PetrolPete Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Over the next few days I'll be moving from Tulsa, OK to Williston, ND for my job. My approximate route will be taking me through Oakley, KS; Rapid City, SD; and finally Williston, ND. On my way, I was hoping to make a stop in the Niobrara chalk near Oakley and then make a visit to Mount Rushmore in Rapid city, but other than that, I haven't thought of any other good stops. So, if anyone has any good suggestions for stops ( for fossiling or otherwise) or advice on hunting the chalk, your input is greatly appreciated. I'll be trying to post the pictures from my trip on here as I go, but they will get on here eventually. Thanks again everyone, -Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj102569 Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 stop anywhere between Rapid City and Williston... find some rock aside the road and start digging... fossils everywhere.... One warning... you can not take fossils from indian reservation land ... and once you start you may never get to williston... lol ,,,, good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 stop anywhere between Rapid City and Williston... find some rock aside the road and start digging... fossils everywhere.... One warning... you can not take fossils from indian reservation land ... and once you start you may never get to williston... lol ,,,, good luck Thanks, I'll keep an eye out. A couple questions, how well marked is the Reservation land? and what sorts of fossils am I likely to find? Another note, to anyone living along my route, let me know if you want to meet up for a meal or something along the way, it'd be cool to be able to meet some more of the members in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Reservations are indeed well marked. And off limits to non-Indiands. However other federal lands are not. Not well marked, that is. Nope, not at all. All the beautiful White River Fm badlands you will see as you drive around Badlands National Park are mostly National Grassland. No fossiling. Did I mention you should certainly drive through Badlands NP? It is beautiful and you can just smell the oreodonts. OK, you gotta have a real good nose. Real Good... The School of Mines in Rapid has a great museum (and it is free!!!). The Black Hills Institute in Hill City is worth the small detour from Rapid. I was just there over the long weekend. If you take the road north out of Bell Fourche into NoDak, there are great Hell Creek outcrops along the way in both the northeasternmost county in Sodak, and in southwestern NoDak. (Don't trespass without landowner permission.) There are good dinosaur museums in Bowman and Dickinson. Its a bit out of the way, but if you come through Casper, stop in at the Tate Museum and say Hi. I might not be here, but our museum is cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Oh, and godd luck and have fun and congrats on the move to North Dakota. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 Reservations are indeed well marked. And off limits to non-Indiands. However other federal lands are not. Not well marked, that is. Nope, not at all. All the beautiful White River Fm badlands you will see as you drive around Badlands National Park are mostly National Grassland. No fossiling. Did I mention you should certainly drive through Badlands NP? It is beautiful and you can just smell the oreodonts. OK, you gotta have a real good nose. Real Good... The School of Mines in Rapid has a great museum (and it is free!!!). The Black Hills Institute in Hill City is worth the small detour from Rapid. I was just there over the long weekend. If you take the road north out of Bell Fourche into NoDak, there are great Hell Creek outcrops along the way in both the northeasternmost county in Sodak, and in southwestern NoDak. (Don't trespass without landowner permission.) There are good dinosaur museums in Bowman and Dickinson. Its a bit out of the way, but if you come through Casper, stop in at the Tate Museum and say Hi. I might not be here, but our museum is cool. Thanks for the info. I know there are several parks I'll be driving through, I think badlands might be one of them. I'll look into the The School of Mines and I'll be going to Mount Rushmore, so Hill City isn't too out of the way. Are there any Hell Creek outcrops that are huntable? or would I need to contact a land owner for all of them? I'll most likely be passing through Bowman and Dickinson, so I might stop at the museums there. The only problem with all those stops was that I was thinking of going from Rapid City to Williston in one day (and it's the longest drive)... maybe I'll have to add another stop. I'd love to stop by Casper and say hi, but it is a little too far out of the way, I'll have to leave it for another trip, and who knows, maybe I'll get transferred there at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Day one: made it from Tulsa, OK to Oakley, KS. On the way I almost ran into some pretty bad weather, but thankfully I managed to squeeze between the bad cells, twice. After I got past Salina, I finally got a chance to stop at a Dakota Sandstone spot Ramo recommended to me a while back. I found a couple pieces of wood, which I left in place (In my experience Dakota Sandstone Wood & moving don't mix). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) I also found what I had gone looking for there, leaves! First, a large partial leaf: And second, a tiny (just smaller than a quarter) leaf, perfect for moving: Edited May 31, 2013 by PetrolPete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Nice leaves. It's amazing that those were so nicely preserved in such coarse sandstone. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 I felt I hadn't gotten enough fossils in the day, so I went to Fossil Station in Russel, KS for dinner Later, I saw a cloud that reminded me of a mosasaur skull, so I had to get a picture of it: Hopefully it will be a good omen for my visit to the Keystone Gallery and Monument Rocks tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Later, I saw a cloud that reminded me of a mosasaur skull, so I had to get a picture of it: Beware of the ones that resemble Archimedes. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Nice leaves. It's amazing that those were so nicely preserved in such coarse sandstone. I think the preservation is due to the leaves being on a layer of iron running through the sandstone Beware of the ones that resemble Archimedes. well, according to the weather channel, I might have come close to finding one of those today too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Pete, Glad you found some leaves at that spot. Sorry I couldn't meet up with you today. Good luck tomorrow. Hope the "All-you-can-eat" pizza bar was going at Fossil Station. One of the best places to eat in Russell. In the adjoining gas station, they have a rock fence post towards the back with a fish fossil in it. Kind of easy to miss though if you're not looking for it. You will get a little excited seeing what Chuck has out at the Keystone Gallery. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Day 2: Oakley, KS to Rapid City, SD Started out the day heading to the Keystone Gallery...only to find they weren't opening until 1PM today, a time at which I was planning to be fairly far down the road, so I was unable to visit it. From there I went to Monument Rocks. It was a great day outside with a great temperature of 70F. I took in a little bit of the wild life: I then wondered around the chalk for a while, seeing nothing in the way of fossils (aside from inocermid fragments) and finally came across a vert: any way to tell what it came from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 More looking around, then I finally found a squalicorax tooth I kept looking, and was about to give up, when I stumbled upon this: 14 vertebrae, most of which in fair condition, but three of them broke in two because some plant roots had started breaking them down. Any idea what they are from? And about 15 ft from those, I found a quarter of a tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Pete.... What a great adventure.... I will keep an eye on your progress.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 After a long drive through heavy rain and strong , I got to Mount Rushmore at 10:30 PM, got in for free, with no crowd and got this picture: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 One question, what method of cleaning chalk of vertebrae do you all recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Day 3, Rapid City to ? So far, it's been a great day. The weather has cleared up, allowing for some great Mountain driving . Reservations are indeed well marked. And off limits to non-Indiands. However other federal lands are not. Not well marked, that is. Nope, not at all. All the beautiful White River Fm badlands you will see as you drive around Badlands National Park are mostly National Grassland. No fossiling. Did I mention you should certainly drive through Badlands NP? It is beautiful and you can just smell the oreodonts. OK, you gotta have a real good nose. Real Good... The School of Mines in Rapid has a great museum (and it is free!!!). The Black Hills Institute in Hill City is worth the small detour from Rapid. I was just there over the long weekend. If you take the road north out of Bell Fourche into NoDak, there are great Hell Creek outcrops along the way in both the northeasternmost county in Sodak, and in southwestern NoDak. (Don't trespass without landowner permission.) There are good dinosaur museums in Bowman and Dickinson. Its a bit out of the way, but if you come through Casper, stop in at the Tate Museum and say Hi. I might not be here, but our museum is cool. I took your advice on the museums, had a great time at the School of Mines and the Black Hill institute. Both had some really great displays. I'm currently headed out of Belle Fourche to Bowman. Is there anything else I should know about the Hell Creek formation? Thanks again for your help everyone, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Struck out with the hell creek formation, and continued on to Bowman, but made it just after the museum closed. I ended up in Dickinson for the night and plan on stopping by the Dickinson museum in the morning before making my way to Williston. At the very least, every missed opportunity gives reason to visit again. Edited June 2, 2013 by PetrolPete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Thanks for sharing the picts along the way. It's like going on a mini vacation. Those verts were a really great find! In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Pete, Looks like you had a good trip. I would suggest using nothing more than water and a toothbrush to clean those verts. No way to know for sure on those, but I'd guess most likely gillicus, or they could possibly be from a small X-fish. Nice find for a quick stop. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaRockhound Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 In 1994, I was at Mount Rushmore and a bad lightning storm came up from behind the moument. Great display of lightning ! Then the lights shining on the Presidents went out, then some came back on. The presentation that night ended soon. Got back to the car and the storm caught up with us in the parking lot. Rained something bad, buckets and buckets and large drops too ! It was another 45 minutes before we left the parking lot to go back to the KOA at Rapid City. Next morning had all you can eat pancakes free and even a cowboy to sing songs to us for breakfast. So Cool ! Thanks for sharing your photo's and story. Makes me home sick to return. I was born in Cheyenne Wyoming but live in Georgia near Atlanta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj102569 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 awesome stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolPete Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 Hey everyone, sorry about the late update, I had thought I was going to have internet access when I got to Williston, but I did not. So on my last day of the trip I did end up stopping at the Dickinson Museum. It was really interesting seeing the mix of real fossils and fossil casts on display, as well as the replicas of famous fossils. It is always a completely different experience to see them in real life as opposed on a computer screen. The only disappointing thing about the museum was when I went into the gift shop and saw all the Moroccan psuedo-fake fossils (like the 'Mosasaur Jaw' where the teeth are real, but set into a fake matrix and made to look like a jaw), but what can you do. The funny thing though, after I got up to Williston, I worked for a week and then they decided to send me off for a month of training ... in Oklahoma City, so now I've almost come full circle since I started in Tulsa, OK, go figure. As an added bonus, while I'm here I'm going to try and work with the Sam Noble Museum to get my Oolagah Lake pennsylvanian shark material donated. In 1994, I was at Mount Rushmore and a bad lightning storm came up from behind the moument. Great display of lightning ! Then the lights shining on the Presidents went out, then some came back on. The presentation that night ended soon. Got back to the car and the storm caught up with us in the parking lot. Rained something bad, buckets and buckets and large drops too ! It was another 45 minutes before we left the parking lot to go back to the KOA at Rapid City. Next morning had all you can eat pancakes free and even a cowboy to sing songs to us for breakfast. So Cool ! Thanks for sharing your photo's and story. Makes me home sick to return. I was born in Cheyenne Wyoming but live in Georgia near Atlanta. Your Mt. Rushmore experience sounds really cool, it must have been a real sight to see. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. Pete, Looks like you had a good trip. I would suggest using nothing more than water and a toothbrush to clean those verts. No way to know for sure on those, but I'd guess most likely gillicus, or they could possibly be from a small X-fish. Nice find for a quick stop. Ramo I think you are right with gillicus. I'll have to work on cleaning and repairing them when I get back to Williston. Thanks again for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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