Devonian Excursion to Madison County, NY

[Fossildude19]

My apologies in advance for my verbosity.

Sunday, October 18, 2015:

The 4:15 am alarm went off, and I arose to find a dark, cold day before me. The weather websites had been predicting a balmy 39° high, and a 40% chance of snow showers. I was hoping we would end up in the 60% camp.

 

My target today was the Deep Springs Road Quarry, in Earlville, NY. This was the site of a former Fossil Forum meet up, back in May of this year. The wealth and diversity of fossils at this site is enough to bring anyone back for more time to look for the various fossils that can be found there.

 

After packing the appropriate food, water, and extra layers of clothes, and necessary coffee, ... I headed out on the road at 4:50 am. My plan was to get there between 9:00 and 9:30 am. Being a 4.5 hour drive for me from central Connecticut, I had hoped to be on the road by 4:30 am. My slow start had put me a bit behind schedule. Oh well.

 

I was greeted on the highway be little to no traffic, and with some travelling tunes to get me pumped, I was on schedule in no time, keeping my speed to a respectable 68 MPH. Travelling early in the morning is one of my favorite things, and the solitude and anticipation of the day make for a great combination. The waxing crescent moon, along with a few stars visible from my window as I cruised down the Massachusetts Turnpike, made for an eerie expectancy.

 

Soon enough, I was on my way through New York, passing Albany and heading to my destination. A quick gas fill-up in Schoharie, then a few changes in route, and I was on Rte. 20, heading west. I ended up passing numerous fossiliferous road cuts along the way, seeing the Cherry Valley outcrop, and proceeding along on my journey. It was about this time it started to flurry, with very light snow. OK, I can handle that. No problem. The sun was shining through the mostly cloudy skies, and I was hopeful of some decent, albeit cold collecting.

 

It started getting darker by the time I reached Hamilton, NY. It started snow squalling. Driving through nearly white out conditions, with snow accumulating on the ground, my high spirits were fading. Don't get me wrong, ... I would show up and put in a valiant effort to hunt through these conditions,... but man, ...I was not looking forward to it. The further I went, the harder it snowed. Great.

I was within 5 minutes of the site(according to the obnoxious GPS lady) , and I drove right out of the squalls, and into sunlight, and further visibility. YES! I arrived on site at around 9:12 am. Although cold, and with only a slight bit of snow on the ground, I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of the site. Whoo hoo! Show Time!

 

I was the first one there.  

 

I had tried to get another meet up together, but with the poor weather predicted, and some family obligations, and other issues cropping up, the only people able to commit to making it were my good friends, JeffreyP, and Pagurus. (Mike) I got out, and with hat, fleece and gloves on, I proceeded to explore the quarry. I was pleased to hear the sound of a car coming about 10-15 minutes later. Jeff had arrived!

 

We said our hellos, and talked a bit about his last visit to the site. He had an area in mind to hunt, and to remove rock from an outcrop. I was willing to help if he needed any assistance, but otherwise left him to it. I am more of a wandering site hunter; I like to move around, go through other's spoil piles, and split leftover shale and rubble. I am eager to cover as much of a site as I can, and make many good finds this way.

 

We were hunting and finding some decent things. I had previously told Jeff that I was going to forego collecting any bivalves and brachiopods, to concentrate on trilobites, gastropods, goniatites, and hopefully some phyllocarids. The preservation of the fossils here, and variety, made a liar out of me. The bivalves and brachiopods weathered out nicely, and were so cool looking, I picked up a bunch anyway.

 

Mike showed up at about this time. It was around 10:00 am. We took some time to say hello, and inquire about the trip from Massachusetts. We were back at it in a short time. It was shortly after that, when a guy dressed in camo, and wielding a bow, came walking up the street. He came up the drive to see what we were doing. I introduced myself, as did he. His name was Brandon, and he showed great interest for a 15 year old, in what we were finding. About 5 minutes later, a pickup truck pulled up, and the land owner popped out. He was unhappy to see Brandon's bow. He made his feelings known, and I explained that Brandon hadn't been hunting here, and he was looking in on our activites.

 

The landowner told Brandon to leave or put the bow away. Brandon asked for a ride to his house, some 2 miles away. I agreed and we headed towards my car.

The landowner made clear to us that he was more than happy to have us on his property to hunt fossils, as we break rock down to a usable size for whatever they use the crushed rock for. He just did not want people who had no permission to hunt on the land to be there. The misunderstanding settled, the land owner wished us luck and left.

 

I asked Brandon as he was putting his stuff in my car, if he would like to stay and hunt with us. He had shown a fairly keen interest in what we were doing, so I asked. He looked surprised, and said sure. I got my extra hammer out of my car, and handed it to him. I showed him what I was doing, and answered his many questions about where we were from, what the fossils were, and how old, and many, many other things. Long story short, he ended up spending the entire day with us, bouncing back and forth between the 3 of us , learning about fossils. He didn't leave until his mom had come looking for him, around 4:00 PM.

 

Throughout the day we all made some good finds, despite the fact that we had a few serious snow showers through the day, again, ... with the nearly white out squalls.

 

Mike left a short while later, wanting to get back on the road for his 4 hour trip home. Jeff and I ended up staying until almost 6:00 pm, the sun heading towards the horizon, leaving long shadows on the ground. I said goodbye to Jeff, and wished him luck for the next day, as he was planning on staying the night in the area to do more hunting the next day. I had an uneventful trip home in the dark, and was home by 10:15 pm. Besides the sense of accomplishment from a fun and successful hunt, I ended the day knowing we had turned someone on to the joys of fossil hunting. Teaching in this way was the greatest part of the day for me.

My better finds of the day are below. I invite the others to add their experiences to this epic. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

[Fossildude19]

Continued...

First, the bivalves :

PELECYPODS:

Unidentified at this time:

Unidentified;

Grammysioidea arcuata :

Grammysioidea arcuata:

Orthonata undulata:

Continued:

Edited October 24, 2015 by Fossildude19

[Fossildude19]

Continued ...

Brachiopods:

Lingula punctata

Others were found, mostly Spinocyrtia sp., Rhipodomella sp, and Athyris sp.

Gastropods:

Glyptotomaria capillaria:

Paleozygopleura hamiltonisus:

And this unidetified one, that seems to be encased in a crinoid, perhaps??

Unidentified Plant:

Hyoliths:

Continued...

Edited October 25, 2015 by Fossildude19

[Fossildude19]

Continued...

CEPHALOPODS:

Unidentified: Bactrites?

Michelinoceras ?

Agoniatites ? Tornoceras?

Continued...

[Fossildude19]

Continued ...

And some assorted loose finds....

a hyolith, some nautiloids, pelecypods, brachiopods, and cephalopods, and gastropods.

and .... Trilobites:

Eldredgeops rana cephalon:

a bit crushed...

Dipleura dekayi pieces:

and Greenops boothi:

Hope you enjoyed it.

Regards,

Edited October 24, 2015 by Fossildude19

[njfossilhunter]

Great story Tim...I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to see what you found

[erose]

Excellent report and great fossils. Thanks for sharing.

[JohnJ]

Super report, Tim. What a cool experience (not the weather) expanding the interest of a TEENAGER!

[Scylla]

Thanks so much Tim. I read your report with great interest and a tear in my eye since I couldn't make it.

[JimB88]

Excellent finds Tim, enjoyed your report!

[JustPlainPetrified]

Good report. Thanks for sharing.

[Pagurus]

It was a dark and stormy night.... Well, it was dark anyway. Great report Tim.

Coincidentally, my alarm was also set for 4:15 AM, but since I'm no longer a youth such as yourself and my get-up-and-go has got up and went my carriage didn't back out of the driveway until 5:30. I drove west to escape the rising sun but the Earth kept on turning. Let me add some illustrations.

The fall foliage was incredible and I enjoyed not having to reach my destination at an assigned time. As you reported, Tim, the weather was changeable.

I also drove along route 20, passing through Cherry Valley while the weather was still quite good.

There are many promising road cuts in the area, and I couldn't resist stopping in Sharon Springs. I collected a few easily accessible slabs of limestone and went on my way. Looking at them the next day I saw a few small crinoid bits but not much else. I know that many decent specimens have been found there and I'm planning on visiting there again.

Closer to our collecting site it became obvious that snow showers preceded my wagon. In just a little while I was driving through that squall Tim wrote about.

It was cold but pleasant when I finally met up with Tim and Jeff and it was great to be out there collecting with friends. Most of the day was partly sunny or partly cloudy but we were entertained by a few snow showers now and then.

Our sidekick Brandon also kept us on our toes. He did quite well and it was fun to share the little I know with him. I didn't make any terrific finds but I had a terrific day. I will post some of my finds soon.

Here's a snapshot of Jeff and Tim and me. I'm the gnome on the right.

[Fossildude19]

Great story Tim...I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to see what you found

Thank you, Tony. Hope you like the pics.

Excellent report and great fossils. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Erich. I thought you might enjoy the report.

Super report, Tim. What a cool experience (not the weather) expanding the interest of a TEENAGER!

Thank you, John. I was happy to get a chance to do that.

Thanks so much Tim. I read your report with great interest and a tear in my eye since I couldn't make it.

You're more than welcome, Gus! We sure did miss you and the boys. They would be in heaven, there.

Excellent finds Tim, enjoyed your report!

Thank you, Jim! Some of these things will be heading your way.

Good report. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for reading through the wall of text.

Regards,

[Wrangellian]

Sounds like a great time was had by all (cliche)... and a nice haul! It's hard to pick a favorite, they're all wonderful, but probably the long slender, unID'd ceph jumped out at me the most.

[MarleysGh0st]

Thanks for the report!

I don't think Brandon ever expected to bag such old, old critters on his hunt, that day.

[ZiggieCie]

Great fossils and a great trip report. Thank you for sharing.

[Fossildude19]

Mike,

Thanks for adding the pictures, I look forward to seeing your finds.

As always - it was a pleasure hunting with you and Jeff.

Sounds like a great time was had by all (cliche)... and a nice haul! It's hard to pick a favorite, they're all wonderful, but probably the long slender, unID'd ceph jumped out at me the most.

Thanks, Eric!

Thanks for the report!

I don't think Brandon ever expected to bag such old, old critters on his hunt, that day.

Thank you, MG.

Great fossils and a great trip report. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Ziggie! I appreciate you reading it.

Regards,

[caldigger]

Somehow, you managed to shave an hour off your drive on the way home. Eager to hit that comfortable bed after a long day?

Really nice pieces.

[Fossildude19]

Somehow, you managed to shave an hour off your drive on the way home. Eager to hit that comfortable bed after a long day?

Really nice pieces.

No,... It's supposed to take around 4.5 hours for me. Took 4 hours 20 minutes to get there, and 4 hours, 25 minutes on the way home.

I was eager to get home, though. Traveling like that, and fossil hunting all day as well, ... I was pretty beat.

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

[PaleoWilliam]

Nice finds!

[Fossildude19]

Nice finds!

Thank you.

[Auspex]

Thanks for the five-star story! This is the stuff from which a "Best Of TFF" compilation could be made.

[Fossildude19]

Thanks for the five-star story! This is the stuff from which a "Best Of TFF" compilation could be made.

Thank you, Chas!

I appreciate the compliment.

Regards,

[Jeffrey P]

Excellent report and pictures, Tim. Will be adding my own specimen shots soon. Glad to have been there collecting with you, Mike and Brandon. Great seeing your finds, especially the partly

disarticulated Greenops and the goniatite with the suture pattern. The unidentified bivalve, I believe, is Grammysia bisculata. Thanks for starting this wonderful thread.

[Fossildude19]

Excellent report and pictures, Tim. Will be adding my own specimen shots soon. Glad to have been there collecting with you, Mike and Brandon. Great seeing your finds, especially the partly

disarticulated Greenops and the goniatite with the suture pattern. The unidentified bivalve, I believe, is Grammysia bisculata. Thanks for starting this wonderful thread.

Thanks, Jeff!

Looking forward to seeing what you hauled outta there.

Regards,