Fun Times Fossil Hunting in Southern California

[bonez]

What an adventure! I was on a trip to southern California with my partner. He does not like fossil hunting – yes I know what you are thinking but he is a very nice guy. You can’t have every thing! I wanted to go to the Marble Mountain Trilobite site in the Mohave desert. I did my research and knew exactly where I wanted to go. As I would be by myself I decided to be very clear about where I was going and how long I expected to be there. Off I went on a bright warm sunny day armed with gallons of water, a sunhat, fossil hunting backpack, many snacks, and a brand new Lexus. Yes I know you are thinking dumb dumb dumb! But as it turns out the lexus was an excellent choice, it had lots of power  and reasonable clearance. I did high center it on some shrubs (sorry shrubs) and almost lost it in a sand bank. Power does win the day and I managed to get it about 3 miles away from the classic north end site by Chambliss. What I did not account for was that the recent atmospheric rivers had washed out a lot of the tracks and roads. I had a really big walk up to the base of the mountain. From there I struggled through boulders fields and scree slopes to get up to the famous red and green Latham shales. Oh boy what incredible rocks! Fortunately I am fond of lapidary too so I collected some glorious specimens. My aim was to find the blue green algal nodules formed by precipitation of the cyanobacteria. They look like elongated ovals and are found everywhere. I was gob smacked by these fossils. They are 518 million years old. The trilobites are mostly Olenellids and are rare. I struggled to find any of these and found mostly cool trace fossils. As I was completely exhausted getting to the top of this mountain and now had to get down it with a lot of rocks AND walk 3 miles across the desert to get back to the Lexus I made a decision – I would come back another day and find some of those trilobites. By the time I got back to the car my knees were shaking and I had drunk 5 litres of water and eaten everything I brought plus 3 candy bars. It was an amazing trip and the area is totally deserted. I never saw one person or vehicle while I was there.

 There is another trilobite site that is down towards the ghost town of Cadiz. This is the official BLM site and you are allowed to take small quantities of fossils. Unfortunately the road was completely washed out and unlikely to be repaired soon. Oh well that's for another day

[Sjfriend]

Nice report. I've never been to the north site but I have been to the south site a couple times. Your Lexus has way more clearance than my Mustang lol. And I too have come really close to having to walk out 

 

The cyanobacteria are cool. At the south site they don't erode out like that but they are everywhere above the trilobite beds. This is the best time of year to go since the temps are as low as they'll go. My trips have mostly been in January and February. Did one in October but it was way warmer than I like it.

[bonez]

Hey I read your report and learned from it! I thought about your poor mustang when I bottomed out on the odd shrub. When I got back on the road I checked underneath to see if I had done any damage but it was OK. Oh those Marble Mountains are so beautiful doesn't it make you want to go back again and again?

 

[Sjfriend]

12 hours ago, bonez said:

Hey I read your report and learned from it! I thought about your poor mustang when I bottomed out on the odd shrub. When I got back on the road I checked underneath to see if I had done any damage but it was OK. Oh those Marble Mountains are so beautiful doesn't it make you want to go back again and again?

 

I really enjoyed my trips for sure. The Mustang is definitely not a real off road car but that didn't stop me from using it like one. Just remember...... it's not a true adventure if something doesn't go really wrong  And you can't get mad when it does.

 

The south site has lots of partial trilobites and tons of the cyanobacteria. Someday I'll be there either a better car and go check out the north side. It is a neat area to visit when the weather is good. I was there once when a big and long lasting dust storm hit. Fun times!

[Jursey]

On 2/19/2023 at 8:17 PM, bonez said:

...My aim was to find the blue green algal nodules formed by precipitation of the cyanobacteria. They look like elongated ovals and are found everywhere. I was gob smacked by these fossils...

 

 

 

 

Good report, with nice photographs. Those cyanobacterial remains belong to genus Girvanella, from the lower Cambrian Chambless Limestone.