# Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...



## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

What an outing... Penn Digger and I had been studying an old forgotten valley for a few years now...certain recent circumstances led us to come up with a plan to get up in there...You see, the only practical access was a spot where we _NO WAY _could park and leave a vehicle....so it had been back burnered for awhile while we dug other places... I was studying an old map and looking for other ways in...A very isolated place. Tom suggested a crazy but workable scheme...To haul one or both of our mountain bikes to a nearby "safe spot"...Then bike in. We adjusted this plan to where he dropped me off with our gear, then drove back to an "okay" spot, parked and bicycled about two miles to where I waited,...so far, so good...However, when we were driving to the drop off place, Tom says "what's that up ahead in the road?" at about the same time, we both said "BEAR"!  There was a good sized _black bear,_ sleeping right in the middle of the dirt road! [] Tom tried to manuver to where I could get a pic, but by the time I got him in the view finder he was up, and ran up a steep embankment...Then we both realized Tom had to ride back through there on the bicycle in a few minutes...[8|] We didn't see the bear again till later in the day...

 Here's our rather feeble bear defense system, still, was glad I threw it in the pack this morning..


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We had to get through _two_ different off limits areas before it was safe to explore and dig...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

When we came to our first spot on the map, we spotted some promising shards before we even pin-pointed the homestead...

 Black glass base...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Early pickle...(some porcupine gnawing visible) [:'(]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We found shoe soles, stove parts and med panels in the creek near the first foundation...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We couldn't find an obvious dumpsite, so continued to the next couple of spots...We followed an old trace road way up the valley till it faded away...As we were heading back down, Tom says to me, "What's that up on the hillside?" I had been poking around in an old spring that looked dammed up from a century ago...I looked to where he was pointing, and It looked like one of those foil party balloons from where we were standing...Tom hiked up to it saying that he'd heard there was sometimes a "reward" when finding them... []

 No reward....[]  Or WAS there???[]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Next thing I hear is "Holy ***t,...Check this out![]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

About three feet away from the balloon was this crazy cool amber blob...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Okay,...it was laying right on top, was alone (and whole)....so check out it's backside..[]


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## surfaceone (Apr 14, 2012)

Hey Joe & Mayor Tom,

 Great story so far. I'm digging the approach. The creative boundary penetration and the code words. 

 Not a porcupine fan. Use'ta get $2 a nose as a kid. Is that a flare gun? When's bear season?

 Sorry didn't want to interrupt, but I always enjoy your journeys. And this yarn is off to a toothy start.

 This is so fine!


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

What are the odds?? We scoured the entire area, but only found a few broken crock pieces...nothing else. We decided to hike back out, checking out the spot with the shoes again on the way down.


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## epackage (Apr 14, 2012)

Lovin that blob !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Had a great pic of Tom to post, but he prefers incognito...[8D] 

 As we hiked down a slightly different way, we were walking along this level spot, and I wandered to the gully edge thinking the spot looked way too level to be natural....even though it showed not on our map, There was glass and pottery down in the creek!


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We walked around, trying to make sense of the place, and found a couple shallow dug out spots on the side of the embankment, the trail of shards seemed to lead to the one dug out spot, then we started thinking maybe the people living there put their privy on the edge of the bank...Tom started digging and we started finding buttons, aqua shards and square cut nails....


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We dug around the embankment, trying to find the concentration of glass, but it was random...A bottle here, another there, and lots of cool shards too...Tom dug this one out down below the privy...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Then this one came out....Tom was doing the "please be whole" mantra....[] (We've all uttered those words...) Sorry I don't have more in situ pics, but was too busy digging...

 It was a larger version of the semi local "Parmalee" bottle from Dansville NY...Alas it did have a small ping on one corner..


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

This one had _me_ saying the pleasebewhole prayer,...but man, no go! real nice color and it was broken in place!


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

We had hiked a long ways and were running out of time,...still had to bike back and get the vehicle, so this area still has a lot of sites we did not get to, and we'll be going back sometime this summer...(Bummer Fred couldn't join us, his one foot's been giving him trouble)[] Anyhow, thanks for "bearing" with us...[sm=lol.gif] (I didn't see any bears biking back to get the wheels, but driving back to get Tom, I saw him (her?) again, or perhaps another one, disappearing into the brush as I drove past!) Here's Tom's blob....cleaned up real nice, and the best find of the day too! Thanks for joining us. If anyone has any info on this guy please chime right in! Tom will have it with him at the Rochester show tomorrow too....Hope to see you guys there...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Great color on this guy...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)




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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

> ORIGINAL: surfaceone
> 
> Hey Joe & Mayor Tom,
> 
> ...


 

 Hey Surf!....Thanks for the two cents for sure,...Bear season is later towards fall/early winter...And yep, a 12 gauge flare pistol...(I have no pistol permit)[] I suppose it's a handy loophole, and as far as I know, no law against carrying it. Haven't had to try it out yet, but hopefully it would buy us some time to get away, or maybe even save our hides...[8|]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

and speaking of porcupines....This one even got me! I've seen them eat and chew tractor tires, aluminum signs and everything else you could imagine, but this is the first time I've ever seen one gnaw at an antique flask! OUCH!  Toothy indeed...[]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

They must have some really hard enamal on their teeth!


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Wass looking closer at Penn's amber blob, even it has some slight evidence of gnawing...[8|]


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 14, 2012)

Here's a pic from an outing last summer,... one of the bridge markers they (porcupines) "ate"...


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## downeastdigger (Apr 14, 2012)

GREAT story, one of the best of the year on the forum, I'd say.  Man, what a cool amber blob!  Certainly never seen it before, but I'm sure someone on here can help ID it. Some of those other shards looked early as well.  I hate it when people leave comments on here saying, "man if I were you, I'd go back and dig that place out!"   but.....man if I were you I'd dig that place out   Seriously, I know how it goes, and I'm sure  you  probed the hell out of the place.

 I'm still in a digging/diving slump, so good mojo off your post here may give me a boost.

 Haven't seen a bear while on a dig yet, thats on my bucket list.


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## CreekWalker (Apr 14, 2012)

Thanks, great story!  Do you carry the capsium cartridge for bear repellant?


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## RICKJJ59W (Apr 14, 2012)

Wow just laying on top??? Nice blobs.
   Man you guys get the easy pickins I'll tell ya[] ya got machines to dig lots.ya got bottle's   under houses and you find bottles just laying in the woods.

 Im going to move up there so i don't have to bust my Nutzz diggin privys [8D]


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## Penn Digger (Apr 14, 2012)

Joe - Nice posts, as always.

 Rick - We don't get the age of bottles you get down your way.  The bottle was actually on a bit of an  angle.  The top was in the dirt and there was some dirt inside.

 Anybody ever seen an amber blob with a backside like that one?



 Pd


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## div2roty (Apr 14, 2012)

Bears????  I'd be afraid the flare gun would just piss them off, maybe make them hungry.

  Cool story.  Too bad the pepper sauce and the pickle were not whole, they looked good.


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## surfaceone (Apr 14, 2012)

> If anyone has any info on this guy please chime right in!


 
 Hey Joe,

 What a jaunt of a tale, and one wonderful, only slightly gnawn bottle! [8D] 

 Am I correct in reading that as "L.A. Smith, Dunkirk, NY"? If so, I sure didn't find much. Just an old Worthlesspoint Listing, from 2008, without photo, extolling it as "Rare !"

 I'm gonna point you to an Allegheny Valley History, that contains, at least, this tantalizing tidbit, "Mary L., married L. A. Smith, and died in Dunkirk, New York." I rapidly scanned about half of it for 45 min. or so, but did not find the Smith Connection. Sorry, I'm feeling a lack of patience tonight. There's quite a bit of Bradford content there, so you should find some of it of interest.

 Diggers have to battle all sorts of conditions and obstacles, in the hunt, but heretofore, I hadn't even worked gnawing porcupines into the mix. [8D]





From.


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## Terphunter (Apr 15, 2012)

Cool post...would love to find an open blob like that!


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## rockbot (Apr 15, 2012)

That is one nice find guys, the embossed blob bottle on the bottle with THIS BOTTLE NEVER SOLD is far out cool!
 How rare is that![]
 Always a great adventure. congrats!




> ORIGINAL:  JOETHECROW
> 
> Great color on this guy...


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## mr.fred (Apr 15, 2012)

Great adventure you 2[]---sorry i missed out on it[]-----Tom that bottle is awesome!           ~Fred


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## bottle_head9 (Apr 15, 2012)

Thans for sharing Joe. I really enjoyed your adventure.[]


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## BellwoodBoys (Apr 15, 2012)

Great adventure and bottles Joe. All the amber blobs I dig up are broken[]


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## bombboy (Apr 15, 2012)

Joe,

   J A Smith is listed on Tod's site, and mention of the bottle motif, however, not in amber as yours.

 Excellant finds and a great story. Ever think of getting some bear repellant? Its not illegal, in NY that is, just dont use it on humans, even if they deserve it. 

 Mark


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## Wheelah23 (Apr 15, 2012)

That is a REALLY awesome bottle to just find sitting on the surface like that! I can't even imagine how excited you guys were. I woulda been doing backflips! Great find!


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## surfaceone (Apr 15, 2012)

> J A Smith is listed on Tod's site, and mention of the bottle motif, however, not in amber as yours.


 
 Hey Mark,

 I always have trouble navigating Tod's site. I couldn't find JA Smith. I couldn't find LA Smith. L & A Smith, same story. I got the error message: "Warning: No firms found. Try changing your above selection parameters." about 6 times, and gave up.

 Could'ya put up a link please? Tod's excellent site hates me.[8D]


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## Wheelah23 (Apr 15, 2012)

Here's the three L. A. Smith bottles Tod has listed... No tall amber blobs, or any tall ones for that matter, so an email to Tod may be necessary...


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## surfaceone (Apr 15, 2012)

Thank you, Connor.

 Hey Joe & Mayor Tom,

 From all that I've been unable to find on L.A. Smith, I think you have a real good one there. The Embossed bottle & unusually embossed "This Bottle Never" framing it, make it special to my eyes.

 Is there any maker info? Am it a quart? Why do I have this strong feeling you guys are wending your way back there, as I type?

 Hope so. And that there will be no parachuting involved... Camp out in the planning stages?


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## bombboy (Apr 15, 2012)

Surface, my bad L A Smith is correct, sorry was thinking of another item I've been researching. Looking for an elusive J.A. Peach baseball glove, stuck in my head.

 Info Conner posted is the same I saw, mention of the bottle motif on the back but not in amber. And trust me, I think Tod's site hates me as well, this was the first it really worked for me and I couldn't even get the info right. 

 But it is a great bottle none the less and a surface find to boot. The bottle gods were shining on someones b hind that day. 

 Mark


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## SAbottles (Apr 15, 2012)

Hey Joe, porcupines chewing on your bottles? You can't be feeding them right. Mind you, this little bugger gnawed on our back door -









 and went on till he damned nearly ate through the door !  -










 Great story, you seem to have amazing wilderness areas around you ? Nice to get a bottle with a picture of a bottle on it ! []


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## Road Dog (Apr 15, 2012)

Thanks for the great tell Joe. []  That amber Blob is nice. Like finding 2 bottles in one.


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 15, 2012)

Thanks so much everyone for all the positive comments!....Glad you all enjoyed the telling of our backwoods outing...as far as I know there are few bottles with a pic of a bottle on them...[] Tom brought it to the Rochester show today and there was quite a clamor over it,....He ended up selling it about an hour or so after we arrived...

 This is the only bottle in my collection with a bottle depicted on it...Don't see too many. We'll post again, next trip back to the balloon area... Again,...thanks.






 Also a big thanks to all the research given freely here!....Very interesting and good reading!


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## cadburys (Apr 15, 2012)

Love that beer ...great job. Never heard of a porcupine gnawing on stuff before!

 Ant


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 15, 2012)

> You can't be feeding them right.


 
 LoL...Thanks Dale,...I guess we should have offered them the front door to chew on instead of a flask![sm=lol.gif]


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## CazDigger (Apr 15, 2012)

I only got to see Joe and Tom for a brief minute at the Rochester show but they did have time to show me that beer and it was even nicer in person. Great find!


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## madman (Apr 15, 2012)

GREAT ADVENTURE JOE! NICE FINDS LOOKS PRODUCTIVE! CRAZY CRITTERS EATING ALUMINUM AND GLASS THATS NOT NORMAL...................


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## Penn Digger (Apr 15, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  CazDigger
> 
> I only got to see Joe and Tom for a brief minute at the Rochester show but they did have time to show me that beer and it was even nicer in person. Great find!


 

 Nice to see you today Mark.  Sorry we couldn't come up last night for the hospitality party.  There's always next year....

 PD


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 16, 2012)

> ORIGINAL: cadburys
> 
> Love that beer ...great job. Never heard of a porcupine gnawing on stuff before!
> 
> Ant


 
 Thanks Ant! Pretty crazy stuff....


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## tftfan (Apr 17, 2012)

Nice bottles ! Sounds like a fun adventure ! Gotta keep an eye open for those bears...They can be fast when they are hungry !!


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## Sodasandbeers (Apr 17, 2012)

My site really doesn't hate anyone.

 When using the name search, use it like a phone book; Last name, first name.  Thanks to Chris for that tip.

 You can enter in just the last name as well

 If you cannot find it by name, just enter in the town name and nothing else.  You don't have to enter in a name at all.

 When the name search comes up, there are instructions and examples of how to search.

 Hope you have better luck!


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## surfaceone (Apr 17, 2012)

Thanks, Tod,

 By God, there the instructions are. I'm feeling extra ditzy now. [8D]

 Thanks again for a great site, and the patience to educate above & beyond the call.

 Are'ya gonna axe Mayor Tom for a photo? You'd be one of the few internet outposts known to have a pixelated example...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 17, 2012)

Tod,...Please feel free to use these pics on your site if you'd like...


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## JOETHECROW (Apr 17, 2012)

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## temwood (Apr 20, 2012)

That bottle from Dunkirk, NY is really cool because thats my hometown....


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

Well, Tom and I had been knocking around the idea of revisiting this place since we were there back in April...yesterday we both had the afternoon free, and decided to go check it out...see if we could find any other spots up in there. This time we decided to just park the truck, and both bike in...We did a scouting run first...to make sure the coast was clear, and drop off Penn's potato rake...[]  This pic was modified abit to protect the guilty....[]


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

We gathered up our gear and headed in....Here's a rare Penn Digger sighting on a bike! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 He was flying low the two miles in...I had a hard time keeping up...[]


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

When we got to the appointed spot, we stashed and chained the bikes in the brush, to do our hike portion of the bottle "triathalon"[&:]... The forecast hadn't called for rain, but it started raining just after we began our hike....


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

It was getting dark in the woods, and early on, Tom bent to retie his boot, and I glanced past where he was crouched and there was a dead whitetail deer about three feet behind him laying in the tall grass....I asked, "Tom, did you see that deer behind you, and what the heck killed it?" [8|]  Tom turned to me and said "It's throat's been slashed!" !!! Oh boy...


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

We headed up into the area we had found a few homesteads before, and I wanted to dig some more at the spot where we had found a few at an unmapped home site, while Tom wanted to go back up to the head of the valley and recheck the place where the balloon and the blobtop were found....I wasn't 100% sure that splitting up was the best idea, but weighed the pros and cons...We decided that after an hour, I would hike up to where Tom was heading...one reason for my misgivings was that the bears are getting ready for hibernation right now, and are hungry and on the move,  So I decided to eat the food I brought first, then dig. []


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

I reaquainted myself with the spot,...cleared the leaves away, and started digging...well, you all know how it is when your finding nice shards...Keep on digging! Dug for what had to be an hour, still no Tom...or any whole bottles...[8|] Had a small 'Farm and fleet' el cheapo three prong digger that fit my pack...but not my hand...Ended up with some new blisters..and a lot of early crude shards...I did dig part of an aqua version of Tom's prior Dunkirk blob....but the rain was affecting my already beat camera...dirt in the lens mechanism wouldn't let it auto focus...so couldn't get too many good digging pics....At one point, this shard popped out of the bank and fired me up for another 20 mins. or so...[]


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

I was taking a break for a drink of water, and saw someting moving....It was Tom! I was hoping he came to get me, with a pack full of bottles to show, but other than a few slip decorated crock pieces, he hadn't found much, but _had_ hiked another hour beyond where I was...We were running short on daylight, and decided to check one last spot down below us, that had shard all around, but no obvious dump, or enough remaining geography to guess where a privy might have been. We did find their rock walled spring, and some more crockery sitting along the wall. You can see the spot where I pulled it out of the dirt and set it up a tier higher...


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## bostaurus (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

Love the stories and pictures!


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## JOETHECROW (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

Well, after that spot, we really did have to hike out....the only thing different on the way out, was that something had been feeding on the deer while we were up in there....We found the bikes where we left them, got adjusted with our stuff and headed for the van...perfect timing as when we got to the van it was just full dark...We did find another fork in the road that begs exploring...It is cut off on my 1899 map, so who knows whats up there? Third time's the charm?  Perhaps that will be our lucky spot! Thanks for tagging along with us.  []  Not much to show for an hour and a half of digging, but that's how it goes...


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## Dugout (Sep 30, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

Nice to see you 2 getting out and exploring. You'll find it eventually!


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## Penn Digger (Sep 30, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  JOETHECROW
> 
> Great color on this guy...


 
 I now regret selling that bottle the next day at the Rochester, NY show.  You can't keep them all I guess...Maybe I will find another next time we go back up that valley?

 PD


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 30, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  Penn Digger
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 That's like saying maybe I will find another puce eagle [8D] Wait,I didn't sell mine lol Hold on to those "different" ones you probably wont find them in the ground again.


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## mr.fred (Oct 2, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*



> ORIGINAL:  JOETHECROW
> 
> We gathered up our gear and headed in....Here's a rare Penn Digger sighting on a bike!
> 
> ...


 Glad to see the Training Wheels are off![sm=thumbup.gif]


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## Plumbata (Oct 2, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*

Awesome that you guys use bikes!

 Back in college I bicycled to quite a number of dumps. It saved gas and was good exercise and there was just something more "centering" and harmonious about biking to a dig spot, stashing the bike next to the hole, then loading up the pack and tools on the back and biking back home.

 Hard to explain, but something about being outside in the fresh air the whole time, hearing the birds and smelling the smells and seeing the sights at a slower pace (versus the time being punctuated by being enclosed withing an unnatural vehicle, and going too fast to appreciate the little sights to be seen) made each dig feel much more "complete" and in-tune with the world, and thus much more satisfying and therapeutic. 

 Anyway, keep it up guys, and may you find the mother-load of pontiled wax sealers in an as-yet unfound cellar-hole! []


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## JOETHECROW (Oct 3, 2012)

*RE: Bicycles, Bears, Balloons and bottles...Part 2*



> ORIGINAL: Plumbata
> 
> Awesome that you guys use bikes!
> 
> ...


 





 Thanks Stephen! Likewise to you,...the bikes DO make it more fun.


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