The site under investigation, known as Site 48NA2526, is located in central Wyoming's Wind River Basin, near the town of Hell's Half Acre in Natrona County. This area is just east of the Middle Rocky Mountains, near where the Continental Divide crosses the state.

It's cool and dry in these parts, and very windy - in fact, when Mike videotapes the site, his voice must compete with the sputtering of strong gusts against the camera's microphone. The excavation site is on a dusty, treeless plain dotted with clumps of short, tough grass and occasional shrubs. Isolated rounded hills stand in the distance, though views to the horizon are largely unobstructed. This ecosystem is broadly referred to as high desert steppe, or cold desert.

The team at work on a housepit at Site 48NA2526. The pipeline trench is visible in the foreground, as is a whitish carbonate zone in the soil.

The Express Pipeline right-of-way is evidenced by the silvery skeletons of powerline towers, which are clearly visible on the relatively featureless plain. (In fact, even the team's portable toilets are jarringly noticeable in such a flat area.)

During their field sessions at Site 48NA2526, the team has been staying in motels in Hell's Half Acre, though primitive camping has been the norm at some of the more remote sites excavated in previous sessions. Mike and his team generally work in 10-day sessions, with an average pipeline corridor excavation taking 5 or 6 sessions from start to finish.