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Family Fun Fossil Hunt – River Roots Skills School

Posted by on August 10, 2015
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Fossil Tour Sign

Parking in the horse pasture.

Parking in the horse pasture.

This tour was organized through the Eagle Bluff Environmental Center’s River Roots Skills School (http://www.riverrootsschool.org/) as part of their ecotourism initiative. We got together on August 8th, 2015. People came early and stayed late.  🙂  The class was scheduled for 1-5 p.m. and the last people left around 7 p.m. It was a WONDERFUL class! I wish people could have stayed and we would have had a campfire and talked fossils into the evening! But I am hoping that several come back and we can hunt together again.  😀

Fossil Barn

Fossil Barn

Every tour I give is personalized to the people who come – I don’t do canned tours. I had prepared more of a university level fossil information and hunt.  This was a family tour!  I would say at least half were kids under 14 years old. RRSS had not informed me that there would be children, but any good guide accommodates and they all got to choose dinosaur bones that Old Dead Things had brought me from Montana and Wyoming, Eocene shark and ray teeth donated by another Fossil Forum member, and one little guy got his fluorescent shark’s tooth wrapped in copper wire to wear around his neck. And, of course, there was the fossil sandbox, but these kids weren’t too interested in that as they knew we were going to go hunt fossils “on the rocks”.

Fossilized dinosaur bone on "Dino Island".

Fossilized dinosaur bone on “Dino Island”.

Fossil sandbox. Sand from the St. Peter Formation, Ordovician fossils and a mineral section.

Fossil sandbox. Sand from the St. Peter Formation, Ordovician fossils and a mineral section.

We started out with introductions, so I could determine the experience level of the individuals. And of course where the facilities were:  🙂

Outhouse over a septic system.

Outhouse over a septic system.

I gave them all a laminated copy of my ID sheet and a map of seven fossil sites within 10 miles of Spring Valley (I normally sell these for $5 apiece but at the price they paid for this tour I threw them in), a sheet showing the local formations, formation map of this area and legend, an FYI sheet of the most important things they needed to know to jump start them into fossil hunting (it took me 2 years to figure out some of this) and a class evaluation sheet from RRSS.

ID sheet and map.

ID sheet and map.

FYI, Bedrock Formation Map, Legend for map and photo showing the Formations.

FYI, Bedrock Formation Map, Legend for map and photo showing the Formations.

I introduced them to my fossil barn.

Barn right

Barn left

And things to do with their fossils, like fossil jewelry, fairy gardens, walking sticks, as sculptural art, etc.

Fossil Jewelry

Fossil Jewelry

Then we went on a tour of Ordovician fossils I had collected, along with the “Bev Formation”. I feel that an absolutely critical part of leading a group to fossil hunt is getting them familiar with what the fossils look and feel like. This part of the tour is not only listening and visual learning, but also tactile as I encourage people to pick the fossils up and look at them more closely, feel them and compare them to the ID sheet. I also point out the fossils exposed in my retaining wall – which got me interested in fossils in the first place. None of the fossils on display are prepped. They are exactly as I found them in the wild. I feel this is important because when I started hunting fossils I was looking for ones that looked like the pictures I was seeing on the internet that were already prepped fossils! Being able to recognize a portion of fossil sticking out of the rock is a critical skill.

Cephalopod Lair - Ordovician Cephalopods.

Cephalopod Lair – Ordovician Cephalopods.

Coral Reef - Ordovician corals.

Coral Reef – Ordovician corals.

Moss Creature Mosy - Ordovician Bryozoans.

Moss Creature Mosy – Ordovician Bryozoans.

Brachiopod Bay - Ordovician Brachiopods.

Brachiopod Bay – Ordovician Brachiopods.

Sea Lily Bed - Ordovician Crinoids.

Sea Lily Bed – Ordovician Crinoids.

Fossil Foolery - Dendrites, concretions, odd rocks.

Fossil Foolery – Dendrites, concretions, odd rocks.

Fisherite Float - Ordovician Receptaculitids.

Fisherite Float – Ordovician Receptaculitids.

Trilobite Lagoon - Ordovician Trilobites and Molts.

Trilobite Lagoon – Ordovician Trilobites and Molts.

Snail Trail - Ordovician Gastropods. Maclurites are an index fossil for the Ordovician.

Snail Trail – Ordovician Gastropods. Maclurites are an index fossil for the Ordovician.

The “Snail Trail” is actually better than 75 feet long and contains over 200 fossilized Ordovician gastropods.

Over 200 fossilized Ordovician gastropods.

Over 200 fossilized Ordovician gastropods.

What we do and where we go is decided in a fairly democratic manner. I, personally, feel more comfortable trying to make the majority happy than imposing my will on people. But I do understand that this part can get confusing. We jumped in our vehicles and I took them on a site tour that started at Masonic Park and our first hunt was actually a site not on the map – excellent one for the kids as pretty much every other rock is fossilized.

site 1 pic 1

Great fossils were found including a wonderful, very articulated, cephalopod (that I didn’t get a picture of) and this quartz filled Fusispera sp. that I would be proud to put in my own collection!

Fusispera sp. Ordovician gastropod fossil infilled with quartz.

Fusispera sp. Ordovician gastropod fossil infilled with quartz.

site 1  2

We had chatted a bit about the likely finds at different sites and several people made the decision to hunt other sites, so we decided to meet back at Whispering Winds at 4:30 p.m. for an ID and prepping time.

This is Site 5 and it gave up some very nice fossils!

Site 5

Site 5

dad.daughter in purple

D,GD.2girls

dad.son.daughter

mother.son huddle

This little gal found the prize of the day!

A Flexyclymene trilobite cephalon!

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56615-trilobite-and-trilobite-parts/

trilobite girl

Flexicalymene Trilobite enrolled.

Flexicalymene Trilobite enrolled.

trilobite in field held

trilo 2

 Flexyclymene Trilobite

Flexyclymene drydredgershttp://drydredgers.org/fragflx1.htm

 

I thought this one may be a sponge and that may be true yet, but most of the TFF members are weighing in on this being a Bryozoa sp.

spong maybe cu

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56614-sponge-or-bryozoan/

When I first looked at this chert, I thought it may be a small cephalopod that fossilized into quartz, but when I put it on the Fossil ID forum the guys came back with Vug. A beautiful Vug in drusy quartz.

Vug in chert.

Drusy Quartz Vug in chert.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56618-fossil-or-fissure-in-chert/

And there were beautiful, death bed hash plates chipped away from  boulders that I would be proud to display on my mantel!

BIG hash plate rs

The photo I missed was of a stunning 3D crinoid coming right out of the rock! Oh, was I jealous of that find! To heck with trilobites! I love crinoids!

I just couldn’t ID this fossil and TFF members saw it as a squashed Ordovician gastropod.

Mashed Gastropod

Mashed Ordovician Gastropod

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56617-hmmm-dont-have-a-clue/

Prep time came when we got back to the fossil barn and then the interest in the engraver, rotary tool, and yes, my acid bath, was sparked.

These kids had a blast with the magnifying visor and checking things out.

These kids had a blast with the magnifying visor and checking things out including the “Glow in the Dark” fossils!

Engraver for preparing fossils.

Engraver for preparing fossils.

Rotary Tool for preparing fossils.

Rotary Tool for preparing fossils.

Muriatic Acid bath area for washing rock to see the fossils better - NOT for bryozoa or crinoids!

Muriatic Acid bath area for washing rock to see the fossils better – NOT for bryozoa or crinoids!

This little gal found an AWESOME hash plate that we cleaned up and wrapped up for her to take back home in the car.

Proud fossil hunter with a Great hash plate!

Proud fossil hunter with a Great hash plate!

And this fossil… Crinoid or Bryozoan? The answer is still out on that… But at almost 2 inches wide it would be one of the larger crinoids I have seen come out of this area.

Crinoid or Bryozoan?

Ordovician Crinoid or Bryozoan?

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56619-crinoid-or-bryozoan/

And what looked to me like a trilobite pygidium, the TFF guys said was cracked and jumbled brachiopod shell.

Trilobite Pygidium or broken Brachiopod? Later...  :-(

Trilobite Pygidium or broken Brachiopod?

pygidium better

Another Awesome hash plate!

Lots of stuff in this hash plate!

Lots of stuff in this hash plate!

Lots of stuff in this hash plate including potential trilobite parts!

Trilobite parts?

Trilobite parts?

New member of TFF: DUST N BONES – what a cool handle!

Joe - aspiring Paleontologist!  :-D

Joe – aspiring Paleontologist! 😀

Joe with his prizes for the day!

The last people went home just before 7 p.m. driving all the way back to St. Paul, and they even got to see my prized crinoid plate. The evaluations were great and it was all around a fulfilling day of fossil hunting!

 

I put this post up on the General Discussion forum of thefossilforum.com as a potential model for other fossil enthusiasts around the world.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56645-fossil-tour-example/

“Sowing the sense of wonder! Good on ya’!

All Johnny Appleseed did was plant trees…you plant lifetimes of curiosity.”

Auspex – TFF administrator

Beverly Sandlin with her Collie, Jessica.

Beverly Sandlin with her Collie, Jessica.

 

 

What an incredible compliment!

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