Wyoming And Utah Fossil Trip

[PetrolPete]

Hey everyone,

Long time no see, hope everyone has been doing well. I was hoping you guys might be able to give me some recommendations for a trip I'm planning next month. Right now my plan is to head to Kemmerer and look for some green river fish, and then head to salt lake city for a couple day. Next I was looking at going on to Delta to hit up U-dig for trilobites, and then heading to Moab before finally heading home to ND.

So I guess my questions would be what quarry would you guys recommend in Kemmerer? Is U-dig worth it or is there a better quarry in that area to visit? Does anyone have any other recommendations on places to stop along any part of the trip for fossils or otherwise? And are there any special tools I should bring to any of these locations?

Thanks again for your help everyone, I plan on posting all my finds here after the trip too.

[jpc]

Hey Pete, I send people to Warfield Fossils for Green River fish. They have a good quarry and are helpful folks. I don't think there are other options besides U-dig in Delta... Well, 50 miles out of Delta. But once you develop an eye for them, you can wonder around the area and look for old holes and hope someone else left some trilobites for you.

[Scylla]

U-dig is worth it. They give you the tools you need. I brought my own tools and they just sat in the rental car. What you need to bring is a big truck or a lot of mailing boxes to get the fossils home. I plan on going back the last week in August since I am attending a wedding in Salt Lake City.

[kauai1800]

If you haven't gone yet, I can't say enough good things about Warfield's and Rick Hebdon. We found great fish and spending the extra $$ to do the 18" layer "VIP" dig is totally worth it if you're into fossil hunting.

[PetrolPete]

Well, I'm finally returning from my trip. I ended up only digging for 3 hours at the warsaw quarry (not the 18" one unfortunately), mostly finding knightia and diplos. My big find was a stingray though. When I got there, they had just pulled down a section of wall, and while digging through the rubble I found part of one. Because it was shattered and spread all over the quarry at that point, they didn't think it was worth recovering, and let me keep it. Right now I don't know how much of it I was able to pull together but I think it might around half. One weird thing I found in the split layer was a football shaped nodular piece that looks like it might be something, I'll have to clean it up and see what though.

A few days later I also got to spend four hours at the u-dig quarry. It was really hot, so I spent most of my time digging in the shade (what little there was) so I mostly found small loose trilos, the best being two stuck together, each of decent size. I also found what appeared to be some kind of early echinoid (it has a round center with several thin needle like appendages radiating out from it). I'm not entirely sure what it could be though.

As the last part of the trip, I tried to swing be cowboy canyon in bonanza on my way home, unfortunately the road on the way down had washed out and I couldn't get into the canyon at that point, so that was a no go.

Currently I'm in rock springs for the night, but I'll be heading back to Dickinson, ND in the morning. If anyone has any recommended stops to break up the drive tomorrow that would be great.

As soon as I get back and start unpacking, I'll be sure to post pictures of everything.

Thanks again,

-Peter

[RJB]

Hi Peter. Sounds like you had some fun. That echinoid thingy sounds interesting. Cant wait to see it.

RB

[RJB]

Hey Peter. I was thinkin last night about your echinoid thingy. I think it may be a Gogia.

RB

[PetrolPete]

Hey Peter. I was thinkin last night about your echinoid thingy. I think it may be a Gogia.

RB

you might be right, here is the picture:

[PetrolPete]

to start off with, my green river fish. I ended up packing them in foam shipping folders from walmart and it work pretty well, nothing broke on the way home. Unfortunately, when I got home I noticed that several of them had not split quite as well as I had hoped, and parts split between two pieces. In some of the pictures I have multiple slabs, but most aren't matching pairs though.

at the quarry

full haul:

the sting ray

the fish

[PetrolPete]

another fish

the odd nodular piece

The U-dig quarry

Trilos

The possible gogia

[PetrolPete]

more trilos

[Auspex]

Your 'weird nodular piece' may be a croc coprolite.

Odd color, though...

[PetrolPete]

Your 'weird nodular piece' may be a croc coprolite.

Odd color, though...

Cool, I'll have to try and clean it up for a better look. The color is because it is wet (although I don't know what color is normal). When it is dry the mineral part almost blends in with the matrix, so I got it ran it under water first for contrast.

[piranha]

This mystery fossil isn't a Gogia. It's actually a protomonaxonid sponge. There are a few different species of Choia described from Utah and Choia carteri appears to be the best match.

 

 

Rigby, J.K., Church, S.B., & Anderson, N.K. (2010)

Middle Cambrian sponges from the Drum Mountains and House Range in western Utah.

Journal of Paleontology, 84(1):66-78

 

 

 

[PaleoWilliam]

Nice finds! I hope I can visit Wyoming someday and find some fish.

[Auspex]

This mystery fossil isn't a Gogia. It's actually a protomonaxonid sponge. There are a few different species of Choia described from Utah and Choia carteri appears to be the best match.

IMG1.jpg

Rigby, J.K., Church, S.B., & Anderson, N.K. (2010)

Middle Cambrian sponges from the Drum Mountains and House Range in western Utah.

Journal of Paleontology, 84(1):66-78

Well done, Scott!

Your mastery of the cryptic is fantastic

[Wrangellian]

I was going to suggest Choia but as usual Scott beat me to the punch!

Great find... that's the kind of thing I'd be hoping for if I ever made it to that site.

[jpc]

Sorry I wasn't able to help you any more than I did. But it lools like you had a great haul.

[Ridgehiker]

Nice specimens.

When I get home from a few days of collecting it reminds me of Hallowe'en as a kid. Going through 'the loot'. Sometimes I'll forget about some specimen I found early in the outing. 'What's in this little zip lock bag...'surprise'...a nice raptor tooth, brachiopod or whatever.