The Coot, the Codger, the Aluminum Blond and the Kid.

For years, weather permitting, you could find them every Thursday morning at the Fruita Paleontological Area. They were the ones humped over, eyes and hand trowels stuck to the ground, searching, looking, wondering, pondering…

These dedicated volunteer paleontologists and a handful of their devout brethren cannot get enough of this small one-half mile square of bentonite only a few minutes from downtown Fruita.

Why?

This tiny spot between the mighty Colorado River and the towering uplifts of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area preserves a greater diversity of prehistoric life from the Jurassic Period - 150 million years ago – than any other known place on earth.

I’m not making this up. Based on the variety of fossils discovered here, this spot is Paleo Nirvana. In fact, one of the most unique fossils ever discovered – the Fruitafossor windscheffeli – was discovered and named after 82-year-old Grand Junction resident Wally Windscheffel, a member of the aforementioned group.

Wally is a field associate with the Carnegie Museum. In 1991, shortly after he retired from the Navy, he and wife Beverly moved to GJ. Wally had been visiting this area since 1985 on paleontological digs with Dr. George Callison, another current GJ resident who taught courses with Earth Watch through a California university.

“I came out on a two-week expedition with George, and I rarely look up anymore,” Wally said. “I really got hooked on it.”

In 1998, Wally and one of his buddies “found the actual rock that contained the fossil, but we didn’t recognize it because it was just a rock with a speck of bone showing. Later, in examining and preparing the fossil – it took about two years to prepare it – we found this guy not much bigger than a field mouse.

Wally had discovered the fossilized remains of an animal about 15 cm (six inches) long and weighing about 30 grams (about one ounce). Slightly longer and slimmer than a hairy-tailed mouse, it was a digger, hiding in burrows from larger dinosaurs. Mammals co-existing with Fruitafossor mostly ate insects. Other types of animals living here back then included crocodiles, turtles, lizards, sphenodonts, frogs and flying reptiles as well as the first birds.

To reach the trailhead from Grand Junction, take I-70 west to Fruita (Hwy 340/Exit 19). Travel south across the river for 1.3 miles to Kings View Estates Subdivision. Turn right (west), go through the subdivision and follow the signs toward Horsethief Canyon State Wildlife Area. The trailhead will be on your left, 2.2 miles from the entrance to Kings View Estates.