Went on my first fossil hunt and field trip of the new year on January 14, 2023. It was forecast to be a chilly day in the high 40's, so I bundled up. I hit the road around 8ish to an overcast, cloudy, breezy morning. The sun is supposed to make an appearance around 11ish. I made a stop in Dodge City at a Jack's for the traditional field trip morning meal of two sausage and egg biscuits and a soft drink... so yummy! En route, the sun popped out from behind the clouds and looks like it's going to be a beautiful day! I got to our designated meeting spot in forty five minutes. Of course, I'm the first one there and saw no one else in the parking lot? Eventually, one by one several showed up. Eight brave souls show up for the field trip to breezy, cold temps, and just the right number according to our fearless leader. We got the trip talk and the caravan was on its way to a different location than the one usually visited.
It definitely was a welcomed change of location and site, opening up new possibilities of finding something new in an area that hasn't been picked over? One of my hunting buddies had a friend named Larry, and fellow collector who lived on the lake, and when we got to our meeting site... he had his pontoon boat ready to shuttle us to several sites around the lake... how cool is that!
Larry knew where we could find fossils, so he took us to a spot across the lake that contained Crinoids first. We were at this spot for about an hour. The sun was out in full force... it wasn't that bad, cold air wise! The warmth of the sun was just enough for me to shed a layer!
I found this disarticulated Crinoid amongst Archimedes! The third picture is a Blastoid. It looks like a hungry Pac Man gobbling up all the Crinoid disk segments around. I thought it was humorous, so I kept it!
Lunchtime rolled around so we made a stop at the parking area to snag our lunches. As I was disembarking the boat... it started drifting backward as I stood on the ladder and the water below. A member hurried me, then grabbed me before I took a spill and tossed me onto the shore gravel where I landed on my side. Fortunately for me I didn't get hurt other than my boots getting wet! I had no change of clothes and it was 40 something degrees, so thank God I didn't get wet! I did find this cool Brachiopod underwater next to the shoreline as we got back into the boat!
I ate my samich quickly as I could as we head to the other side of the lake again. When we got off the boat there were limestone slabs everywhere as you see in the picture above! This spot had Crinoids, Brachiopods and possible starfish? While searching the Limestone slabs I found a few trilobutts (not shown, they were too small to get a good picture). Picture #5 is a 3D Archimedes, and below it I was told a trace fossil? I was walking the shoreline and encountered what appeared to be shale slabs and not limestone? I saw faint images on them and turned them over to find butterflied bivalves clam impressions, the 9th picture! I found a few nice ones to take home! Around the bend I was shown a gravely area by one of my hunting buddies where I found my favorite clam steinkerns called Reticulariina spinosa, 5th picture! The sun was starting to set and we had to wrap it up. The last stop to another site was back across the lake where we could find Brachiopods and Blastoids. When I got off the boat, I made my way around the point picking up 3D Horn Coral and Reticulariina spinosa clam steinkerns.
I found another nice fishing lure called a Rat-L-Trap to add to my tackle box! The hooks were a lil' rusted but can be replaced. The colors on this lure were as vibrant as the setting sun in the background. A fitting tribute to a beautiful day for fossil hunting. I looked behind me and saw none of my hunting friends... I assumed they made their way to the vehicles. I hunted another 15 minutes as the sun disappeared behind the trees... it was time to go. We went to visit Larry at his home and to view his large collection of fossils found on the lake! We thanked him for his hospitality and one after the other hit the road home or find somewhere to eat dinner. It was a good day of hunting. I didn't find much that was spectacular but happy with what I found. Look forward to going back soon!
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