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The Utah geologic map describes the location/formation as Manning Canyon Shale (lower Pennsylvanian and upper Mississippian) with black to brown shale with numerous thin beds of light-brown-weathering, gray, fine- grained, shaly sandstone, some lenses or beds of rusty-weathering grit, and one or more thick beds of gray to black, cherty limestone; at least in west contains some beds of light-brown quartzite; shale is carbonaceous with occasional nodules of marcasite. The area I was exploring the most was this type of rock - thick beds of gray to black, cherty limestone - as described above. There were several outcrops of limestone ridges along the rolling hills on the west side of Utah Lake. The area is BLM land with a sign at the gate reminding visitors that Shooting is Not allowed because of the ancient petroglyphs and risk of wildfires. Also, no collecting on this location. So I took only photos and left only footprints on this excursion. Here's the images of what I saw. Standing on an outcrop of limestone with Mt. Timpanogos in the left background, 11,752' summit. This elevation is around 4700' ASL. And just below the lizard's head is a fossil that I think might be bryozoa. There are also at least 3 lichen species mixed among the fossil. Brown bulbous, gray and orange ones. Zoom in to see the fossil best. Thanks for any responses. Steve

Trying to find alternative ways into a remote spot that I call "Bucket of Crinoids". I could conservatively guess billions of bits of crinoids stems but never any calyxes for some mysterious reason. Until today. Maybe. Although this is tiny and split by geologic forces it appears to be a crinoid cup view of a small calyx. As I've never actually found a cup before I would appreciate some guiding thoughts. Diameter would be 15mm maximum.

I stopped by a new road cut today to see if it would be a viable hunting spot. One of the things I found there was this interesting piece. Maybe an Ichnofossil? Some type of burrow or feeding trails? According to the USGS map, the cut is Salem Limestone which is Upper Mississippian in age. Any ideas? This small piece that I picked up came from a larger slab that was over a meter wide. The whole rock was covered in these and they are in between the layers. The big ones are only about 1cm across and most are half that. A photo from the field... This is a picture of it wet...

I stopped by a prospective road cut today. Upper Mississippian (Salem Limestone). I didn't stay long so there is no trip report. Sorry... I promise a full report the next time I am there. I walked it for a few minutes and picked up a hand full of things. I mainly wanted to see if anything could be found and if it warranted spending more time there. I did split a couple of rocks to take a peek. To my amazement, on one of the splits, I found my first recognizable trilobite piece from out in the field! I have found a handful of trilo-bits in gravel drives, parking lots and the like, but never one when I was actually out hunting, so I am super excited! It's a little pygidium and I almost missed it. It is about 10mm long by 14mm wide. I don't know the area very well yet, but I have read that Griffithides bufo can be found in the Salem Limestone formation. I know it may be a long shot, but can any ID be made from this pygidium? The split wasn't the greatest, but I was able to save the positive and negative pieces.

Today I was in Southern Illinois and made a Quick stop at a road cut near Anna, Illinois, just off of Interstate 57. This exposure is: Upper Mississippian Middle Chesterian Series Golconda Formation Harvey Member I found a few nice hash plates and some blastoids, Archimedes’ screw, brachiopods, Horn coral, Bryozoan, crinoid stems and one trilobite pygidium.