Search the Community

Come and join us as we dig up nodules from the Francis Creek Shale and celebrate Ken's (Digit) birthday! We will be heading to Fossil Rock campground in Wilmington, IL on Sunday the 7th of June. Our Floridian friends Ken and Tammy will be heading North to Chicagoland for business and pleasure. We WILL BE DIGGING, so digging tools, buckets and gloves will definitely help in your hunt. It also will cost $5 per person to enter and dig the campground. Here is a weather link for weather updates http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/wilmington-il/60481/extended-weather-forecast/629 Suggested items list: +Shovel, spade, pickaxe, screwdriver, garden claw, rock hammer (anything you're comfortable digging tough shale with) +gloves help. I sometimes forget mine and then my blisters have blisters. But sometimes I over do it and can't stop searching. +bug spray. There are a ton of mosquitos, ticks and spiders. +water. +snacks and/or food +buckets. Two is better than one. Evening out your load between two buckets helps while hiking up and down the hills. +backpack, bag or whatever to carry tools, water, phone, etc. +sandwich baggies. I like to keep these handy for long broken nodules that can be pieced back together at a later time. It keeps all of the fragments separate from your other nodules. +boots are suggested. It does get muddy and slippery. +an extra pair of clothes and shoes definitely helps on the ride home, especially if we get wet. +knee pads, if you got em'. Those are my basics. If anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to post them. You can find mainly Carboniferous flora. But insects, horseshoe crabs, shrimp and even Eurypterids have been recovered from here.