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This is my first year hunting Mazon Creek and I've found some cool stuff so far. I'm starting this thread not only for myself but for others to show off their personal Mazon Creek finds that you're proud of. I will be continuously adding to this thread to show pictures and i may need help with IDs. We all love pictures, so don't be shy. Show us what you got! And someone please correct any mistaken IDs (that's how we learn) Edit: IDs added Pecopteris mazoniana-Pit 2 Alethopteris serli-Pit 2 Lobetelson partial Shrimp-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Rhaphidiophorus hystrix (polychaete worm)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11

I haven't really been on here in awhile. But I decided to join the land of the living once more and start doing what I love again. I had found this nodule at Fossil Rock a few weeks ago. Several freeze/thaw cycles later here she is. I knew I could clean it up and make it look presentable, so I took on the challenge. Plus it is my biggest specimen of A.serlii to date. Here she is glued back together. Then she needed a good soaking in vinegar. Sometimes I won't clean the Calcite off. But in this case it was covering most of the fine detail, so I did. Here she is cleaned and with a bit of prep work. Then I decided to restore it a bit using Magic Sculpt. Filling cracks adds stability as well as makes it pleasing to the eye. Continued......

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.

I'm wrapping up the finishing touches on my Mazon Creek cabinet. I made custom lexan shelves. Wrapped the backer with basket weave vinyl. And mounted rope lighting around it. One problem is the plastic doors. They're shot and i need to replace them with good ol' fashioned glass. I also made all of the custom mounts for my collection. I tried to utilize as much space as possible, so i made the mounts all different sizes. All of the mounts are cut lexan. I still have to make a few more, but 99% are done. And if i ever have the luxury of finding better examples of the specimens i have now, i can just keep cycling them into my main large display case. These are just my best finds to date. Flora side. Mainly pit 2. Fauna side. Mainly pit 11. Let me know if you have any questions on who, what, where and how. Thanks for lookin'

I and other members will be heading to Fossil Rock campground to hunt pit 2 on Sunday October 19th 2014. Hopefully the weather will corporate and we can get our buckets filled! Come and join us. It doesn't matter if you've never done it before, i will be happy to teach you what to look for and how to be successful in your 300mya scavenger hunt. We will meet at the Shell gas station in Coal City @ 8-8:30am. It's just west of rt.55 on 113. Hopefully this link will help http://goo.gl/maps/z6m7q Supplies you need and may want. -shovel, pickaxe, rockhammer (basically a good and sturdy digging device). We will be digging through hard shale. -a pair of gloves to keep from collecting blisters -a pair of extra clothes and boots/shoes definitely helps on the ride home. -a bucket, backpack, rock bag (anything that will handle about 5lbs-50lbs worth of rocks) -water is a must, water, water, water -snacks and food is up to you -hiking boots, old pair of shoes, etc. They will get dirty. -i would say bug spray, but being so late in the year hopefully they won't be too crazy. -also it's $5 a person to dig at the campground. This pit is great for very well preserved plants, wood, insects and horseshoe crabs. I have found some awesomely preserved stuff there. These are some of the hardest nodules you will collect anywhere in the Mazon Creek area, and sometimes they take over 30+ freeze/thaw cycles to pop. As i stated above, we WILL be digging, so eat your Wheaties. You can hike around and try and surface collect, but since the spoil piles aren't that tall it may be a waste of time. Here's a live weather link to check the weather for that day. http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/coal-city-il/60416/weather-forecast/332818 Hope to see you there!

I've been freeze/thawing my pit 2 nods from my last trip to Mazon Creek and I've found some pretty cool stuff so far, but im wondering about these two. These are the positive impressions of two split nods. Both share a semi circular base, which leads me to believe they could be poorly preserved horseshoe crabs. I haven't found one yet, so i have nothing in-hand to compare them to. These are pretty small, and are cell phone shots, so don't hurt yourself straining your eyes too bad. Any help is appreciated! Mystery #1 Mystery #2 ...........or they could be poorly preserved trigonocarpus sp. Honestly i have no clue.....