Nw Lower Michigan - Good Fossil Places?

[snailgeek 0]

I just started getting into fossils last fall, then my enthusiasm was rudely cut short by the onset of winter. Seems like it will never end. I haven't seen the ground since Thanksgiving. I mean, I really have cabin fever. Once the snow is finally gone, where are some good places to look? I drive by a gravel pit every day and wonder if I could find something in there. I assume I'd need to get permission first? What about shorelines? Lake Michigan or small lakes? I'm not interested in Petoskey stones - I have hundreds of those in my back yard. I really want to find a trilobite. Or... I dunno.... Just point me in the right direction!

[crinus 229]

Download the book "Devonian Strata of Emmet and Charlevoix Counties, Michigan" from U of M's DEEP BLUE site.

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/48608

It should help.

[snailgeek 0]

Looks very informative, thank you!

[Joshburns 1]

Hey! Welcome to the forum! I'm from Michigan too. My favorite way to find fossils is to hunt through a plowed field. I found my first Michigan trilobite in a field near my home. Also, get permission to hunt through excavation sites. I found a beautiful favosite specimen from a pile of excavated dirt. Look for steeply embanked hillsides and look through the layers. Good Luck!

[snailgeek 0]

Hi Joshburns, a plowed field, I never would've thought of that! Thanks for the advice.

[lyle18 0]

I'm with the Central Michigan Rock club and on our website there are fossil maps for the upper and lower peninsulas.

Here is the page they are on

http://www.michrocks.org/rockin-fun/michigan-locations/mich-loc.html

here's the lower

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212385057040081927463.000479afa5b6102ecf744&msa=0

and the upper

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212385057040081927463.00049e2219ababfb5e354&msa=0

[snailgeek 0]

Good info, thanks!

[Black Heart Renny 0]

Hi I am from mi too. thanks for all the info

renny

[Bill Hoddson 0]

I'm a new member here too, from Cadillac, MI. In the general NW Lower Penninsula, the beaches along Grand Traverse Bay near Tocrch Lake Village have a lot of hexagonaria and other corals, brachiopods, and occasional crinoid stems. Most are pretty beat up by wave action, but still easily identified.