder and scrambled up that cliff faster than I thought possible. I was kicking rocks and grabbing at any hand holds that would get me as far from that thing as possible! I crawled my way over the edge of the cliff and onto the platform of the mine.  I rolled over on my hands and knees to look over the edge of the cliff, and there was the beast. I watched him contently waddle the rest of the way down the cliff and into the ravine below. Ew. Oh but I saw bighorn sheep so it was almost worth it.