Seeking area to search north central Louisiana for birthday gift

[BlazedDiamonds]

My grandson is turning 8 soon and he dearly loves dinosaurs and fossils. I want to take him fossil hunting for his birthday. I'm in Winn Parish, which is the northern part of the central area of Louisiana.  Natchitoches, Grant, Rapides Parishes are close. Does anyone know where I could take him to find any fossils in these areas? I hope so and would be so appreciative!

[Thomas.Dodson]

There's not a whole lot in that area but there is the Cane River site at the abandoned rest stop project outside of Natchitoches. If you do a search of the forum or google for Cane River Fossil Site you can find some info on it. It's on I-49. I haven't been myself yet. I guess people have also found fossils around Sibley Lake which might be a more comfortable place to go with an 8 year old.

 

Alternatively you might try doing some gravel searching for fossils brought in by glacial retreat or other means. LSU wrote up an activity/article on the subject.

https://www.lsu.edu/mns/files/activities/fossilgravels.pdf

 

Good luck.

[BlazedDiamonds]

15 hours ago, Thomas.Dodson said:

There's not a whole lot in that area but there is the Cane River site at the abandoned rest stop project outside of Natchitoches. If you do a search of the forum or google for Cane River Fossil Site you can find some info on it. It's on I-49. I haven't been myself yet. I guess people have also found fossils around Sibley Lake which might be a more comfortable place to go with an 8 year old.

 

Alternatively you might try doing some gravel searching for fossils brought in by glacial retreat or other means. LSU wrote up an activity/article on the subject.

https://www.lsu.edu/mns/files/activities/fossilgravels.pdf

 

Good luck.

Thank you so much! I remember some years back hearing about a site near Natchitoches. I will definitely check out the Cane River and Sibley Lake area. If I can pull this off, it will be the ultimate birthday gift for my grandson.  He has been using my paint brushes since he was 4 to search for hidden dinosaur bones and fossils in the dirt.  Lol.  Will let you know of any outcome.