Two Wonderful Fossil Hunts!

[Bev]

How much better does it get when you can have FUN and help others experience the JOY of FOSSIL HUNTING, especially the children! These hunts were both booked through Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center. And I have a BIG THANK YOU to @minnbuckeye because MIKE made both of these hunts very special. A while back Mike stopped and was so generous and gave me three geodes he had found - he knows I love anything that sparkles.  :-)  After he left, I thought how selfish of me to keep them for myself and decided that the youngest on the hunt would be able to break one. WOW! Seeing the smiles on those faces... What can I say! And I think that @minnbuckeye would agree that his gift of the geodes was best shared.  :-)

The very first boy, 11 years old, was the first to break a geode on the 7.10.21 hunt. He got half and three teenaged girls who were at the hunt split the other half between them very carefully breaking it as opposed to the original smashing!

 

This was a FUN hunt! This gal just loved all of the fossils she found! I had forgotten my camera and these photos are from the guests who sent their best back to me.  :-)

 

Nice party rock that Sarah collected - lots of fossils!

 

Sarah in the back of the "Cave Man" cave.

 

Up close on the rocks in the Galena Formation of SE Minnesota.

 

We were all having so much fun that by the end of the hunt I took them to a bonus spot and 2/3 of the group came back to my home to spend more time going through the fossil sandbox - kids love that thing and I've caught a few adults in my sandbox, feeding the baby goats and talking fossils.  :-D

 

Sarah's shot from the back of the cave to the front.

 

 

I'm going to continue to the 8.14.21 hunt in a reply, because I think I may run out of MB for photos as a very special trilo was found!

[Bev]

What can I say, we hit the mother lode! We started out like every other hunt, we'd had a recent hard rain, but I figured someone had been out hunting the dry wash since then - No! WOW!

Check out this Thaleops trilobite - THANKS @piranha for the ID, I of course guessed all wrong.  :-)

Scale rock.

 

This gal, one of the two mothers, picked up this rock by the spring and said, "Is this a fossil?" WOW! That was the best find, but they kept on coming! Lots of gastropods (my fav), bryozoans, corals, brachs of course, it was just wild! What FUN! And we were in the shade on a hot day.  :-)

And oh my gosh, this little guy was so intense! He got to attempt to break the geode at least a dozen times, could hardly stop him with the hammer, and then since there were 4 boys we went down the line to see who could break it in 3 attempts or less. Great fun! And they shared the geode among them.  :-D

He was that intense about breaking rocks the whole hunt!

Here the boys are in the mouth of the cave.  :-D I don't think they knew each other before the hunt!

Gotta love sharing the Joy of Fossil Hunting!

 

Thanks to all of you for giving me this chance to share YOUR love of fossil hunting with me, to give to them.  :-)

 

 

 

Oh my gosh, I just realized I was looking at the trilo thinking the pydgy was the ceph! Oh, am I getting old!  LOL  :-D

[minnbuckeye]

Looks like fun was had by all, especially you yourself!!!! Sounds like a few geodes were solid if it took a boy more than 3 hits with a hammer to break it open. I wish I could tell solid from hollow ones. Looks like that trilobite needs some prepping. Hopefully a beautiful cephalon exists under the matrix! 

 

 Mike

[Bev]

19 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Looks like fun was had by all, especially you yourself!!!! Sounds like a few geodes were solid if it took a boy more than 3 hits with a hammer to break it open. I wish I could tell solid from hollow ones. Looks like that trilobite needs some prepping. Hopefully a beautiful cephalon exists under the matrix! 

 

 Mike

Sadly, I doubt if that Thaleops ever gets prepped as she had no idea what she found except for my excitement over it. However, I did make her aware that it had value, so hopefully it doesn't end up in a rock garden someplace. That geode was pretty solid but still had lots of sparkle! The kids just loved your gifts and the parents loved watching them! Thank you, Mike, for sharing! And everyone loves your display! I now have it in my bay window in the house. They all come and use the guest bathroom before we leave on a hunt and stand around time is spent studying YOUR display.  :-D