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Hi Everyone,

I took a 2 week trip to the Ohio Valley, arriving back in New York about a week ago. It was primarily a family visit since many of my relatives now reside in the Elizabethtown, KY area. However, the Ohio Valley, as some of you know, is very rich in Paleozoic fossils and I just had to make a few stops on my way there and back as well as between family engagements. I will try to share enough to give you all a gist of it: It was a long day's drive from the northern suburbs of New York City to Richmond, Indiana where I spent the first night. The next day I was headed down State Road 101 to Garr Hill, to collect in the Upper Ordovician Liberty Formation. It was my first time at the site and everything I found was collected from loose rocks at or near the base of the outcrop. A couple of pictures: 

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Expanding my collection of Ordovician bivalves was a primary focus of mine. I was fortunate to find some excellent examples here. This is Caritodens demissa:

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Having spent most of the morning at Garr Hill and done well I then headed further south on 101 to Southgate Hill. Otherwise known as St. Leon. I collected there last year and just had to return. This is a remarkable site- plenty to see and collect. Here I was also searching in the Upper Ordovician Liberty Formation:

 

 

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I couldn't resist picking up a few trilobites as well. I had to really search for these small Flexicalymene retrosa:

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After spending hours tramping and crawling over St. Leon, I headed west to Seymour, Indiana where I spent the night. The next morning I was headed east to Vernon, just 15 minutes away. There I visited the Tunnel Mill site which I had also visited last year. It is an exposure of the Silurian Waldron Shale. I spent the entire day there digging out chunks of shale and clay. Fossils aren't nearly as abundant as they were in the previous day's two Ordovician sites. Still it was well worth the big effort as I was able to expand my small collection of Silurian aged fossils. Here is a picture of the site where I was digging:

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Great acquisitions!! Nice collection of bivalves. I still am amazed at the trilobites from St Leon. I am ALWAYS skunked when I visit. 

 

Mike

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Unlike the previous day when I encountered plenty of cars driving by, but no one stopping, this site is popular with the locals for the scenery. Quite a few passed by and said, "Hi." Some inquired about what I was finding and one couple asked me to help ID some fossils they found in the stream bed. Here were my finds for the day:

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Early that night I arrived in Elizabethtown. I spent the next few days staying with and visiting family, (also stopped by Herb's), but on Friday I headed up to Sulpher, Indiana to collect Mississippian aged fossils of the Salem Formation from a well known site there. I climbed and wandered around the steep slopes and cliffs being extra careful not to fall, definitely a big risk at this site. While there was plenty of fossil material scattered about I had to look very intently to find anything worthwhile. It appeared to have been picked over rather well. 

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3 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

I couldn't resist picking up a few trilobites as well. I had to really search for these small Flexicalymene retrosa:

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The bug in the middle is odd.  Is it a buried pygidium?  

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I found this nice Archimedes bryozoan on a rock which I thought worth keeping. It is about four inches long: 

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Over the weekend I took a drive over to Mount Washington, Kentucky and headed south on Route 303 towards Bardstown. Three years ago Herb showed me some Ordovician Richmond Group outcrops along the road. I decided to check out some new outcrops. 

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