“Beach” Hunt on Cty. 8

The “beach” as I spotted it going west on Cty. 8 out of Fillmore.

I think I have found a new favorite place to hunt fossils close to home! This is a rocky outcrop (I

Rural Address ID just east of the entrance.

would call it a sandbar, but there is really no sand.) on Cty. 8 about 7 miles east of Spring Valley. Perhaps 2 miles west of Fillmore. The closest marker I could come up with is this rural identification address.

It is on a little used portion of gravel road, look for the dead snapping turtle! LOL Yes, I know, it won’t be there next year, but it should also warn you for what

Crushed Snapping Turtle.

to look out for as that is a big one, perhaps an 18 incher! I’m inclined to call it a beach, but we really have no beaches in Fillmore County because we have no lakes. No lake in the entire county in MinnesOta—land of over 15,000 lakes. Yes, Fillmore is one of only four counties in the entire state to have no natural lakes, but we do have 750 miles of rivers and creeks! So, this is a Fillmore County version of a beach. 🙂

Entrance from Cty. 8

You pretty much need to park on the side of the road, but it is not traveled much, so no big deal. The water is high right now due to excess rain this year, normally it is down a couple of feet and crystal clear. But it is the flooding that built the bar and brings in new fossils and, yes, Native American artifacts! This entire valley was once a Native American settlement before the European’s moved in. There are lots of arrowheads, etc. found here. We have a lot of chert in our limestone, which is an alternative to flint for making arrow and spearheads. So archeo-paleo finds are common here, similar to

The “beach” is solid rock and lots of it is fossilized!

Masonic Park which is also a wonderful place to take kids or just have a family outing.

This entrance looks groomed enough to be a canoe, kayak, raft, tubing jump off. Heck, it would probably be a nice hour or two float on a hot day to the bridge on Cty. 5 just north of Fillmore to be picked up. Hmmm might have to bring an extra tube with a basket to hold all the fossils you can pick up along the way! Super trout stream, or great for just wading and relaxing on a hot summers day. About all you can hear is the rushing of the water and birdsong. Plus there are great little pools in back that the kids can play in.

Watch out! Burning Nettle!

The only nastys I found were wild parsnip on the right of way and

High water.

burning nettle–Itchy weed, stinging nettle, whatever, you just don’t want to get into it! If you do, wash immediately in the creek! And wear some insect repellant and sunscreen.

And the FOSSILS! It is actually overwhelming… This is a site where

Clear pools on back side away from creek.

you pick and choose what you want to haul out as there are so many! I dragged home a backpack full of fossils including hash plates!

“The Haul”

However, so sign of sparkly creek rock (quartzite embedded rock) here like at the sandbar on the bike trail near HNC.

So, in about forty minutes this is what I picked up…

Four rings of a really big cephalopod!

Really neat rock with brozoa and crinoids.

I believe this to be a cephalopod imprint.

A tumbled hash plate with a trilobite in it!

A trilobite pygidium with perhaps a cephalon and another pygidium to the right.

A nice day at the beach!