Rookie Taking 7 Yr Old Son To Sulphur River...tips, Ideas, Thoughts, Etc...?

[MFowler]

I am the leader for my son's (7) Cub Scout den and we're heading to Ladonia next weekend to camp and look for "fossil gold". We know how to camp, but fossil hunting is new to me and the rest of the dads. Ultimately, we just hope that each boy can find at least one good fossil to cherish and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for a rookie. I grew up across the street from a creek so digging around and getting dirty I can do...knowing where to dig and what to look for is the problem. I spoke with the the Mayor of Ladonia Jan Cooper (who may be the nicest person I've ever spoken to on the phone) and she mentioned a local woman who likes to give fossil hunting tours down the river for kids but she's out of town next weekend so it looks like it's me and the other dads. Jan also directed me to this forum (which is fantastic by the way) since I told her I've always wanted to get in to fossil hunting since I was a kid but somehow life took over and now that I have two young children (5 & 7) I have a second chance to get involved in fossil hunting with them. So here I am :-) Sorry this is so long winded, but I really want to get in to this and know my kids would love to as well because they are fascinated with dinosaurs (just like almost all kids) so I know I would have some partners in my hunting trips in the future...I'll have to work on the wife. Thanks in advance for any help/advice you all can provide. I plan on visiting this site frequently from now on...it's great!

[Boneman007]

I am the leader for my son's (7) Cub Scout den and we're heading to Ladonia next weekend to camp and look for "fossil gold". We know how to camp, but fossil hunting is new to me and the rest of the dads. Ultimately, we just hope that each boy can find at least one good fossil to cherish and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for a rookie. I grew up across the street from a creek so digging around and getting dirty I can do...knowing where to dig and what to look for is the problem. I spoke with the the Mayor of Ladonia Jan Cooper (who may be the nicest person I've ever spoken to on the phone) and she mentioned a local woman who likes to give fossil hunting tours down the river for kids but she's out of town next weekend so it looks like it's me and the other dads. Jan also directed me to this forum (which is fantastic by the way) since I told her I've always wanted to get in to fossil hunting since I was a kid but somehow life took over and now that I have two young children (5 & 7) I have a second chance to get involved in fossil hunting with them. So here I am :-) Sorry this is so long winded, but I really want to get in to this and know my kids would love to as well because they are fascinated with dinosaurs (just like almost all kids) so I know I would have some partners in my hunting trips in the future...I'll have to work on the wife. Thanks in advance for any help/advice you all can provide. I plan on visiting this site frequently from now on...it's great!

Im not sure that the north sulpher river is the best spot for a 7 year old. The west side of Fort Worth is outstanding for someone this age. It's lower cretaceous, and loaded with bivalves (shells), gastropods (snails), echinoids (sand dollars) and ammonites (octopus/squid). There used to be some sites around I-30 and 820 west that you could find your weight in fossils. Unfortunately, those sites are now under houses.

I have a 7 year old daughter, and I'm having a heck of a time getting her involved in fossil hunting. Of course she's had museum quality fossils all over the house since birth, so I don't think she knows what it's really all about yet.

I hope someone else in the forum that lives on that side of town can chime in with a good active location for your kids.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Boneman007

[MFowler]

Thanks for the tip. I've heard there's good spots west of here (I'm in Plano) and plan on heading there next since it's so close. My son's school had a guy come with his own fossils, I think his name was "Dinosaur Dan", and his collection took up the whole gym. I was able to speak with him and let him know I had 5 & 7 year old kids and was a Cub Scout den leader and would love to take them hunting for fossils some day because I think they would love it and I've always wanted to do it myself. He's the one who recommended the Sulphur River to me and the only reason we're making our first trip there instead of Tarrant County is because we can camp there. The mayor of Ladonia put me in touch with a local guy who has 40 acres in a nice wooded area and said he would be happy to let us camp on his property because he's a big fan of scouting so that was hard to turn down.

I'm not really worried about my son getting involved in fossil hunting because he's always been a rock collector. We camped at Eisenhower State Park a couple months ago and I took the boys on a hike down to Lake Texoma. The water level was really low and there were ammonite fossils all over the place in the limestone I was able to show them. All the boys thought it was cool, but most of them eventually ended up using there walking sticks as swords and beating the snarge out of each other...kinda there thing. However, my son and two others were fascinated and spent the rest of the day looking for fossils everywhere we walked so I feel confident he'll get in to it...but hey, at that age you never know. The hard part for me is going to be answering questions about what is a fossil and what's not because, as I'm sure you know, they seem to think that just about every rock they see is a fossil. Should be fun though, we're both really excited and head out tomorrow.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it and will definitely be heading out west in the near future.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

could have been dinosaur george blasing at your school... good guy, friend of mine

[Boneman007]

Thanks for the tip. I've heard there's good spots west of here (I'm in Plano) and plan on heading there next since it's so close. My son's school had a guy come with his own fossils, I think his name was "Dinosaur Dan", and his collection took up the whole gym. I was able to speak with him and let him know I had 5 & 7 year old kids and was a Cub Scout den leader and would love to take them hunting for fossils some day because I think they would love it and I've always wanted to do it myself. He's the one who recommended the Sulphur River to me and the only reason we're making our first trip there instead of Tarrant County is because we can camp there. The mayor of Ladonia put me in touch with a local guy who has 40 acres in a nice wooded area and said he would be happy to let us camp on his property because he's a big fan of scouting so that was hard to turn down.

I'm not really worried about my son getting involved in fossil hunting because he's always been a rock collector. We camped at Eisenhower State Park a couple months ago and I took the boys on a hike down to Lake Texoma. The water level was really low and there were ammonite fossils all over the place in the limestone I was able to show them. All the boys thought it was cool, but most of them eventually ended up using there walking sticks as swords and beating the snarge out of each other...kinda there thing. However, my son and two others were fascinated and spent the rest of the day looking for fossils everywhere we walked so I feel confident he'll get in to it...but hey, at that age you never know. The hard part for me is going to be answering questions about what is a fossil and what's not because, as I'm sure you know, they seem to think that just about every rock they see is a fossil. Should be fun though, we're both really excited and head out tomorrow.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it and will definitely be heading out west in the near future.

Get in touch with me when you go out west. Maybe I can get my 7 year old out and about!

There are a few places in our area (Im in Carrollton) that would work for you and your's. PM me and maybe we can meet up sometime. I can also give you a little background on the geology of the area, so you know what you're looking for.

Good Luck!

[theoriginalrods]

My son is 5 and we went fossil hunting while camping last year and he got pretty into it. He couldn't really tell the difference between a rock and a fossil but he was excited about it and we had a great time. I have never been to Texas, but in Northern CA I find a lot of fossils in rock mixed in with the river rocks. I don't do any digging, I just walk around turning over rocks.

[MFowler]

Thanks to everyone for your help. We had a GREAT time and brought back buckets of treasure! Now I just need to try and find out what's treasure and what's fools gold but that will be fun and educational as well. The first day and a half I truly wonder how many fossils I passed over because I didn't know what to look for, but by the third day I could eliminate almost half of what I saw just by walking really slow and scanning the ground. I don't know about the other dads in our Cub Scout den, but I plan on taking my son back up there before it gets to hot for him this summer and I may make a few day trips myself. The other dads only spent about 3 hours down in the river with there son and the rest of the time at the campsite, but I got about 15 hours of good quality father son time as we hiked through about 4" thick mud and water...it was GREAT!!! I found an excellent arrowhead...no doubt about that one but I didn't find a shark tooth which is what I was really hoping to find. Oh well, next time maybe I'll find two. Thanks again to everyone and I'll be posting some pictures of some of what we found soon once I get them cleaned up.

[MFowler]

I posted some pics from our first hunt last weekend and could use some expert advice on what exactly we found. If you get bored please check them out and let me know what you think. I really want to learn this stuff so I know what I'm looking for or what I've found. Thanks - Mark

[Wolf's Lady]

Why can't I find a cub scout leader like you? That is amazing. We are getting ready to switch my son to the Lone Scout program for the rest of the year after his Scout Master kicked us out because I was nagging about how little the den was doing. Tried to find a new pack but everyone else is done with their Bear rank and we weren't even 1/2 way there.

We are thinking about going to the Ladonia Fossil Park on the 10 with a group from our local gem and mineral society. Thank you for sharing your experience going with the boys. We went to Mineral Wells and Brownwood 2 weeks ago and that was fun. We are hoping to find some different fossils to add to our collection if we can make it here.

[JimTh]

Might consider picking up a copy of Fossil Collector's Guidebook to the North Sulphur River.

[Ptychodus04]

Why can't I find a cub scout leader like you? That is amazing. We are getting ready to switch my son to the Lone Scout program for the rest of the year after his Scout Master kicked us out because I was nagging about how little the den was doing. Tried to find a new pack but everyone else is done with their Bear rank and we weren't even 1/2 way there.

We are thinking about going to the Ladonia Fossil Park on the 10 with a group from our local gem and mineral society. Thank you for sharing your experience going with the boys. We went to Mineral Wells and Brownwood 2 weeks ago and that was fun. We are hoping to find some different fossils to add to our collection if we can make it here.

When my boys were cub scouts, I used to take the pack to the Mineral Wells Fossil Park. Now, they are both Life Scouts and I have taken the Troop to MW and to Glen Rose to study dinosaur tracks on some private property. My boys are 2 merit badges and a service project away from Eagle...